Agra Affair (Season 1)
Introduction
In Kanu Behl’s Agra, the city was wrapped in a daze of gloom and repressive energy that extended from the presence of the protagonist and the chatacters around him. But one look at the new Amazon MX Player show, Agra Affair, and you know that the city is anything but that. There are broader strokes of hope and passion amidst a blanket of love in the form of the Taj Mahal that stand firm to welcome you. Amidst these bright colours, you are introduced to its two main protagonists who have similar stories of comfort and stress to share – Aakash (Aakash Dahiya) is a quintessential middle-class boy at an age wherein he is still fending for his passion of cooking while having to live the dream of his father of taking care of their local hotel incidently named Aalishaan. This, while ironically the hotel is anything but ‘Aalishaan’, being used as an extention of Oyo Rooms (yes, before the recent ban of unmarried couples), much to the dismay of Aakash’s father. On the other hand, you have the quintessential middle-class girl Tanvi (Harshita Gaur), a registered tour guide spending most of her time fighting for her clients from local scamsters while almost putting up a strong face at home which is dysfunctional in many ways. Clearly, Aakash and Tanvi have their own set of issues to deal with until fate brings them together. Will love blossom though?
Story & Screenplay
Written by Sankalp Raj, Tatsat Pandey and Abhinav Vaidya, the first season of Agra Affair heavily relies on the hook dialogue from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – Pyaar Dosti Hai, Love Is Friendship (did you read that in the voice of Ms Braganza?😅), even as you are invested in the individual lives of Aakash and Tanvi. There is a definite affability as the duo share a warm and comforting relationship, while forming a partnership to salvage Aakash’s Hotel and the strenuous career of Tanvi, an offshoot of Band Baaja Baarat that brought seemingly opposite individuals together until they fall in love. The issues are simplistic with an even simpler form of resolution, but who is even complaining. The organic nature of the drama is enough to draw you in with a layer of relatability that engulfs you in terms of the situations that Aakash and Tanvi find themselves in – when Aakash is in trouble, Tanvi fills in for me, often giving him suggestions to revive his Hotel, while the former repays the same by disciplining the local scamsters for Tanvi, even while buying a phone for her. Life is perfect if it isn’t for the onset of love between them.
One of the big highlights of the show remains the character dynamics between the characters – you can sense a bit of a distance between Aakash and his father, even in their comforting moments even as the two alpha-males of the house tend to build walls around them that don’t allow emotions to seep through them. Likewise, the relationship between Aakash and his younger brother Rishi (Siddhant Raj Tripathi) follows a similar trajectory to begin with, until a crucial scene wherein they both realise that they are in the same boat in terms of love and life. These moments are heartfelt and completely win you over while witnessing the characters and their journey. In a sharp contrast, Aakash amd his relationship with his chaddi-buddy Kookie (Pratik Pachauri) is probably the soul of the drama, given that the latter sticks with the former through thick and thin while giving him some rather frivolous advice on love, much to my amusement given that we all have that one friend who is similar to Kookie. Ironically, Aakash’s downfall is triggered only when Kookie is away!
At its core, Agra Affair is about a love story, something that begins as a one-sided ‘affair’ that leads to several moments of heartbreak for Aakash. The beats of the love story are familiar – Aakash hesitantly asked Tanvi out, only to be rejected while the former then nurses a heartbreak. Yet, the emotions are pure wherein you do connect with the characters. The issue for me was the introduction of the third wheel in the Aakash-Tanvi relationship, not because the character felt out of sync but more given that the writing didn’t quite go deeper into the complications of a love triangle. Yes, once Megha (Chakori Dwivedi) enters the fray, you instantly gravitate towards her, just like Aakash, given her over-friendly vibe or even her effervescent energy that lights up the proceedings. She was the perfect candidate for Aakash just like Mango Dolly as Kookie would put it – she was imminently likeable, matured to under the perspective of Aakash and yet provided him that one thing that he longed for most, love. My issue was also exactly that – that the character was too vanilla and devoid of her own conflict which would define her (as of the first season), something that came across as one-note and slightly cliched.
The writing gets slightly entangled in the ‘third-wheel’ subplot, so much so that the events get slightly repetitive over a passage of time (it may well have been a little reluctance to enter a dark path as far as Aakash was concerned). The conflict which seemed imminent at one point, slightly begins to fizzle out in the midst of a couple of subplots that seem slightly half-baked. The one big positive during this phase was the journey of Tanvi, who is given a definitive arc stemming her reservations of not wishing to get married from people close to her. But I did feel that the writing could have slightly exploited this plot-point a little more, more so because the cliffhanger in the show arrived at a point when things actually began to move. Overall, the screenplay is well written while briefly flirting with the cliched side of things towards the end that had me a little on the fence.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues have a comforting warmth that mainly oozes from the simplicity and the breezy conversations that the characters share with each other. The frequent tinges of humour ensure that the lines never get overtly dramatic while remaining grounded and palatable throughout the show. The music and BGM resonate well with the positive vibe of the drama, adding broad strokes of comfort to elevate the underlying emotions of many scenes. The cinematography is instrumental in creating two important characters in the screenplay – the vibe of the colourful city of Agra which is house to the symbol of love, the Taj Mahal is nicely depicted as a character in itself, even while a brief account of the Agra fort overlooking the Taj Mahal is treated as a distant character, both monuments much like Aakash and Tanvi. Also, the brief account of the middle class was a crucial character as far as the world-building was concerned, something that was nicely depicted through the frames. The editing is decent here. While I am not a fan of black screens, something that you see as transition shots to begin with, the transition shots do improve through the show while briefly overlooking a little lag towards the end. Director Mandar Kurundkar does an immensely satisfying job with the world-building and characterization. You can make out his prowess when it comes to the depiction of relationships, that account for innumerous moments that are heartfelt throughout the screenplay. His emphasis on character dynamics is commendable, that doubles as a major driving force in the screenplay. The direction is excellent here wherein the director leaves a lasting impression.
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the members of the cast. Siddhant Raj Tripathi as Rishi is sincere and earnest while contributing to atleast a couple heartfelt moments in the drama. Ankit Jha as Pankaj is a mischievous character that would potentially annoy you, which means that the actor manages to do a terrific job given that that was exactly the intentions from the character. Diwakar Dhyani as Alok and Aparna Upadhya as Chandni, Tanvi’s parents are wonderful to witness, often seen bickering with each other while potentially contributing to the fabric of emotions for Tanvi, that also acts as a redeeming payoff. Aman Gupta as Rakesh and Neeta Jhanzi as Anurupa add a wonderful palatable flavour of middle-class and their ideologies that work nicely in favour of the drama. Chakori Dwivedi as Megha is excellent to witness (even though I had issues with how her character was written). She is effervescent and buzzing with energy while also providing calming and soothing moments of comfort, in a wonderfully balanced act. Pratik Pachauri as Kookie is blessed with a comic flair to die for – he finds spurts of humour at rather unexpected places while also delivering a rather heartfelt performance along the way.
Harshita Gaur as Tanvi is a layered character that is dealing with a lot of issues outside her life with Aakash. In the heart of things, she too craves for love while being skewed with its concept owing to the frequently emerging fights at her place. So Harshita needed to internalize a lot of the emotions while bottling them up, only to allow the viewers a sneak-peek into her world. And she was terrific here, while emoting perfectly. Aakash Dahiya as Aakash is what every middle-class boy is at the beginning – binary as far as love is concerned while being hesitant and reluctant to convey his feelings. This, while transforming into a stone-hearted person in love with the concept of love and frequently searching his beloved in other people. This, again was a complex character and Aakash brought some lovely emotions to the table while doing full justice to his character.
Conclusion
The first season of Agra Affair showcases the bittersweet chronicles of love while boasting of solid performances that makes for a light and breezy watch. Available on Amazon MX Player.
