Little Things Continues To Make A Big Splash, But Enough!

Little Things, Season 4(Netflix)

Starring Mithila Palkar, Dhruv Sehgal

Rating: *** ½

For the last five years  Kavya and Dhruv   have been part  of our lives. Their little-little problems, little-little fights  and little-little relationship issues  gave the  Little Things  franchise an inner power  and energy to outsource its  appeal to a cross-section of 20-somethings  who  found a  deep connectivity  with the couple  and  their relationship issues.

Now  in Season  4  , the grounded  franchise bids its not-so-tearful  farewell.At the end of Season 4, Kavya and  Dhruv  are happily engaged, and engaged in  a post-midnight conversation over elaichee  chai and antacids on  what their future  holds for them . How much  of the responsibility would the two of them share  when they have a child? Such hypothetical  questions made me fearful  for  the future: not  Dhruv-Kavya’s  but the  future  of  the series. We really don’t need to know any more  about this couple, They have made peace with their differences.God bless  them.

A lot of the Franchise’s feisty charm came  from  the chemistry between the lead players.  Dhruv and Kavya are by now, not just a onscreen couple going from cute to catty .They are  part of our lives.  One minute they are loveydovey the  next minute  they seem lost in their own individual  universe. Isn’t that how it is  in real life?

When  Season 4 begins Kavya and  Dhruv are  holidaying  in Kerala. At the end of the holiday ,I was not sure what  the  vacation did to their relationship but it will certainly  do a wealth of good  for  Kerala tourism. There are no  specially  interesting  encounters  in  the Kerala sojourn  except a grumpy  tourist guide whom Dhruv, ever-judgmental, hates on sight. She  soon  has him eating   out of her hands,  literally.There is also an interesting lunch apppointent with Dhruv’s boss and  his  foreigner  life  which  doesn’t go the way it is expected  to. The  unexpected is always welcome in Little Things.

Once  back in Mumbai, Season 4 begins to splutter and  choke like a  guest that has overstayed its welcome. In one  of the later  episode  a cornea scratch provides the  much-needed dramatic impetus. I don’t know whether it is intentional. But Dhruv comes across as  an essentially selfish half of the partnership, trying hard to be  caring and cool. But we can see how much effort it takes him to think beyond himself.

When Dhruv in a  fit  of anger(he admits to temper-management issues earlier in Kerala  during a  boat ride) accidently  hits  Kavya in  the  eye, he continues to rant  about his broken souvenirs from Kerala rather than attend  immediately to  Kavya’s damaged eye. I was reminded of the “caring” husband  in  the French film  Force Majeure who fled with his  mobile phone when his  family’s life was threatened.

There are indications that  this  relationship may collapse under the  burden of  selfabsorption. I hope it’s not true. But  really, we’ve seen enough of  Kavya and Dhruv and wish them all the best. Wish we could say  the same  about the supporting cast.Talented actors  like  Loveleen Mishra(as Dhruv’s mother) are buried in the rubble  of  relegated relaltionships  as Dhruv and Kavya examine with   verbal  vigour the dos and don’ts  of a modern  urban relationship.They come across as  real relatable and  committed to  making their relationship work.

Little Things will always  hold a unique place in the  OTT clutter. It  gave us  vivid glimpses into  a modern relationship. What we saw wasn’t always as  smart and funny as  the  makers  of the series  thought it to be. But  there  was enough chutzpah here to chew on  while it lasted.  Incidentally Dhruv Sehgal is billed as  ‘creator’ of  the series. Dear God!