Salt City is uneven yet engaging, with some fine observations about frayed masculinity

At the cost of giving a major spoiler at the outset, I want to talk about the most impactful scene of Salt City , the latest web series on SonyLiv - a primary character, who has just been accused of sexual abuse (and is guilty of it), goes to talk to someone close to the abuse survivor. At this point, you expect the accused to either make up lies or defend himself. The accused here loses his temper instead and begins to shriek, showing a kind of violent aggression that he had kept hidden all this while. It shocks us because we realize that despite his dastardly acts being out in public, this man still cannot stop himself from making such a disturbing display of his entitlement, the entitlement that comes from being successful, and more importantly, from being a man. Though Salt City begins with the promises of a story about a dysfunctional family in Mumbai, a family whose roots lie in North India (Lucknow, to be precise), it gradually becomes clear that the show is as much interested in underlining the many forms of frayed masculinity which really hold the roots of most underlying troubles here. ‘Salt City’ isn’t consistent in its telling. For the longest stretches, the show keeps itself busy establishing the interpersonal dynamics among the many characters here and the audience might find their patience being tested in anticipation of one major event that raises the stakes. The philosophical musings and metaphor-laden monologues about Mumbai and its moral corruption feel excessive and forced at many occasions. And yet, it’s the way it captures the insecurities of its men that makes ‘Salt City’ an engaging watch overall. Harish Bajpai ( Piyush Mishra ), the patriarchal head, continues to harbor a great deal of cynicism and resentment towards the city despite having built a stable and financially secured life there, blaming its air and salt for all the bitterness that has evaded the human nature, including the relationships around him. It is never clear what makes him so cynical - though granted, it has led him estranged from his eldest son Aman (Manish Anand). For a while, the show seems to agree with Harish about his bitterness. (It’s not a surprise, then, that the show initially pitches Aman as the most unlikeable character of the lot, showing him as excessively lofty in his ambitions, even at the cost of losing relationships or empathy – His greed and hunger for success are what makes him not so noble, the show tells us.) Initially, we want to empathize with Harish who still feels out of place in a fast-moving city and has been reminded of his migrant status far too often (as evident in his conversation with a Marathi Cop at a local police station) - until we realize that he might not be such a morally admirable man, to begin with. It is established early on that Harish has been having an affair with a family friend (who also happens to be an influential government officer) which nobody in his family is aware of. It’s gradually we realize that Harish has no courage to own the relationship - he is ashamed of it and views it from a lens of shame and disrespect. (He is also the kind of man who still doesn’t flinch before getting violent and abusive towards Saurabh, his youngest and most disappointing son.) Meanwhile, Aman and Nikhil, two elder sons of the family are both ambitious and insecure about their place in the system. And even though they seem unlike each other - Aman is more aggressive, while Nikhil seems mild-mannered - they turn out to be two sides of the same coin. As one of the family members unveils a major secret about a tragedy from their past, we barely see any concern from Aman or Nikhil about it - their only cause of worry is how it affects their plans to move ahead in life. (Coincidentally, both Aman and Nikhil have moments where they are quoting dialogues from older films, that had ‘Angry young man’ protagonists and believed themselves to be the heroes. Created and directed by Rishabh Anupam Sahay, the show revolves mostly around these men, and how their self-centered decisions impact the lives around them - the show is not proud of any of these men, and it shows. Saurabh (played by an ever-reliable Divyendu Sharma) remains a partial exception. The youngest son of the house, Saurabh is a weed-smoking carefree lad who takes it one day at a time, going on long drives with his beau and cousin Ela while his brothers are thinking of how to expand their business ventures.  Saurabh is not without his flaws, though. He barely shows a desire to have a career. When his cousin’s wedding is fixed, Saurabh initiates a background check against the prospective groom, a callous misstep that comes back to hit him in a devastating way. It’s the excessively dismissive and derisive attitude of other men in the family that make us root for Saurabh. He is the only one whose follies the writers seem to empathize with, and the closest we have to a protagonist here, despite being the black sheep of the family. However, the most emblematic of everything wrong with toxic masculinity is someone who is the most distant from them all, from the city that is apparently to blame for it. Harish’s only daughter Eisha (Eisha Chopra) is married to Sukesh (Jitin Gulati), a successful entrepreneur, and they live in Bangalore. Through brief flashbacks, we are informed about Sukesh’s meteoric rise in his business ventures despite little encouragement from his in-laws, especially Aman - and Sukesh holds a grudge for it years later. Always referred to as “Sukesh Ji” by his father-in-law, Sukesh keeps exercising his authority and entitlement in no subtle ways. There is an effective scene around a family gathering happening roof-top, where all the family members keep standing while the two available chairs are kept vacant for the “Jamaais” of the house. In another scene, feeling mildly threatened by Nikhil’s attempts to exploit his privilege, Sukesh arbitrarily decides to punish him and see him suffer, as he locks him inside a room with a bee hive. It’s these petty games of oneupmanship these men game playing with each other - and it’s the women who suffer in ways both covert and overt, most of whom find some way to cope - Eisha never shares her true feelings about having a child with Sukesh, secretly planning to get rid of it somehow. Triveni (Navni Parihar) remains a perfectly harmless homemaker who is barely seen taking a stand ever for her children or against her husband Harish.  The portrayal of Gunjan (Gauhar Khan), Aman’s wife remains the only blind spot in this show.  We never understand her motivations or vagary as she first seems to initiate a relationship outside her marriage - the writers too abruptly abandon that arc, possibly realizing that the narrative has too many things happening at once. The show however chooses Ela (an excellent Monica Chaudhary), the orphaned daughter of Harish’s younger brother who lives with the Bajpai family, to be the parallel protagonist (alongside Saurabh) who bears most of the brunt due to all the displays of frayed masculinity around her. When we first see her, Ela is having a relaxed moment with Saurabh as they share a joint together on their rooftop. She is presented to us as a laidback, as carefree about life as her favorite cousin Saurabh if not more. However, it’s only gradually that the show explores her complexes and a troubled past that keeps stopping her from toeing the line any further. Ela has agreed to an arranged marriage but doesn’t hesitate in drawing a boundary with her fiance. It is the scenes around Ela dealing with her issues that remain the most poignant moments of the show, and it is eventually through a crisis in Ela’s life that the show aggressively tackles most of its themes and elements in the last couple of episodes. These final stretches feel a little too clumsy and in-your-face in their commentary and resolution - and yet, it doesn’t take away from some fine strides ‘Salt City’ makes earlier in its run-time. BH Harsh is a film critic who spends most of his time watching movies and making notes, hoping to create, as Peggy Olsen put it, something of lasting value. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.