 "'Dupahiya' web-series review: Gajraj Rao and Renuka Shahane shine in this heartland comedy")
Cast: Gajraj Rao, Sparsh Shrivastava, Renuka Shahane, Bhuvan Arora
Director: Sonam Nair
Language: Hindi
Dupahiya translates to two-wheeler. This is a show on Prime Video that talks about a village that has been corruption free for 25 years. The suspension of disbelief begins and ends here. But this part of the story is also something you wish stood true in reality. But there’s also a parallel track about a wedding and the necessity and greed for changing the groom the last moment. Dupahiya is yet another rooted and rustic comedy that aims to highlight the stark and silly (in good ways) reality of the people of the heartland. It has shades of Panchayat.
It’s not easy to write down what all happens in the show. It’s one mayhem after another ala any Priyadarshan movie of the early 2000s. The Dupahiya plays a crucial role in the narrative and quite a chaotic one too. It’s a satirical take on greed and ambitions, power and politics. And the actors all are refined names that get the nuances of their characters right. Gajraj Rao and Renuka Shahane are always a delight to watch and so is Sparsh Shrivastava. And it would be lovely to see more of Bhuvan Arora. The surprise of the lot is Shivani Raghuvanshi.
It’s tricky to weave a story around chaos as it can get puerile. Even riskier is to base it in a village. Small-town humour can be most pretentious but Dupahiya, although far from perfect and bringing with it that been-there-done-that feeling, does raise a few chuckles. Theatrically, it’s all the old success that are coming back on the big screen, exposing the herd mentality of Bollywood again. If tiredness or laziness don’t allow you to step out, Dupahiya could be a harmless watch. And also a fresh one. This ain’t no a re-release for effect.
Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)
Dupahiya is now streaming on Prime Video IN
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