Life Hill Gayi (Season 1)
Introduction
The idea of a sibling rivalry turned into a sort of a competition to keep an old guest house functional was an exciting proposition on paper. However, it didn’t soft land the way it ought to have. This is not to say that the new Hindi show Life Hill Gayi which is now streaming on Hotstar is a complete washout. With the talent on show, it does ensure a few laughs along the way. But could it have been better staged? Yes! Loosely based on the premise of the English show Schitt’s Creek, the idea was right, to infuse the light-hearted narrative with subtle bouts of humour. So you had a bunch of misfits belonging to a higher strata of the society, suddenly finding themselves in the middle of a ‘hilly’ village, and having to run their ancestral property in the form of a hotel, leading to several misadventures along the way. And given the situation that the characters find themselves in, the writing threatened to sizzle before tapering off at the end. Yet, such was the talent in focus that they managed to salvage the show to the point of it being watchable.
Story & Screenplay
The first season of Life Hill Gayi follows the story of a family comprising of the father and his two adult siblings who make their way to their ancestral property, wherein they find themselves as a part of a competition to have a functional hotel in exchange for the ancestral wealth. The story here is decent and it does contribute to a few laughs along the way. But I couldn’t help but think that the writing ought to have been better with respect to creating situations, that went on to be a little flat, often relying just on the plucky one-liners to generate humour. The writing was surface level with the drama unfolding at the same wavelength(which wasn’t high), and thereby not quite capturing the imagination of its viewers. The idea of creating a light-hearted drama was right, almost in the form of a slice of life phase, but in that space, it needed tighter writing over its screenplay of 6 episodes standing at 30 odd minutes each. And this is where TVF stands out from the rest with its relatability quotient coupled with bouts of warmth that accompany the narrative. These two essential ingredients were missing in this drama that was decent at its very best.
The writers missed a trick early on by opting to start straight with the conflict as opposed to building on the characterization which was crucial to the plot. Had there been a little prelude of the opposite traits of the characters of the two siblings – Dev and Kalki, there would have been a payoff along the journey, most of the times when they are at loggerheads with each other. Yet, there is a sense of world building here wherein the characters from a rather rich background find themselves in a sleepy village in the hills featuring villagers with whom they need to work with, to revive their hotel. Again, the idea was right to have a bunch of characters from different backgrounds mingle with each other while throwing them in situations which would evoke laughter – be it a tryst with a serial killer or warming up to the customers or in general being accustomed to each other. But, the writing ought to have been sharper
To be fair, I was decently engaged in the drama early on with the introduction of characters who were locals, some of whom were ‘interviewed’ to be ‘recruited’. That did create a clash of the backgrounds, with the laid back villagers having to be taught the ways of working of the hotel, and invariably finding themselves in situations that are unprecedented – be it the hotel almost being destroyed by a group of young boys or the supposed presence of the supernatural that attracts eyeballs. This, even as Dev and Kalki divide their duties – with Dev falling for a local, Hima in what was a sweet and fizzy love story, while Kalki being the more responsible one, training her lazy personnel with the ways of working in a hotel. These situations do create bouts of humour which is interspersed along the way. A subtle commentary on the rich versus the poor was decent enough and did mark its presence in the narrative with a few meta-references to accompany it(like ‘Chinese’ film Parasite, I know it’s Korean y’all).
Having said that, I couldn’t help but think that the show was a tad too long, owing to several instances of lags, more so in the final two episodes that just didn’t sit right. The episodes featuring a wedding transpiring in the vicinity of the hotel was a golden opportunity to completely take the viewers by surprise with the histrionics of the situation(remember De Dana Dan?). But the events are flat wherein even the humour dissipates quickly. Likewise for the season finale wherein a shoot takes place in the hotel, wherein the conclusion was decent but the events on either side of it was just unfunny, even as the drama dragged along to completion. The twist at the end was decent and a precursor to the next season, but I couldn’t help but think that the writing here was a case of a missed opportunity.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are peppy and filled with one-liners that are well written and often evoke a sense of laughter, while going well with the mood of the drama. The BGM is decent but honestly, nothing much to shout about. The cinematography is adequate but I did feel that the setting could have played a better part in the overall scheme of things with the frames that were just about okay and basic to the needs of the story. The editing ought to have accounted for the multiple lags in the screenplay. Director Prem Mistry does a decent job but his biggest shortcoming does lay with the fact that his direction never quite rises above the script, keeping the drama to mid-levels while also briefly faltering with the staging at times. While, the direction isn’t a complete washout, contributing subtly to the comedic portions in the drama, I did feel a sense of restraint towards the end of the show as opposed to going complete bonkers.
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the ensemble cast. Kabir Bedi has his moments to shine. The likes of Ishteyak Khan as Bisht, Meenal Sahu as Shreya, Sachin Negi as Badoni and Hemant Pandey as Negi contributing well to the comedic portions in the drama. Annapurna Soni is suchba fine actor who absolutely hits it out of the park with her incredible sense of comic timing and a dialect that was spot on with respect to the setting. She managed to standout amongst the cast in what was a brilliant job done overall. The Bhagyashree cameo had tinges of a meta-reference given that she played (ex)wife to Vinay Pathak whose character name was Himalaya(and her real-life husband’s name is Himalaya too). Speaking of Vinay Pathak, I did feel he was under utilized and needed a better written character to shine. Atul Srivastava as Kripaal is decent and is well restraimed for most parts of the runtime. Mukti Mohan as Hima has a wonderful screen presence and there is a charming quality to her character that she taps into rather well. Kusha Kapila as Kalki is quite good here and she definitely does really well by using her body language and expressions to convey the background of her character that belonged to a rich strata of the society. Divyendu Sharma as Dev is the star of the show here. He is an actor that is blessed with an impeccable sense of comic timing, and he displayed the same in the most effortless manner. In fact, if a part of the show works then it is due to the phenomenal comic timing of Divyendu that had me cracking up each time he uttered words in English. The MBA gag was an absolute winner!
Conclusion
Despite solid performances, the first season of Life Hill Gayi is a hit and a miss kind of a comedy that never really rises to its full potential, often unfolding at a mid-level throughout its runtime. It does show promise in bouts but unfortunately tapers off towards the end, making it an above average show at best. Available on Hotstar.
