Being “benched” is never a good feeling. But this sentiment is not universal in the Sony LIV series Bench Life, which bypasses overachieving corporate workers to instead focus on the nonstarters.
The term means the same in the corporate world as it does inside a football locker room: employees who do not have an active project are benched but with salary. Three back-benchers, played by Vaibhav, Ritika Singh and Charan Peri, turn this situation into a fun little loophole. However, what begins as an inventive take on workplace eccentricities very soon goes down a path on which one too many shows have trodden before.
Like any good office dramas, we have goofballs leading the show. Meenakshi steals to fuel her film dreams. Ravi is a recently married slacker who will do anything to make his impossible Goa trip with the boys possible. Balu, a man in his mid-thirties and the self-anointed ring leader, is awkwardly in love with a manager from another team.
Writer-director Manasa Sharma makes use of the corporate zombie setup quite efficiently to set the mood. Money from salary accounts gets debited as quickly as it gets credited, Telugu-speaking employees struggle to make sense of an American boss. Proxies are routinely swiped for friends who want to bunk work.
Supporting characters and bench recruits include aging ex-police officer Prasad (played by veteran Telugu actor Rajendra Prasad), who wants to make amends with an estranged daughter (Aakanksha Singh) in the same office. Prasad quickly befriends his other benchmates – this delightful generation gap provides some mirth – except the foul-mouthed Balu.
Meenakshi’s story stands out. She is the only person who uses her time to pursue her dreams. She navigates a parade of men telling her why a woman is hardly the perfect candidate for a filmmaker. We’re invested, even if this track dangerously treads close to becoming soapy melodrama.
But not all characters are given such depth. Wife jokes are in unlimited supply thanks to Ravi. It goes from endearing to suffocating a little too quickly for the couple, and for the people on the other side of the screen. For a show that asks women to have a life outside of marriage, this track boxes the wife into being an unappreciated caretaker of a man-child.
Once the newness of its premise wears off, the show’s cracks become visible. The writing is middling, with every one of the five episodes ending on a cheesy dramatic conflict – which often gets conveniently resolved.
Yet, the mini-series manages to keep the laughs going. This is partly due to Vaibhav, who gets the best lines and delivers them brilliantly too. Balu represents that one person in the office who always has his zings locked and loaded. Thus, even when the show veers into predictable sentimental territory, the laughs keep us company.
