The title makes it clear. No surprises here. Don’t complain that you haven’t been warned. Do remember to turn down the volume.
The ZEE5 series Bakaiti – nonsensical talk in Hindi – is about the Katarias from Ghaziabad. That old saying about a family that fights together but stays together? It sounds rubbishy – bakaiti, actually – but applies to the Katarias, who start and end their days by sniping at each other at high volume.
The lawyer Sanjay (Rajesh Tailang) lives in his ancestral house with his wife Sushma (Sheeba Chadha), daughter Naina (Tanya Sharma) and son Bharat (Aditya Shukla). There’s also Sanjay’s father-in-law (Ramesh Rai), who is addicted to his phone.
The family is struggling financially, forcing Sanjay to rent out a room. His children react hysterically, but are forced to accept the inevitable. It helps that the tenant, Chirag (Keshav Sadhna), is personable, especially to Naina.
But the problems are never-ending. Like the water meter in the house that nobody remembers to turn off on time, the Katarias have forgotten what it means to be a family. They turn on each other so vigorously that you expect a murder or two. The siblings are especially adept at slanging matches so loud, mean-spirited and hurtful that it’s a marvel neither them falls to a brain aneurysm.
Bakaiti, written by Gunjan Saxena, Neha Pawar and Sheetal Kapoor and with Arnav Chakravarty as showrunner, wants you to get behind the Katarias despite their nerve-shredding behaviour. The creators and director Ameet Guptha firmly believe that even as the characters explode and implode in flamboyant fashion, they have enough love among themselves to rally when the muck unerringly hits the fan.
Sanjay’s woes are tied up with his terrible equation with his brother Ajay (Parvinder Jit Singh). When they share the same room, another battlefront opens up. It’s all quite exhausting – the eardrum-shattering squabbles, the overwrought emotions, the unavoidable suspicion that this lot is better off without each other.
The Katarias’ claim to redemption is questionable. What the seven-episode Bakaiti does well is to reveal how a low bank balance can emotionally bankrupt a family.
Very few shows or films are exploring the harsh effects of low income on the average Indian family. Beneath Bakaiti’s fussy comedy simmers the immense distress that is brought on by forced sacrifices and compromises, academic dreams shot to bits, regular reminders of impending doom.
Sheeba Chadha and Rajesh Tailang are typically solid – Chadha is especially fantastic in a scene where she goes after her children. Tanya Sharma and Aditya Shukla turn out to be the surprise package. Although Shukla’s Bharat initially appears thuggish and obnoxious, and Sharma’s Naina flies off the handle too often, their equation is believable, touching and the source of occasional hope.
