This week has truly been all about bringing back the good vibes on screen. At first, Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor bring back romcoms to the big screen with Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and now, the renowned comedy shows creator Aatish Kapadia along with actor-writer Jamnadas Majethia (JD) announce the return of wholesome comedy on the small screen with Happy Family – Conditions Apply. Having been a fan of shows such as Khichdi and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (both created by Aatish Kapadia), I had reasonably high expectations from the Amazon Prime Video series. I am happy to report that it almost fulfills my needs.
Appearing as a much-needed respite from serious, intense series, Happy Family – Conditions Apply brings a family of four generations — Raj Babbar and Ratna Pathak Shah heading the family, Atul Kulkarni and Ayesha Jhulka playing their son and daughter-in-law and Raunaq Kamdar, Meenal Sahu and Sanah Kapur doubling up as their children. The youngest couple also has a son. Spread across 10 episodes, Happy Family puts an upper-middle-class Gujarati family’s lives in focus, all while being relative.
From subjects such as dealing with the son’s decision to break away to form a nuclear family to doubting your loyal servant when there is a robbery and a taunting mother-in-law, the situations penned by Aatish and JD are everything you’d expect to happen at home. While the writers and makers don’t see the situations through the lens of course correction, they do preach when necessary, following the age-old formula of using smartly written situations and quirky characters to convey the message.
As simple as drinking alcohol from a steel glass, Hemlata (Ratna Pathak Shah) conveys that she is as modern as she could get but to ensure that she doesn’t cause inconvenience and discomfort with her actions, she chooses to drink from a steel glass. An example of a smartly written scene.
What works the best for the show is the simple yet smartly written scenes and dialogues. Creator Aatish Kapadia mentioned in News18 Showsha’s interview that he and JD incorporated scenes and lines that they came across during weddings in their community and general gathering. It is this adaptation that shows the makers are not trying hard to be funny and are resorting to vanilla humour that will crack you up in every alternative scene, something that the OTT space has been missing for a while now.
What also works brilliantly for the show are the actors, especially the veterans. Ratna Pathak Shah is undoubtedly the star of the series, playing the eccentric Hemlata who seems like a perfect amalgamation of Jayshree, Hansa (played by Vandana Pathak and Supriya Pathak respectively in Khichdi), and Monisha (played by Rupali Ganguly in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai). Ratna’s unconventional character holds the series together. It is refreshing to see a mellow Raj Babbar return to the screen. He smoothly complements a loud Ratna with his sober performance.
Meanwhile, watching Atul and Ayesha in elements outside their traditional genres comes as a surprise. Atul’s character Ramesh Dholakia’s obsession with offering medicines to any Tom, Dick, and Harry just because he’s a pharmacist is something you never usually see Atul do and he unintentionally leaves you in splits. Ayesha lights up our screen as she did back in the 90s with her breezy performance.
The ladies of the younger generation do hold a strong ground in front of the veterans, especially Meenal and Sanah. I personally loved that they are given enough screen time to perform, giving audiences enough space to invest in their characters.
Now, for the conditions applied — the show might be all things nostalgia but it doesn’t go beyond that. Aatish and JD play it safe, resisting a few formulas to tickle the funny bone but the first four episodes haven’t given enough to take away a hook line, something like a ‘Hansaaa’ from Khichdi or ‘Meri Momma’ from Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. One needs to give the series a little more time to grow on you.
Bottom line: In a world of binge-watching, Happy Family — Conditions Apply tries to bring back a weekly dose of entertainment and seems to work in its favour. If you are looking for all things nostalgic, I’d suggest investing your time in Happy Family — Conditions Apply.
