It’s Not That Simple Review (Voot webseries)

Starring Swara Bhaskar, Purab Kohli,Sumeet Vyas, Vivan Bhatena

Directed  by Danish Aslam

Rating: ***

Some sharp writing  and plotting curves, not to mention  a certain maturity in the level of  some of the  performances makes Voot’s  new webseries It’s Not That Simple  an enjoyable leisure activity.

The language used  strikes  a  chord . The exchanges among the metropolitan  characters  may not reek of Confucian wisdom. But they sure as hell ring a bell.

And the bell of the  ball(not averse  to breaking into  a bawl, or a brawl) Swara Bhaskara is  in complete charge of her mercurial ambitious selfseeking practical and yet sensitive  character Meera’s inner world. Meera is  no snivelling apologetic  discarded relic of  a post-feminist world.

She is an architect  with designs  on the good life.She may dodder on high heels. But that won’t stop her from getting where she wants to.

In Season 1 Swara was gawky and uncertain. Now  in Season 2 she has metamorphosed into a  more assertive spunky spirited woman of the world who is not afraid to  confront her sexuality and  her needs, bodily and otherwise.

The series takes us through her rapidly-flowing  interaction  with the 3 men in her life.

 Make  it  4. There is also an ex-husband , played  with selfdeprecating sensibleness by Karanveer Mehra who  was seen trying to have sex with Meera and  answering messages in his face in the first season. Now he does  neither.hhis wife Meera has moved on leaving their 10-year  old daughter to  his care.

 Three men  seem interested in her. Meera’s interaction with the brooding media baron Angad(Purab Kohli) is the  most  interesting  of all. Somone calls Meera  a ‘c..ktease’. Angad is the tease of the opposite kind. He’s forever  ribbing Meeraabout their sexual encounters that never happen.

There  is a touch  of  bantering bitchiness and libidinous playfulness in the tone of narration which  prevents theseselfimportant characters  from looking  ridiculous. The writing is  coherent and the incidental characters such as the dirty-talking aunt(Shobha Khote)move into the script fairly  organically.

But clearly the focus here is on Swara  who looks svelte and gives her character a heft and heave that never seem manufactured . Some of the  dialogues do sound like bumpersticker wisdom and whatsapp forwards. On the whole though the series gets the balls in the holes.