The new Amazon Prime Video series Jee Karda directed by Arunima Sharma, is a series that wants to explore the mind space of the millennial generation and their emotional insecurities. Co-written by Hussain Dalal, who shared the writing credits for the movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Jee Karda, in a way, feels like a very bloated version of that Ayaan Mukerji film but with no hesitation in exploring all aspects of it.
The series is about a group of friends who are close to one another from school days. Lavanya and Rishabh have been in love for a long time, and they are in a live-in relationship. Arjun is a very popular Punjabi pop singer. Preet is a counselor who is yet to find love in her life. Sheetal and Sameer are married to each other, but their romance is getting suffocated in the joint family setup. Melroy is gay, and the lack of societal acceptance is affecting his life. And then we have Shahid, who belongs to the economically weak category and gets the least attention in the whole gang. We see in Jee Karda the evolution of this friendship over the course of Lavanya and Rishabh’s wedding.
Even though the series belongs to that rich people problems category, if you are a millennial, there are patches in the series that you will connect with on an emotional level. And maybe as an Instagram reel snippet, some of the dialogues and moments of Jee Karda will work. But the overall stretched-out nature of the writing is causing the issues. Since Arunima has a massive pool of characters, the writing is forced to assign a particular trauma to every character. Some of them are too generic, and you know how that will end the moment the screenplay introduces that conflict.
Arunima Sharma’s series somewhere has the syntax of the Netflix show Sex Education. I am not saying that because the series has a lot of sex. Just like how Laurie Nunn’s drama used sex to narrate the complexities and grey shades of the human mind, Jee Karda also has similar aspirations. But the feel-good factor is a bit too escapist, and it was a bit hard to empathize with the characters as the dilemma, and doubts felt pretty loud. There is a scene where Arjun’s mother gets a hug from Lavanya’s mother. What would have made the series a lot more profound and moving would have been more such stuff. But the priority for glitz over depth makes it a sporadically absorbing creation.
As Lavanya, Tamannah Bhatia gets to play a character with a good amount of detailing. I don’t think she has played such a grey and conflicted character in her entire filmography. And frankly, seeing her in a role that demanded more than her good looks was good. Suhail Nayyar’s Rishabh is a bit one-dimensional in the way he behaves. Looking at how this season has ended, it feels like the character will be more exciting in the next season. Aashim Gulati, who plays the most flashy role in the series as the singer Arjun Gill has got the meatier part, in my opinion. From being this irreverent figure to someone who enters a murky emotional space towards the end, he delivered a very impressive performance. Anya Singh, as the confused and caring Preet, was memorable. Samvedna Suwalka as Sheetal was fine, and it seems like a character that will get more prominence in the next season. Sayan Banerjee, as Melroy D’Monte, portrayed the character’s pain in a very subtle and believable way. Hussain Dalal’s portrayal of Shahid was excellent in some areas but felt a bit loud in certain zones. Simone Singh, Kira Narayanan, Malhar Thakar, etc., are the other major names in the cast.
The shortest description I could give this series would be Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani if CBFC had no Pahlaj Nihalani. But that analysis would be a lot more peripheral. The first season has ended by drastically unsettling the character equations, and maybe the character exploration angle might work better with a season 2.
The shortest description I could give this series would be Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani if CBFC had no Pahlaj Nihalani.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
