Gutar Gu Delivers A Disarming Cliché

Gutar Gu(Amazon miniTV, 6 Episodes)

Rating: *** ½

The most familiar songs  of  life are the most  comforting. Diving daintily  into the comfort  of the familiar  Gutar Gu  emerges with a show that is warmly welcoming,  although once we are in, we  cannot help wondering where  the Bhopal based savvy-girl-innocent-boy love  story is  leading up to.

From where we stand the miniseries seems  to have a  core centrality missing. It is pointless but nonetheless  a bit of a smile-inducer in how seriously it takes its two in-love characters.I couldn’t figure who was more in love:  Ritu(Ashlesha Thakur)  and  Anuj(Vishesh Bansal) or the serial writers who seem  to love the  Ritu-Anuj love  more than the couple love each other.

 There  is a  hazy glaze  of  sunshine in the narrative. The writers Garima Kunzru,Gunjan Saxena  and  Saqib Pandor  and the  director Saqib Pandor infuse a  kind of  muted leisurely  familiarity  into the plot. It all feels déjà vu but not in a tiresome way. And  it is  always welcome to see fresh  faces playing virginal  lovebirds.

There is  a feeling of tender  anxiety  and  inexperienced bliss in  Ashlesha Thakur and  Vishesh Bansal’s  screen  presence. He is  eager  and  insecure about the  first kiss.She is confident and  grounded, knowing it will come when it has to.It is apparent to  the  audience that  they are in this  for the  exploratory experience rather than to impress us with their acting skills.

Interestingly the  supporting cast is also new to pan-India audiences.The  series  uses their presence  to give us  an experience which is as comforting  and familiar as  a visit to one of those quaint oldschool funfares where you could  enjoy fun rides , gol gappas and barf ka golas  in your desi Disneyland.And yes, you could buy some bangles for the one you love without making a dent  in your pocket.

The Bhopal ambience is tapped into with a genuine  affection. Everyone  involved with Gutar Gu seems  to have enjoyed the experience. So  who are we to  play the spoilsport? The  script could have shown more flashes of depth  rather than swimming in the shallow waters  even when there  is an opportunity to  dive into the deepend. But the  splash on the surface is  likeable and  comforting and  often reminiscent of  the popular series Gullag, though this  one is more  a boy-girl  love story than a family romance.