Official Chukyagiri

 Spandan Chukya - T nahi K :p 

Story of a small town boy who has big dreams, talent, a good physique and tonne loads of expectations from the City of Dreams - Mumbai (paglaaaaa). He happens to be interning at one of the leading ad agencies for a period of 3 months.

Note - I am surprised by the fascination of TV series makers with the work culture of ad agencies and wedding planning companies. The transformation is worth clapping though, from saas-bahu sagas to stories of young, creative people who just happen to be so good at making ad films or decorating wedding venures. That's all the career options youth of this country have been left with guys!!

Spandan is hard working, honest and innocent. He doesn't really get to do meaningful work at the firm constantly been fought over by egoistic bosses who use him to take on each other. He's made to feel like he's been given the wooden spoon for the effort that he puts in very diligently. Over the course of the series things change for him with people taking a note of his presence. His friendship with Mili, a shy girl who's ignored by her boss Rati, keeps him going but he ends up taking her job at the company. Loses her frienship along with the job by ignoring her feelings towards him. Mili is not a coward, she's just way too clean to deal with the mess at Analog. 

The series ends with Spandan getting a full time opportunity at Analog. Very interestingly he is tested by Dilawar Rana, his boss, whom he does not recognize because he's always hiding behind the drone - infact this is quite interesting and unique and I never saw it in any other series. He clears the loyalty test to the audience's relief but I doubt if such people exist. And even if they do, are they recosgnised for the values they bring in?

An engaging blend of frienship, aspirations, selfishness, corporate life politics and will to do the best in the face of challenges is what this series is all about. 

This review would be incomplete without praising the soothing title track for 'Mera Safar' by Anand Bhaskar which instantly connects with your story, atleast it did for me. 

STAR OF THE SERIES

 

Gonna give to Anand Tiwari for the short but realistic role he played and how! Still keeps the memories of his ex in his heart in a sincere yet disguised hope of being together someday but never lets it come out fearing being seen as a weak person. He knows she is not worth the pain but he can't abandon loving her secretly which turns him into a bitter person he is portrayed as. When they say, you know nothing about the battle people are fighting so being kind is the least you can do, it sounds cliched but every bit of it holds true. 

THAAAAAAANKS FOR READING, READERRRR! 

FLAMES

Teenage brings different memories for each one of us. It is marked by good grades, fun with friends, coffee/beer (whatever soothes the soul :D), broken hearts, first relationships, coaching centre, career anxiety and what not! FLAMES bring to you a simple yet unique story of Rajat, Ishita and their friends who are sailing through this phase, overcoming fears, tasting the flavour of love between padhai and dosti!

I won't be mentioning details like cast, director, release date etc. All this is easily available on one click. As I am posting after 3 odd years, I want to remind my audience which has changed in this duration that that's not what I do on my blogs. I write my opinions and most importantly how the story made me feel and what it meant to me. 

The enforcement of lockdown led to many things; here we will talk about one of them - bingewatching!

After exhausting my Netflix for a continuous two months, I was wondering what to watch next. It was then that I came across The Viral Fever's online channel which came to my resuce with its short, cute teenage series FLAMES. 

The series is based on the life of Delhi based teens Ishita and Rajat and in supporting yet very interesting roles are Anusha and Pandey, who are all juggling between classes, tests, entrance exams, and a teeny weeny bit of coming of age romance. Rajat and Ishita meet at a coaching centre where after some fielding (as guys like to call it), he asks her out for a date which turns out to be much more than that in smaller ways. They spend some quality moment reminiscing the time when Ishita's mom was with her. This brings them coser and they start dating. Although there are some glitches but they are together by the end of Season 1.  

Season 2 is emotionally pretty intense with Rajat's mom finding out about them, confiscating his phone, asking him to break up with Ishita, making him study at home which devastates both of them beyond repair (that's what they feel then). Break-up scene is filmed in a classic Bollywood style with both teens drenched in rain, a rush of feelings in their bones but no one says a word, they just do it. It comes very hard on Ishita, who otherwise is a sensible girl but suffers from the loss of her mother, and is bound to think that letting people close to her ends up hurting her. Rajat is no less pained by their seperation. In the end it works out fine, leaving both of them with some unhealed wounds etched on their innocent hearts, which they want to not touch for the time being. 

STAR OF THE SERIES

Pandey played by Shivam Kakkar comes out as a very natural actor with his Delhi boy vibes, who hogs on momos outside the class and doesn't care about his father's money or teacher's taunts.

P.S : Before watching this series I did not know about the word game FLAMES wherein you cut alphabets of your and your crush's name to see what's fate holding for you.