Hello Remember Me review: Ishaa Saha and Paayel Sarkar's series of same-sex love and obsession is stale and pointless

1.5/5

Story: Malini (Ishaa Saha) meets her ex-lover Tori (Paayel Sarkar) in Darjeeling while she is on a holiday during the advanced stage of her pregnancy with her husband Abir (Sourav Chakraborty) and other family members. She starts panicking as Tori starts stalking her at their family house in Kolkata. The eight-episode series explores how the family copes with Tori’s presence. 

Review: Hello Remember Me – a spin-off of Hoichoi’s early series Hello! With Raima Sen and Priyanka Sarkar – a sheer disappointment. It is a poorly written script that features a very average performance by all the actors. Since not a single character is convincing, one doesn’t feel connected with the series even for once. Though it is billed as a thriller, there is no thrill and definitely no mystery. The entertainment world has progressed from the wrath of jilted lovers in Sunil Shetty-Akshay Kumar’s Dhadkan. Characters are now developed much more smartly and Hello Remember Me lacks that smartness. Also, the same-sex love story is merely an incident in most of the show. 

In the series, every character is one-dimensional and no one gets an iota of logic in their actions. Abir’s mother, played by Laboni Sarkar, seems to care only about Malini’s baby and nothing else matters to her more. On the other hand, Abir obsessively wants to know the past of his wife as if he is convinced about her infidelity. There is no explanation for how he managed to live and love his wife when he has no intention to trust her. For the longest time, Malini is absolutely clueless about how to deal with her past. The closer it gets the faster she succumbs. Tori has no job but to roam around with a camera and touch women inappropriately. 

Another problem of the script is, there is no empathy among the characters. Sisters-in-law Laboni and Pushpita are close but there is little expression of their love for each other. Abir shows care toward Malini but is keener to explore his wife’s past than comfort her at the time of crisis. Overall, the series suffers from a lack of love.     

Forget about the writing, the performance on screen is equally underwhelming. Ishaa starts with a loud and over-the-top performance and soon resorts to her comfort zone of playing it sweet, girl-next-door. With her costume and makeup, it becomes difficult to separate her character from Indu. Laboni is loud too and the script does not help her to bring out any nuance of her character, Pramila. Sourav is a good actor but in this show, all he could manage is to howl at his wife and mother. Paayel is a little subtle. With her smirk and ploys, she seems a little more bearable. Sritama Bhattacharjee and Bijaylakshmi Chatterjee are still convincing. While Bijaylakshmi’s character is too naive to be true, Sritama’s unpolished straightforwardness seems understandable. 

Result: Hello Remember Me is one of Hoichoi's worst shows ever. It is a meaningless and unnecessary show that no one has ever asked for. It is better avoided.