Roohaniyat review: Arjun Bijlani makes the unwatchable show slightly bearable

0.5/5

Story:

Saveer (Arjun Bijlani) and Prisha (Kanika Mann) are two broken souls. Their partners have left them (in a different way) but all they want in life is love. Will they ever find it in each other?

Review:

Roohaniyat (Spirituality) begins as a romantic story which has flashbacks. It is quite adorable actually and those who like TV format will love it too. Right after that, you will end up analyzing your life choices and wonder what made you watch something like this show in the first place.

Indian TV soaps have touched new lows everytime and Roohaniyat is the living proof of how that trend might catch up on OTT too. Honestly, if you can keep up with the Arjun Bijlani-Kanika Mann drama, good for you but you belong to a different age group and possibly, a different world.

Agreed, Roohaniyat is cute at some places but the show most definitely is bizarre and cringey. The writers probably confused good writing with mockery because who makes such a predictable, dramatic-for-no-reason show? But then again, if we talk about Indian TV space, people have been through worse. However, that doesn't give the makers leeway to create grot in the name of content.

The director has also forced actor Arjun Bijlani (Saveer) to stay poker-faced while giving his dialogues in a few scenes. Since Arjun is a good actor, he pulls off a few scenes and makes a completely unwatchable Roohaniyat little bearable. As an actor, he gets to explore a lot from moments of Kabir Singh to going full nude in a scene.

Again, since the plot is unbelievable, how can the costumes be left behind. Our lead hero walks out of prison like a hero. He has grown hair which obviously, automatically garners attention. When you get done checking out his hairstyle, then you realize that this hero is wearing a crisp white shirt and jeans. Remember, he is just out of prison.

Kanika Mann's entry as Prisha is as cheesy as it can get. She rides on a cycle as tonnes of red balloons float in the air. Honestly, TV needs to get a reality check. Girls are more than just pretty dreams. While Yuvika Chaudhary's entry as Ishanvi was with flowers, here there are balloons. What's next? Flying unicorns?

As if you don't already get the vibe, the show officially gets creepy after a given point. Even if this doesn't come as a surprise, bullying is encouraged on the show and becomes a way to be friends. Should we even say more?

You get a hint about what is going to happen in the show very early on. If you need another reason to not watch the show, it is because this one is so predictable that even your yawns are unpredictable in front of it.

If you expect the show to go somewhere good luck. You'll be waiting forever and we literally mean the skeleton sitting on a bench forever. This dreadful show is picked out of Cindrella and Beauty And The Beast and is still their ruined version. We're talking about the fairytales from the 90s and Roohaniyat still beats that to become a bad combination of both. It is what you get when you make Cindrella in a world of Mardaani.

Somehow if you do manage to reach the last episode, although at the face of it, the scene is adorable and part-intriguing, there's nothing new to see here. Even if the story might be good on paper, this show has got almost everything wrong. Including romance, which is the selling point of Roohaniyat.

Verdict:

It wouldn't be wrong to call Roohaniyat TV's attempt at Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon. Everyone is forced to over-act, the background keeps on replaying to make it in-your-face and the story drags on towards the same plotline. There's nothing about Roohaniyat that is worth watching except Arjun in bits and pieces.

Yuvika's role is simply posing for photoshoots while Kanika was asked to cry or throw attitude around almost always because that is how the makers wanted to define girls - either glamorous or dramatic. Girls are not the only target here. Arjun was also se***lized in many scenes, sometimes forcibly (laal tapak raha hai dialogue). In short, the makers do not know what they were doing and as much as we want to forgive them, there is no way to bring our five and a half hours back now, is it? So, don't waste your life behind this show and rather re-watch something you like because even that would be time well-spent.