There’s a lovely informality to Marathi that doesn’t preclude respect. Children and elders alike can be addressed as “tu” rather than “tumhi” once familiarity has been established. The Marathi show Aga Aai Aaho Aai turns on this hallmark of the language and Maharashtrian culture.
The title of Varun Narvekar’s engaging series on Zee5 loosely translates as “Dear Mother, Dear Mother”, but the differences lies in the emphasis. The birth mother is always “aga” while the mother-in-law is the more formal “aaho”. Shreya (Hruta Durgule), who’s recently married Anish (Suyog Gorhe), is discovering the nuances of this distinction one snafu at a time.
While Shreya and Anish live by themselves in Pune, they frequently run into their respective parents and the extended family. Shreya’s mother Janaki (Renuka Shahane) is put out that Shreya has already warmed to her mother-in-law Sunita (Nirmiti Sawant). It’s hard not to, given that Sunita is the kind of woman whom you want to tightly hug at first sight.
Not that Janaki, with her dancing eyes and wide smile, is any less affectionate. So when Shreya blurts out that Sunita is her second mother, Janaki is upset.
The stage is set for a soap opera about competitive matriarchs trying to out-barb each other. That stage remains empty in Aga Aai Aaho Aai, which instead celebrates motherhood while also exploring a modern young couple’s integration into the rites and rituals of married life.
The emphasis is on navigation through calm waters, with minor adventures that keep the characters occupied and keep the laughs coming. Each of the six episodes sees Shreya grappling with a minor crisis that involves the counsel of either Janaki or Sunita.
There are moments when Shreya is overwhelmed, feels taken for granted, or regrets her impetuousness. A wise remark here and a thoughtful gesture there pulls Shreya back from the brink.
Aga Aai Aaho Aai does have a way of flirting with disaster but then quickly finding a new object of affection – an approach that sometimes takes the attention away from the two mothers.
Sunita’s family is from Kolhapur, which leads to good-natured jokes about Kolhapuri spice versus Puneri temperance. Shreya doesn’t care for religious ceremonies, but learns that there are benefits to such functions (I am here mainly for the gossip, an aunt confesses.)
Everyone else’s daughter and mother-in-law is always better – this is among the casual and yet accurate insights lobbed by the show’s makers. While the first season is mainly about Shreya’s journey, Varun too gets embroiled in his own version of ‘aga’ and ‘aaho’.
Kalyani Pandit’s screenplay is very good with situational humour, dialogue that sounds natural and familiar characters. The family here is like an all-enveloping blanket, one you might want to have for yourself.
Any viewer raised on a diet of dysfunctional family dramas might begin to wonder what Aga Aai Aaho Aai is leading up to, whether they have been sold a fake battle of the moms, if the characters are simply too good to be true. The series manages to be sweet without being syrupy, with Shreya adding welcome tartness every now and then.
The three main female actors bring their respective strengths to their roles: Renuka Shahane as the proper and sensible mother who learns to recalibrate her expectations from her daughter; Nirmiti Sawant as the adorable mother-in-law with the raspy voice and the deep-seated laugh; Hruta Durgule as the frequently fraught young woman on a learning curve that’s actually steeper than it looks.
