- Love and ambition are essentially binary pursuits.
- Love and companionship don't necessarily go together, or happen with the same person in life.
- It's difficult to balance filial duty and romantic love.
- Our failed relationships help us understand who we are.
Sharanya Rajgopal's MUSAFIR CAFE, playing on Netflix, underlines these truths of life through the two successive relationships that the male lead Chander (Vikrant Massey) has. Both the women - Sudha and Preeti (Vedika Pinto and Mahima Makwana) - are clear eyed and honest in love; and show remarkable maturity when they meet in person, each acknowledging the part played by the other in their lover's life (at different phases) and in making his dream of a café in the hills come true. Four other people have a direct bearing on these two relationships and the way they unfold – the wonderfully understanding mothers of Chander and Sudha (played by Anubha Fatehpuria and Loveleen Mishra), each of whom act selflessly and try to hold up the mirror to their child's reality; and an elderly couple (Adil Hussain and Sadiya Siddiqui) who become the role model for Chander and Preeti in Missourie. The scenes featuring these four, especially in the final episodes, are the best in the series.
While this is a Millennials' story, the incompatibilities it dramatizes can resonate with earlier generations as well.
What stayed with me are Sudha's fierce loyalty to and overwhelming need to protect her widowed mother, and Preeti's generosity of heart for her lover. Most refreshing of all, however, was to watch a male lead who is emotionally vulnerable, respects the women in his life (even if he admits his mistakes belatedly), and dreams of a cafe-library where he can read out stories to children! For those tired of alpha males on screen, abusing women and killing everyone else for pleasure or revenge, Massey's Chander will remain a sweet spot.
PS: The only thing I couldn't stomach is publishers apparently “waiting” for a travel blogger (Preeti) to hand in her first MS (via her author admirer)!