Jee Karda review: Bold Tamannaah Bhatia and her friends are predictable but also relatable

3/5

When seven buddies from high school hit the big 3-0, they expected that life would finally begin to settle down for them. They experience life with all its ups and downs, from love to laughter to heartbreak to a slight maturation of character, and through it all, they learn that even the finest friendships have their flaws and that life is a beautiful, nuanced grayscale.

Halfway through Jee Karda, we can see where the series is heading, especially for the main character, Lavanya, played boldly by Tamannah Bhatia. Yet the intrigue is kept intact, and like me, you might want to binge-watch it through all eight episodes.

In Jee Karda, seven former classmates who believed their lives would be in order by the time they turned 30 instead discover a huge, heated mess when they do. They grow up a little, live, love, laugh, make mistakes, and have their hearts shattered, but through it all, they learn that even the closest of friendships are fallible and that life is a brilliant shade of grey.

The first episode starts with a flashback sequence where these childhood friends run into a fate teller who gives them conflicting information. The year is 2022, and by now the children are in their 30s. The question is if Lavanya (Tamannaah Bhatia) is truly prepared to wed her true love, Rishabh (Suhail Nayyar). Arjun (Aashim Gulati), now a successful Punjabi singer, brings back old friends. He gets caught with his trousers down in front of a million people, Preet (Anya Singh) gets ghosted, and Shahid (Hussain Dalal) meets the woman of his dreams.

The introductions to these characters are colourful and show how friendship groups are dysfunctional, just like families. You can't live without one another, and eventually, there's a coexistence that comes into play. When you almost hit your 30s, you might be at a grave crossroads in your life. You might be successful in your career, but not so much in your personal life. Or you might be "settled" in your personal life, but just put up a happy front to show everything is fine. Or you might just not be single by choice and wish there was a partner, your one true love, but it takes a longer time, and you feel that time is just passing away.

Jee Karda has elements that are cliches in every way: a partner who is unsure whether to get married or not after being together with the love of her life for more than a decade or so. Tamannaah as Lavanya shoulders it well, and it's quite refreshing to watch her in this new avatar. The actor is not new to the world of long format, but in Hindi, yes, she is. However, she brings a breath of fresh air to her character, and it shows that having a female director helped make it easier to conceptualise.

Having said that, they are the "end" of friends in this situation because the fortune teller's prophecy gives a glimpse into it, but the unfolding of it is also not hurried because we can predict how it will turn out for a few of them. When one mentions that the year 2022 might be a game changer in your life, you might not believe it at once and also forget it 15 years later, but does your conscious mind allow you to do so? That's played well here.

But with seven friends in a group, you can have pole-apart equations with one another, and that's shown. At times, girls gang up and find solace in each other, or two of them just land up for each other just in time, without any conditions applying.

However, it's at times too sweet until we reach the sixth episode, and it reminded me of the Gossip Girl gang. The four lead characters, Serena, Blair, Chuck, and Nate, might not see eye-to-eye with each other, but when any of them are in hot water, the other three of them turn up out of nowhere to help. Here, coming to aid seems superficial once the adulting happens; maybe that's the reality.

But the comfort part of the series is the parallel story running where the seven friends were in school and just stuck together in every step. When you hit your 30s, you might be reminded of your days when the definition of friendship was set so beautifully, but it was also a bumpy ride where you held each other's hands and never let go.

Jee Karda is refreshing but not original in its concept. There are many such stories based in popular culture, be it Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, which we saw a decade ago, or Netflix's Friends From College, which has a similar plotline involving the friends, now in their 40s and getting into tough crossroads.

Performance-wise Tamannaah is definitely the show-stealer, as she has attempted something like never before and passes with flying colours. So does Aashim Gulati, who puts out his vibrant nature with a sort of vulnerability that he keeps to himself and doesn't show even to his friends. Suhail Nayyar is impressive because he is a cute dork who abides by his parents' traditions while also living his life to the fullest with the love of his life. But it does look similar to his character in Sharmaji Namkeen.

Anya Singh's character as Preet is retable to an extent, but it's sadly the weakest of all—not her as an actor, but the arc given to her. There could have been more value added to her character, which the rest of the six characters get in some way or another.

Samvedna Suwalka as Sheetal, who gets married in a joint family, feels claustrophobic and screams at the top of her voice to get a private space for herself and her husband. It's what we have seen recently in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, because that's something that is very important for many women who enter marital life after leaving their families. Easily relatable and rightly shown so!

Sayan Banerjee as Melroy is a homosexual man who has only led an abusive life since childhood, and the actor's portrayal is beautifully done. The actor has been out there for a long time and is indeed the one to watch out for!

Last but not least is Hussain Dalal, who has co-written the show with Arunima Sharma and Abbas Dalal. He plays the role of Shahid, who comes from a lower strata in comparison to his friend, and life has never been easy for him. The actor-writer shows his vulnerability and timidity well to make his character intriguing.

Homi Adajania, with whom Arunima has worked earlier, co-directed a few episodes, which shows a different passion altogether. Their blend as directors has worked well in the storytelling, but it has also been cliche. Once you start the series, you will binge-watch and, like me, contemplate whether you liked it entirely or not.

But one thing that might stay with you is the stupendous soundtrack by Sachin-Jigar. Some songs sound like renditions, but the music album brings some depth to the series.

Jee Karda can be summed up as friendship, betrayal, relatability, predictability, and enjoyment!