'Thode Door Thode Paas' Web-series Review: Pankaj Kapur, Mona Singh, Kunal Roy Kapur are earnest in a hushed, hurried show

Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Mona Singh, Kunal Roy Kapur, Ayesha Kaduskar, Sartaj Singh, Gurpreet Saini

Director: Ajay Bhuyan

Language: Hindi

Back in 2002, Fardeen Khan and Amrita Arora starred in this romantic drama called Kitne Door Kitne Paas. Destiny brought chalk and cheese together. They met, drifted apart, and then the inevitable happy ending. 23 years later, director Ajay Bhuyan has made a show called Thode Door Thode Paas, starring Pankaj Kapur, Mona Singh, Kunal Roy Kapur, Ayesha Kaduskar, Sartaj Singh, Gurpreet Saini. This is a five-episode series that could have been a movie since every episode is roughly 25-30 minutes long. And the good thing is the makers don’t feel the nauseating necessity to end every episode on a cliffhanger. They are not desperate to force the viewers to click on the next one immediately. And just like the aforementioned film that came and bombed, this series also tries to exploit its title with middling results. Why this moniker? Well, let’s get down to the gist.

A family comprises a designer, a numerologist, a technology addict, and a student. Technology is their best friend and helping hand. Comes the ultimate patriarch of the family- The always refined and rousing Pankaj Kapur. He’s now 71, but the baritone and gait are just as effective. He barely raises his voice and yet the booming effect can be felt, and this has been the case ever since the unforgettable Maqbool roughly two decades back. He craves and cries for his family time (not attention but fruitful time). He offers a bribe of digital detox and the family gets to inherit wealth worth crores. It’s an offer they don’t refuse and face alarming repercussions later.

The idea is juicy and instantly fascinating. What if we have to quit using phones, television, and any form of technology for as long as six months. Mona Singh, who’s clearly having her cake and eating it too this year, plays a part that doesn’t demand histrionics. Kunal, the uproarious star of Delhi Belly, finally gets something he can chew upon. More than the performances, it’s the circumstances around the characters the show sheds light on. How the lack of technology affects a family severely slaved by it. And how the old-school Pankaj Kapur, the puritan patriarch, stays as cool as a cucumber.

Thode Door Thode Paas title has more connotations than one. It’s about a family going away from what they need the most, it’s also about a family coming together when it goes away from what it needs the most. It’s all done without reliance on screechy melodrama but it needed more time to stay and hold on to our emotions and attention. As expected, we do get scenes where we can clearly see how these people, the Mehtas, are getting impacted by their new lives, but the conflicts are resolved too hastily with the final episode refusing to delve deeper into what actually happens when they get what they wanted the most back. There’s an expected reunion and repentance ala Baghban but we don’t know how their lives change post. We needed another episode maybe to know more about their lives after a brief altercation in the house. Maybe Thode Door Thode Paas needed Thoda Aur Time.

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

Thode Door Thode Paas is now streaming on Zee5