Gutar Gu (Season 3)
Introduction
Up until this point of the two seasons of Gutar Gu, you have been emotionally invested in their journeys of Anuj (Vishesh Bansal) and Ritu (Ashlesha Thakur) – right from their first brush of romance in a classroom to later a long distance. One of the reasons for the same remained its relatability in the age demographic of 13 to 19 years, that would often be witness to love stories on the side of life, that also would accomodate other events with respect to studies, tests, and friendships. It is this young dynamic that would also be applicable to love in the 20s you would imagine, even as life slowly would start to be intertwined and complicated. And come the third season, this fact is immediately addressed in the form of two virtues – one being the shift in the setting, from Bhopal to now Mumbai that itself is a transition of life in general, and second being the ‘live-in’ factor that creeps into Ritu and Anuj’s lives. It is the phase in their romance that could directly be equated to Kavya (Mithila Parkar) and Dhruv’s (Dhruv Vats) journey in the show Little Things. But what doesn’t work in favour of Gutur Gu is its microtales of love as opposed to a nuanced take of romance that is now in the coming of age stage, and therein lies the difference between Gutur Gu and Little Things – one being on the surface, and the other offering an indepth and nuanced take!
Story & Screenplay
Written by Gunjan Saxena and Garima Kunzuru, one of the minor criticisms that I had with the third season of Gutar Gu was in the staging of the drama. There seemed to be a mad-rush to go from point A to point B without any buildup of sorts. In a way, it felt like chaos in an already chaotic city of Mumbai that just needed a sense of calmness to emotionally reinvest in the characters that you have loved thus far. The writing here isn’t too bad with its premise though – you have the beloved couple of Ritu and Anuj shifting to the big bad city of Mumbai that would soon pose multiple challenges for the couple. Anuj is now an actor, busy with his shooting schedules. Ritu is working on a documentary film, and busy with her own set of work. Hence in an early scene, when you see the two together, it is clear that the only time that they could borrow from their busy lives is their ‘together time’ – something that makes them contemplate going into a ‘live-in’ relationship.
The turn of tide towards a live-in means that the basic innocence that remained an integral virtue for the longest time, has now shifted directions towards complexity. Yet, the idea remains to hold onto the last strands, even as the writing makes a transition into an unfamiliar territory (for the show). And this transition formulates several moments that will put a smile on your face. As an initial transition subplot, you witness a sequence of events that remain fun to witness – the individual lives of Ritu and Anuj, including the space constraints that they (particularly Ritu early on) face in the city of Mumbai, the quality of homes that prompts a change of rooms for Ritu and the ‘interference’ of Anuj’s mother who has a hawkeye on her son and his whereabouts. In fact, this particular track of Anuj trying his best to send his mother home, just so that his live-in dream with Ritu becomes a reality, forms some of the best parts of the show.
In the process, I also enjoyed the characterization of Anuj’s mother, and how she slowly begins to warm up to Ritu. In a scene after she rescues the couple from the police station for flaunting PDA, she asks Ritu on why doesn’t she leave Anuj (who has been established as a liar upto that point). It is almost like reimagining herself in her haydays, that makes this equation relatable for her. But much of the steam in the drama is sucked out, once this character disappears from the drama.
There is a tendency of aiming just for the lowest hanging fruit in the proceedings. The complexity of a live-in relationship doesn’t really find its feet with respect to a commentary on the society, who don’t usually house an unmarried young couple, or with the constant work that the couple need to put outside the realms of intimacy. Even the first brush of intimacy between Ritu and Anuj felt slightly superficial with their respective conflicts not quite being established too well. It is fine for ‘some’ surface level laughs even as Anuj is spotted purchasing a condom for the first time. But it doesn’t really delve into deeper issues, making the resolutions very simplistic and half-baked.
I particularly am also not a fan of a setup that threatens to be established before the writers bailing out. And that is an indication that I got towards the end of the season, when a potential ‘pregnancy’ subplot was suddenly abandoned for something superficial and half-baked. Even the finale episode didn’t create enough moments for you to fall in love with this young couple all over again, and neither did any of the characters around them make an impact on the screenplay or the life of the two protagonists. It gave me an impression that the idea was to go for a matured love story but the drama didn’t wish to age as well. The in-between dilemma was clearly reflective in this season that lost its steam halfway through!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues aren’t engaging enough and they just have a sense of lethargy and repetitiveness as you go along the season, that just doesn’t deliver on the emotions in store (or for that matter, even the humour). The music here shines with a handful of songs that really do the trick to lift the drama from the shackles of lethargy, by actually adding a zing to the proceedings. The BGM is decent but it doesn’t always elevate the drama beyond a point in the narrative. The cinematography is decent but the frames needed a little more depth to engage with emotions of the two protagonists. Also, the vibe of Mumbai was missing, something wherein the frames didn’t quite create a character out of the city, almost like a third dimension in the love story that would double up as an invisible obstacle. The editing is too sharp at times, that cuts through the emotions by abruptly halting them. Also, the idea of going from zero to one-hundred in a matter of frames wasn’t the best creative decision either. The proceedings needed a little more build up around the marquee scenes of the season. Director Saqib Pandor doesn’t always hit the sweet spot this time around. He is successful in creating moments but my issue lay with the staging of the drama around those moments. The filler emotions between two scenes was missing, a trait that could have been used as a build-up mechanism too. So overall, the direction was there and thereabouts but never quite hitting the ball out of the park. It remained above average for me.
Performances
The performances are pretty good here but none of the characters around the protagonists standout (other than one odd). Talented actors like Surjyasikha Das, Richa Mohan and Rama Krishna are quite wasted here. Navneet Srivastava as Amit is decent here, although his character doesn’t have much to do. Tushar Shahi as Adi, Adrrian Tushar Sawant as Vineet and Shambhavi Sthapak as Sonal, are a part of the crowd but the emotional quotient of every character was missing. They seemingly don’t have identities of their own because the focus never shifts away from the couple. Cindrella D’Cruz as Anuj’s mother delivers an immaculate performance as a character who is shown to balance both households (one home and the other away). There is a sense of strictness to her but also open to perspectives wherein you spot her warming up to Ritu, thereby making her character very humane.
Ashlesha Thaakur as Ritu is deliberately understated with her character given that she was already the matured and practical one (most girls are compared to boys) between the two of them (Anuj and her). And keeping this in mind, the character arc provided to her was a complex one given the amount of struggles she had to go through with respect to her own challenges in her internship-life while having the burden to co-manage her relationship. In that regard, she did a terrific job and definitely managed to impress. Vishesh Bansal is pretty good to witness here. The amount of expressions that he brings to the table is really commendable, and here he was pretty solid, often standing out amongst most actors that he shared screen space with. And this was even more special given that the writing with his characterization did get a little repetitive here.
Conclusion
The third season of Gutar Gu is a middling followup that doesn’t always hit the sweet spot despite good performances. It starts off on a promising note but tapers towards the end, thereby making it ‘a swing and a miss’ watch. Available on Amazon MX Player.