Bench Life Review: A heartwarming and entertaining slice of life comedy

3.5/5

Bench Life Story

Bench Life is the story of three techies who work in a software company. Balu(Vaibhav Reddy) is in love with his manager(Akanksha Singh). Meenakshi(Ritika Singh) hates her job and is a wannabe director. Lastly, Ravi (Charan Peri) is fed up with his wife and wants peace in life. So, to meet their goals, these three techies always dream of being on the bench with no projects in hand. However, things change with the entry of a senior employee(Rajendra Prasad) who comes with a motive. The rest of the story is about how these three characters go through hilarious problems and end up making things work.

Bench Life Review

Bench Life has been written and directed by Masana Sharma, who is a techie. So, the young director has set up the backdrop of the series in a very relatable and impressive manner. One of the selling points of the show is that it is quite relatable. The characters have been designed in such a way that each one of them represents today's youth be it men or women.

The casting is also done right by Masana as each actor performs superbly in their roles. Yet another major advantage of the series is that it has only five episodes in total and makes for a breezy watch. The biggest asset of the series is that it is narrated in a fun manner until the last episode. The best part of director Manasa Sharma's writing is that it does not sound preachy in any episode.

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The characters are real and go through realistic emotions to which everyone can relate. But it is the comedy featuring Vaibhav Reddy's track that makes things interesting. The way his character speaks and makes fun of others in the office is showcased hilariously. Things pick up on a solid note with the entry of Rajendra Prasad. His character brings a lot of fun moments and the way he is given the arc of moving emotions in the last few episodes ends the series solidly.

The series is mostly about believing in yourself and overcoming your demons and Manasa Sharma has narrated Bench Life in a manner that has an equal dose of comedy and emotions. The series is crisp and does not waste time to get to its conflict point. However, there are also a few errors in the narrative. The character of Vaibhav Reddy is shown just wasting time for nine long years doing nothing but trying to woo Aakanksha Singh. The logic behind this track looks a bit odd though.

The story is simple and does not give you any twists or heartbreaking moments. It just moves at a smooth pace without any issues. Coming to the performances, all the actors shine in their respective roles. But it is Vaibhav Reddy who walks away with the cake. Though he uses cuss words a lot, his performance as a careless software engineer is superb. He is superb with his comedy timing and his character of Balu gives him full scope to go all out and he is a riot. His body language and the way he mouths those one-liners and creates humor are the best parts of the show.

If Vaibhav entertains us with his wit, it is Aakanksha Singh who holds your attention with her emotional character. She has a lot to tell but keeps the pain within and she does it with amazing facial expressions. Akanksha in all her emotional scenes with Rajendra Prasad is superb and gives a memorable performance. Ritika Singh also got a good role and she was amazing. The character of Meenakshi demands a lot of facial expressions of guilt and heartbreak and Ritiks does so well.

Charan Peri who plays the frustrated husband is surprisingly good. The way Manasa Sharma extracts good performance from him looks impressive. Nayan Sarika, who plays the housewife is also neat. She gets to showcase her emotions beautifully by the end of the series and she is a natural actor. Rajendra Prasad brings a lot of depth to the series. He has fun moments and also brings tears with his emotional moments in the last episode. The rest of the cast was decent and ably supported the narrative.

The music and BGM by PK Dandi is quite good and elevates the comedy decently. The production values by Niharika Konidela are superb. The locations chosen, the backdrop of the software company, everything looks posh and realistic. The way the plush IT sector is showcased gives Bench Life a new look. The editing is perfect as the show has only five episodes and ends on a breezy note.

Bench Life deals with the lives of techies in Hyderabad. There are four different tracks and each of them has a proper purpose. Though one gets a feeling that the ending to the love story would have been more logical, the rest of the proceedings are generated on an impressive note and entertain you decently.

Bench Life Verdict

On the whole, Bench Life is an entertaining web series that is quite relatable. The backdrop is new and the presentation is impressive. The series has decent comedy and good emotions. If you ignore the predictability in the storyline, the series makes for an entertaining watch on Sony Liv. Recommended. 

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