The best thing about this series is that it is actually about the middle-class living in our society and not about the upper-middle class with much higher income and resources, forcibly projected as middle-class in our cinematic presentations. That kind of portrayal is purposefully devised to satisfy the multiplex audience to be honest, who are in reality not at all interested in watching anything about the real middle or lower-class living of our society. That is the reason you rarely find such realistic characters and depiction in our present Hindi cinema.
Thankfully this series is all about a true-to-life middle-class Mishra family including the husband-wife and their two young boys, who together have their daily fights, disagreements and emotional meltdowns offering many heart-warming moments for the viewers.
The first season of GULLAK, directed by Amrit Raj Gupta and written by Nikhil Vijay Motghare remains a more than decent effort by the team, in which the performers excel over the writing and the anecdotal stories keep trying to rise above the routine and expected. The local language and terminology used by various characters turns out to be the winner, keeping you intrigued, but the first season still remains short of anything exceptional or simply outstanding.
However, the second season scores way above the first which is a rare feat in the world of series and seasons. In this second part, it’s the writing which truly excels and the performances get duly benefitted by the fabulous plots beautifully chosen and devised for the new episodes. Directed by Palash Vaswani and written by Durgesh Singh, the second season also makes a much stronger emotional impact, at times bringing tears to your eyes, which is nothing short of an achievement in the present world of glossy, artificial and mediocre content ruling the charts.
Apart from the realistic style of storytelling and direction, the two seasons of Gullak also deserve a special mention for its music and supporting cast in particular, adding a lot to its overall impact. Wonderfully led by Jameel Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Vaibhav Raj Gupta, Harsh Mayar and Sunita Rajwar, the performers make you feel for the characters and you wish to see a lot more of them together post watching the last episode.
In short, if you haven’t seen it yet then GULLAK is certainly the one mini-series (of 5 episodes each in its two seasons) that can easily be watched together in a single sitting as an entertaining family drama during the next weekend.
Rating : 4 / 5
(Note : The series could be seen at TVF and SonyLiv at the time of writing the review)