WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The “art” of being able to successfully navigate a lucrative career via owning one’s own business while also maintaining a fulfilling personal life can, at minimum, be a slippery slope. For while the sheer amount of work involved to see both of these elements of our journey co-exist in harmony, how much more challenging is it when the troubles and travails of others, plus the world at large, collide with us as well? In the city of Delhi, Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan (Arjun Mathur) run a prolific but still growing business as wedding planners. Even as Tara deals with pressures of her shaky marriage to successful entrepreneur Adil (Jim Sarbh) and Karan faces the relentless specters of harsh discrimination and self-made financial distress, the pair must also face a myriad of moral decisions via ever-present but unanticipated revelations exposed about their various clients, making it an uncertainty if anyone will make it through it all untouched and unchanged–much less for better or worse.
Next, my Mind:
This critic has been expounding on the utter magnitude of talents coming out of the South Asian film realms for quite some time now, as it is more than fair to say between Bollywood’s veterans to the fresh young talents amongst the directing community there, it is a seriously untapped kaleidoscope of worthwhile entertainment to be had that we as Americans are truly missing out on if we haven’t taken the chance to check some of it out. A (pardon the unintentional…well…pun here) PRIME example is when you have not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR of the South Asian industry’s rising star filmmakers collaborating on a single streaming series together, in this case, the Amazon Prime-based project this review is focused on. With Nitya Mehra, Zoya Akhtar, Prashant Nairm AND Alankrita Shrivastava all providing their directing capabilities, mastery, and –how can this NOT be a recipe for success. That is more than showcased here as you are about to read below.
Actually making it to the literal or proverbial words “I do” becomes more than a little problematic for the multitude of couples we are witness to over the course of this 9-episode South Asian-created streaming series featured on Amazon Prime and brought to us from director/executive producer Mehra, writer/director/executive producer Akhtar, director Nair, writer/director Shrivastava, writer/executive producer Reema Kagti, co-producers Vikesh Bhutani and Kassim Jagmagia, and executive producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani which sees a pair of stalwart but personally troubled wedding planners in Delhi vying to have their business, Made In Heaven, rise to become the most exclusive event company around. Needless to say, the ability to get things off the ground may have occurred, but maintaining it while also encountering the demands and challenges of their clients is less than a road so easily traveled.
When I first was lead to this series, my initial concern was “Oh great, this is really just a LARGE ensemble cast-based soap opera”, which wouldn’t have fallen within my usual wheelhouse normally. Now, while it is very safe to say that there ARE that grander genre’s elements present here, it is thanks to the series’ intelligent writing paired with a highly adept group of directors and producers that elevate the concept and provide not only the necessary entertainment quotient, but likewise a quite potent immersion into a myriad of social and culture-centric themes which make the foundational narrative here deeply relevant, relatable, and accessible to us as the viewing audience. All of this is then wrapped within the context of the individual weddings portrayed, those involved, and the equally varying dilemmas that each one faces, even as the planning company attempts, more often than not, to save the day and ideally ensure their client’s happiness.
Ultimately tackling traditionalism vs. modernism as a core exploration spread out over the nine weddings we are privy to, the cascade of facets illuminated by them cover everything from couple’s buried secrets, marriage as more of a business arrangement than love, seemingly rushed relationships, familial manipulation, unconventional choices about funding the event, marriages of convenience, religious conflicts, selfish ulterior motives, love at a price, and political cover-ups and corruption of power. With all of this and then some having to be confronted by the two main protagonists, the series ALSO manages to beautifully, feasibly, and not at all forcefully interweave their own inward and outward trials that delve with equal amounts of substance and evocative depth into notions about marital strife, infidelity, sexual orientation and its prejudices, seeking redemption from past and current mistakes, loyalty in business and as friends, cultural stigmas, and misguided perceptions.
Amidst all this drama, I have to point out the lush cinematography that captures the opulent grandeur of each and every wedding that’s depicted, adding a visual richness to the series that is absolutely stunning, at least for this critic. The series music score from Tarana Marwah and Gaurav Raina likewise brings so many of the scenes the perfect level of desired atmosphere, whether joyful or somber and everything in between. Need I say it once more, vast ensemble casts are so amazingly engaging to watch when the right people are chosen for the right roles, and here is a definitively excellent group. Dhulipala and Mathur share such palpable and realistically natural chemistry as Made In Heaven’s owners Tara and Karan, two highly driven individuals who may sometimes butt heads as to how certain business decisions are made, but ultimately always have each other’s backs with a demonstrated devotion that is paramount to their professional and personal lives.
Tara, with her somewhat haunted past when it comes to her assessing who she really is while having to face a current marital instability is alone a stirringly emotional journey to witness, which makes seeing her navigate it across the episodes more and more dynamic and interesting, with Dhulipala bursting with emotive power. Karan is having to handle his own best kept secret even as financial woes constantly plague him and a nosy landlord makes a choice that upends his world forever. But, it’s seeing how Karan must face his demons but also rise up and stand firm for what he believes in while still keeping focus on the business that truly makes him someone to root for, and Mathur is an energetic, impassioned force to be reckoned with in the role. As initially mentioned above, it’s the tangibly noticeable interactions between the two leads throughout the season that lends itself so well to getting to fully understand their characters and have the due amount of empathy for them through the victories and defeats they meet and try to stand up to.
Primary supporting roles are brought to wonderfully vivid and integral life by Jim Sarbh as Tara’s well-to-do and possibly unfaithful husband Adil, a successful businessman in his own right and very much the factor behind Tara’s ability to build Made In Heaven. But, is she really his love or just another piece of arm candy? Kalki Koechlin is Tara’s best friend Faiza who is yet another battling image and self-esteem issues, but in what ways and at what cost? Shashank Arora is Kabir, Made In Heaven’s resident videographer and a perfect everyman whose humor and light-hearted yet practical approach to his job and life sometimes clash a bit with co-workers and clients alike, but always with his heart in the right place. Shivani Raghuvanshi is Jaspreet (or “Jazz”), a new recruit to the Made In Heaven staff whose charmingly innocent demeanor and desire to please could be hiding larger issues she faces in her life. Natasha Singh is Shibani, Made In Heaven’s office manager, a no-nonsense woman who might still feel that her value and needed appreciation could be lacking compared to the level of work she produces.
Zachary Coffin is Adam, a high stakes investor that Adil is trying to have look at his new company. Vinay Pathak, Ayesha Raza, and Yashaswini Dayama arrive as Ramesh, Karan’s overly curious landlord, Renu his wife who sides with him when things go awry with their tenant, and Mital, their daughter whose empathy for Karan causes possible issues with her parents. Dalip Tahil and Natasha Rastogi appear as Tara’s in-laws Kishore and Bindu, Manish Mishra enters as Pant, a planning assistant at MIH, Vijay Raaz as Karan’s not-so-amicable and unscrupulously manipulative money lender Jauhari, Satyajit Sharma and Preeti Mamgain as Karan’s parents Gautam and Devyani, Neel Madhav as Karan’s brother Arjun, then a laundry list of those playing all the wedding couples, family, and associated characters throughout the season including Pavail Gulati, Aditi Joshi, Dalai, Manjot Singh, Pulkit Samrat, Deepti Naval, Rahul Vohra, Meher Mistry, Charu Shankar, Aman Bhagat, Shweta Tripathi, Anjum Sharma, Ikhlaque Khan, Anuradha Rajadhyaksha, Ramakant Dayma, Madhuri D. Bandiwedkar, Yaaneea Bharadwaj, Rajnish Jaiswal, Manka Kaur, Inderpal Singh, Sahidur Rahaman, Preetika Chawla, Tanmay Dhanania, Avantika Akerkar, and Denzil Smith.
Continuing, we also see Shishir Sharma, Amrita Laljee, Dhairya Karwa, Amrita Puri, Surendra Pal, Maanvi Gagroo, Lalit Behl, Sonali Sachdev, Rasika Dugal, Vijay Gupta, Trisha Kale, Aakriti Sharma, Karan Mally, Pravishi Das, Ravish Desai, Anhad Singh, Shalva Kinjawadekar, Saket Sharma, Manini Mishra, Sanjay Dadich, Krishnakali Ganguli, and an ongoing list of additional supporting actors. Honestly, it is, in my opinion, extremely difficult to have this many involved in a single project, regardless of format, and maintain the level of quality in even the most brief of screen time, but those listed above AND all the others who make a showing truly put forth incredible efforts as their respective characters and ALL of them should be given just credit for it. a hearty “BRAVO!!” to ALL the cast. Truly astounding for this critic. So, in total, “Made In Heaven” Season 1 is another top shelf South Asian series that more than deserves a second season for us to be able to invest even more time in these highly memorable lead characters and all the others that orbit around them, delivering poignant, relevant, stirring entertainment.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
