Rangeen (Season 1)
Introduction
The new Hindi show Rangeen remains a game of Chinese Whispers in many ways. Like in the game wherein the original thought is passed unfiltered, only for the same to be lost in translation by the time it comes around. Rangeen suffers from this atrocity, a concept that had all the makings of the good show but by the end of it, it falls short! Rangeen would also remind you of one of the newly formed Whatsapp groups wherein there is a lot of enthusiasm at the start, with new ideas being exchanged, only for the same to die down over a period of time. Another example in this context that comes to mind is the marketing strategy of a new TV shown (mainly on Indian Television) that pushes its case for a fresh concept in the midst of other routine Saas-Bahu shows, only for the writing to panic and resort to the formula that wasn’t in your DNA. It is the usual cause for the misadventures of the show, that doesn’t allow Rangeen to stick to the black comedy genre, simply because the writing doesn’t have it in itself to sustain 7 hours around it, often breaking grammer and coming across as generic. And that is the fourth anecdote here (thankfully it doesn’t formulate my whole review unlike the show that goes on and on) – a different theme doesn’t necessarily make it a different show!
Story & Screenplay
The start of the first season of Rangeen remains an impressive one given how you are air-dropped into the life of Adarsh (Vineet Kumar Singh; also notice the name that stands for “Principles”), a journalist who is fighting a battle of relevancy with his publication, while also being emotionally distant with his wife Naina (Rajshri Deshpande). In a scene when you spot the two of them together for the first time, you see their withering intimacy, and the distance that now remains a byproduct of their marriage. Hence when the first conflict of the drama is introduced in the form of Adarsh getting to know of Naina hooking up with a self-hired gigolo Sunny (Taaruk Raina), it becomes an issue of manliness and ego more than anything else. This conflict also plays a part in reconstructing their past (without a flashback thankfully), that epitomizes the strained relationship that the couple have endured over the years. The twist – Adarsh decides to become a gigolo himself almost like an ego-booster with the help of Sunny.
In many ways, the character of Adarsh is a distant cousin of Tribhuvan Mishra (Manav Kaul) from Netflix’s Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper (2024). The starting point of both characters are different – Tribhuvan uses the gigolo profession as a side-gig simply because he is a ‘skilled professional’ in bed satisfying his wife on every single occasion. For Adarsh, the starting point remains an identity crisis, that of an individual who is fuelled by his fragile ego of his wife opting for a younger guy to satisfy her in bed, overlooking the emotional void of his relationship. Hence at the start, you see him hesitant and unsure even while meeting the ‘Queen-pin’ of the Gigolo business Sitara (Sheeba Chadha), who sends him on an orientation programme with respect to specific clients with specific needs.
Elsewhere, this trignometric drama has an issue of identity with Sunny too, who loses his job and faces a crisis with respect to ‘erectile dysfunction’ and a fleeting question on his sexuality with respect to his friend. But the most underwritten character remains of Naina whose point of view of an emotional void, is largely ignored thereby restricting her to the background, just like females in the society. It is almost assumed by her parents at one point on how the fault lies with Adarsh, a character who is only right in the context of morality but wrong even from an emotional standpoint. He is almost like Shrirenu (R Madhavan) to Madhu (Fatima Sana Shaikh) from Aap Jaisa Koi (2025) in an alternate universe, with a similarity that the society remains largely patriarchal in the broad-strokes but seldom committed to understanding the issues that women face in their relationships.
One of the minor issues with the plot lies its inability to commit to the situations of the characters. And it starts with the setting wherein the name of the land is just not mentioned (in fear of a backlash??). It immediately reduces the impact of the drama by veering your attention away from its groundedness, something that acts like a distraction. Also, intimacy here pales the otherwise colourful start to the drama, simply because the writing doesn’t wish to commit to the setting. Be it Adarsh’s first sexual encounter with a 24 year old, or his other adventures with a animal-trafficking woman who is a wife of a convict, or even a woman who treats Adarsh as a slave before revealing the actual reason – it just felt like a surface-level checklist as opposed to deep diving into the issues of sexuality for woman over a spectrum of 20 years to say 50 years. Another example in this bracket could be Sunny’s encounter with a rich couple wherein the husband wishes to just ‘watch’ almost felt like a cop-out too because the underlying theme of what the writers were going for, wasn’t clear. It strays away from Sunny’s conflict which ultimate skewed his character too.
The writing has the anomaly of meandering, and meandering and meandering wherein it almost felt as if it is going around in circles. As a result the spectrum of colour begins to pale with every passing minute. And in doing so, it misses out on the original thought of the show – on why did Adarsh break away from his journalism duties to become a gigolo. And it skews the vision because the justification of the character isn’t entirely there, further spoilt by a heavy-duty tone of a black comedy, even while being confused on how to bring Naina into the picture. The original thought is lost in translation even for Sunny, a care-free son of a butcher who is dealing with anxiety-driven issues of his own. It almost felt like an after-thought of circling back to Adarsh’s life as a journalist, though not fully justifying his actions or his morals, by the end of which I couldn’t care less for both. In a scene when Naina tells Adarsh on ‘Kya Socha Tha, Kahaan Aa Gaye’ (paraphrased, look where we have ended up), it completely sums up the screenplay. Perhaps, Adarsh should have listened to Naina when she had said, ‘Tum Woh Mat Bano Jo Tum Nahi Ho’ (Don’t Pretend To Be Someone Who You Aren’t). The result wouldn’t then have been a colour-blinded one!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues lose out on the black humour after a promising start and resort to meandering lines that literally feel pointless after a point. This, even as the lines feel a little heavy in the context of the drama. The music and BGM are decent, wherein each of the two play their part in highlighting the underlying themes of the drama. But the miss lies in conveying the emotions that often are skewed in the larger context of the proceedings. The cinematography is decent as well, but the frames surprisingly choose to maintain an emotional distance from its characters (and I strongly feel that this is where the insistence on a black comedy goes wrong), much like Adarsh and Naina for most parts of the runtime. As a result, you aren’t able to root for any of the characters of the show that is intended to be quirky but ends up being hollow.
It also seemed like the editor was on a notice period – there are extended passages of lags in the screenplay that went unaccounted for, and as a result of which the drama goes on a meandering spree, and in circles. Directors Pranjal Dua and Kopal Naithani start off on a promising note with the world building and their characterization, but the novelty of the idea soon fizzles out even as the core concept is lost in translation. If the drama itself is searching for its identity while panicking about the miscontrued messaging, then the blame lies with the directors who failed to control the proceedings. The grip in the narrative was loose and after a point the drama felt like the never-ending Saas Bahu dramas that didn’t wish to end at all. The direction is a mixed bag here, overall speaking!
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the members of the cast. Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Khalida Jan as Roshni, Vijay Vikram Singh, Priyanka Charan as Daya, Yatendra Bahuguna as Naveen and Archana Patel as Jagran have their moments to shine. Vishakha Pandey as Amber, Chirag Katrecha as Vikki, Preetika Chawla as Mehak, Cyrus Sahukar as Jack, Megha Burman as Jazz, Meghna Malik as Renu and Bharati Perwani as Jyoti have their moments to shine. Ratnabali Bhattacharya as Jugni was a delight to witness, and in the truest sense a quirky character here. Smita Bansal (been a while, so nice to spot her here) as Mrs Verma is superb and she manages to impress here. Nishant Bhavsar as Jatin, Satyam Sharma as Nitin and Rajesh Sharma are competent here. Mohammed Farrukh as Manju is understated and subtly intimidating, and he does a phenomenal job while using his body language really well. There is a sense of slyness that you witness through the performance of Sheeba Chadha as Sitara. The manner in which she enunciates each word with the right amount of softness yet caution, is an acting masterclass in itself.
Taaruk Raina as Sunny is impressive with his expressions and body language while trying hard to make his character work, that is partly lost in translation due to the skewed writing. Rajshri Deshpande is wonderful to witness in a woefully underwritten character wherein the writing seems confused on how to utilize her in the screenplay. There needed to be a POV shift at some point in the narrative, a strand that just did not arrive, making her character partly one-dimensional and pale. But Rajshri still finds spark with her performance wherein she manages to impress here. Vineet Kumar Singh is on the back of a phenomenal 2025 wherein he has been in red-hot form. And I am the happiest that an actor of his stature is finally getting recognition and some good work. Here as Adarsh, there are different shades to his character that are impressive with a variety of emotions to dabble with. And despite the writing blurring the original thought of his character, his performance cannot be doubted even as he portrays his angst and frustration with dollops of charm. If the show ends up being (partly) watchable, then a large credit of the same must go to Vineet and his wonderful acting chops that push through the mediocrity.
Conclusion
Despite some good performances, the first season of Rangeen has a colourful start but a pale finish thereby having a ‘colour-blind’ result by the end of things. It is another example of a solid novel concept lost in translation thereby making it a meandering watch that impresses only in parts. Available on Amazon Prime.