All thanks to its notorious legacy of serving lewd content, it is easy to dismiss anything that Alt Balaji dishes out. But if you do that, you are in for a surprise here. This time we have a show that is sensitive and serious, even though peppered with a generous amount of sensuality. Unlike their previous offerings, Alt Balaji’s latest release His Storyy digs deep into homosexuality, relationships and the intricacies surrounding them with a refreshingly thoughtful approach.
This 11-episode show is about a married couple Kunal [Satyadeep Mishra] and Sakshi [Priya Mani Raj]. Theirs is a life of placid perfection where sudden ripples start forming when one night Kunal’s secret lover Preet [Mrinal Dutt] lands up at Sakshi’s restaurant launch. In fact, oblivious of her spouse’s extra marital affair, Sakshi had invited this famous food blogger to review her place.
The story proceeds with Kunal trying to strike a balance between his ‘perfect marriage’ and his steamy affair. But one day everything falls apart and the closet can’t hide the skeletons anymore. What follows is the family coming to terms to these sudden revelations. The story also traces the lives of this family's dear friends and neighbours. First is single mother Rafia [Charu Shankar], who is having a hard time dealing with her defiant daughter Jhanvi [Rheanne Tejani]. The other is a flamboyant womaniser Nihal [Rajiv Kumar], who disapproves of his son's sexuality.
Suparn Verma deserves an applaud for his diligent and nuanced and thoughtful writing that is not only heart-warming but also meticulously paints this overly hush-hushed theme with a winsome homely vibe. The dialogues consciously avoid the stereotypes. What better way to show acceptance towards homosexuality than a mother comforting her son, who is scared to come out of the closet, by jokingly telling him that she too is scared of him falling for a man one day not because of any other reason but because men are assholes!
Director Prashant Bhagia is at par with his writing counterpart. The subplots are also very well taken care of with Rafia living with the challenges of being a single mother and Sakshi’s elder son Shivi [Nitin Bhatia] not being able to explore his softer side because of his hard to break wall of ‘masculinity’. The actors effortlessly get into the skins of their characters while keeping it subtle yet worth watching. Mishra, Raj and Dutt sails the ship with perfection and makes it a smooth watch. Rheanne Tejani as Jhanvi, Rajiv Kumar as Nihal, Nitin Bhatia as Shivi and Charu Shankar as Rafia also successfully grab audience’s attention with their performances.
The episodes are not dragged out and are crisply confined to 30 minutes or less. However, the show does become a bit tiring towards the end. The climax makes you feel as if the creators couldn’t keep track of the length and were asked to wrap it up quickly and had to hastily concoct an ending.
Title: His Storyy
Cast: Satyadeep Mishra, Priya Mani Raj, Mrinal Dutt, Rheanne Tejani, Rajiv Kumar, Nitin Bhatia, Charu Shankar
Director: Prashant Bhagia
writer: Suparn S Verma
Platform: Alt Balaji
Rating: 3.5
