Here is a review of TVF’s Tripling Season 2 which failed to pull at my heartstrings, the way TVF normally does.
The Viral Fever’s web series, Tripling, in its first season, was a simple yet extraordinary story of three siblings on a life-changing Road Trip. At TVF, the creators and storytellers have always been masters at telling real stories, which breathe with the common folk and are easy to digest. It started with ‘Permanent Roommates’ in 2014, post which TVF along with its subsidiary channel The Timeliners has been partially successful in creating one after the other entertaining yet meaningful web-series.
Tripling itself was a unique yet understandable idea, however, in its second instalment it became nothing else, but a desperate attempt at holding onto the previously created tropes. Be it Amol Parashar’s Chitvan saying “Baba, you’re beautiful” or Sumeet Vyas’s Chandan being done with his sibling’s antics, we have seen it all. So, to watch the three siblings again on a road trip for over five hours becomes futile, unless the purpose of the journey and the story keeps one hooked.
This is the second problem; the story and screenplay appear to be in shambles. Here the classic one episode-one city format from the previous season is repeated and is focused at bringing the ‘Banjh Jija Ji’ back. However, the purpose of this journey never gets close to your heart and at several times the journey itself doesn’t seem arbitrary, it seems planned and mechanical. I enjoyed Chandan’s 5-minute tiny dream sequence from his childhood at the beginning of episode 4, where the three siblings are finding their pet, more than the whole journey itself. That little sequence itself reminded me of the “Yeh Meri Family” kind of storytelling.
At this point, I realised what TVF is trying to do, ever since the beginning of the first episode, even its name being “Mada Faka” and the opening sequence being the overly popular and hilarious sequence of Chitvan playing DJ at Rajput Palace, or the lovely close to my heart background score, or the endearing characters. TVF is tring its best to make you nostalgic for the previous instalment and thriving of its popularity. Alas! It has lost its novelty and by the time the series ended, I wasn’t even laughing at the jokes which were actually funny.
Although, it was not all for waste, Tripling Season 2 is also very smart at several places, the notion of changes made to a novel for turning it into a movie, consciously setting a feud about a non-existing issue regarding a film in Rajasthan and violence on the sets (cough! Padmaavat cough!), Begum Zainab appearing to be a young woman stuck in a loveless marriage, for it to turn around or Chitvan and his boss-like demanding, social activist Lawyer, and ‘Woman’ of the House Girlfriend, these all all point towards conscious efforts that remind the audience, why they fell in love with the show in the first place.
Similarly, some might say that Gajraj Rao’s seemingly regressive Nawab Sahab, Shweta Tripathi’s bold and brilliant Begum and Rajit Kapoor’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshi were incomplete cameos, for me they brought an air of originality and meaning, mostly because of their respective performances. A tiny note of appreciation for Mr. Gajraj Rao who plays even the smallest of his roles with utmost sincerity and hard work. His goofy yet Nawabi presence itself made me smile.
Even though the series did not do much for me, I cannot take away credit from where it’s due. G Srinavas Reddy’s cinematography, with gorgeous long wide shots of different cities and Music (background score and the songs) were beautifully done. The three leads and their performances were also commendable, giving a boost to an otherwise bland story with their sincerity.
All that being said, to the fellow TVF Fans, you might feel disappointed, but don’t skip it because TVF’s Tripling is smart at places and reminds you why you fell in love with this form of storytelling. Watch it, for it does achieve what TVF might have wanted to achieve in the first place, it does make one nostalgic!
Image Credits: Mumbai Live
Sakshi Arora
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