Made In Heaven Season 2 review: A riveting sequel of a good series
Made In Heaven Season 2 poster
Equality is the underlying theme of Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's web series Made In Heaven. In the second season of the hugely popular show, protagonists are rooting for equal space in society, more acceptance. Whether it's the star-Dalit activist and Ivy League professor marrying into an upper caste family or a transwoman making her space in the active dating scene in Delhi or the estranged daughter whose existence has just been discovered by her other family. Made In Heaven Season 2 tries to tackle several issues - patriarchy, misogyny, domestic abuse, casteism, and racism much like Season 1- all wrapped in the glitz and glamour of Indian weddings.
The set-up remains the same just that the story picks up six months from where the first season had ended. Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan (Arjun Mathur) are still running the wedding planning company called Made In Heaven- this time from a modest office in old Delhi. Their original team is also intact. Jazz (Shivani Raghuvanshi) is now more of a hands-on assistant and Kabir (Shashank Arora) is still videographing couples. They also have additions to the team. Ace Production designer, transwoman Mehr (Trinetra Haldar) and tough cookie auditor Bulbulbji (Mona Singh ) were added to the team. While the team takes up small, big and outlandish weddings, they also deal with personal problems on the side.
Tara is now undergoing a divorce from her husband and ex-financier of MIH Adil Khanna, who is expecting a baby with Tara's ex-BFF Faiza. She is also now seeing a charming chef Raghav (Ishwak Singh) on the sly. Arjun is still having a complex relationship with his mother, now terminally ill but still rigid about her son's reality. There is Kabir, who is trying to rediscover himself and his passion of making films while Jazz is putting on a brave face and dealing with familial issues even as she makes her space among the South Delhi elite. There is also Mehr, who as a transwoman is swiping right to several potential dates until she finds the one. Meanwhile Bulbul - perhaps the most interesting character of the lot - who may be a tough nut to crack when it comes to expenditures and finances but at home is having trouble dealing with a rebellious teenage son.
With myriad characters and issues in tow, the Made In Heaven team takes up unique weddings in each episode, where they also provide life solutions to the bride and groom and sometimes even to their families. Showrunners and directors Zoya Akhtar, and Reema Kagti along with directors Neeraj Ghaywan, Alankrita Srivastava and Nitya Mehra make the lead protagonists the fly on the wall, quietly observing the complex human emotions even as they meander through the course of life personally. The brides and grooms in each episode take up centre stage. Their stories bring forth the farce, the hypocritical society we live in, where the showshaa hides the pains, and the complexities well - but when you scratch the surface one realises how flawed the system is. Patriarchy, homophobia, fair skin obsession, domestic abuse and more such issues are taken up well in each of the episodes.
While the stories in each episode tackle new societal issues, the underlying problems of the MIH team and their personal lives remain the common thread between all the episodes, interviewing the two narratives - of the brides and grooms as well as those who are planning their weddings.
While the writers - Akhtar and Kagti mostly - deftly show a mirror to a flawed society, they sometimes overdo the portions involving the two LGBTQ characters. In 2019, when the first season premiered, India was still grappling with rights for the third gender. In Post covid- Influencer flux era, there is a lot more acceptance and conversations around the queer community. And so the show takes a lot of space in establishing the struggles that Mehr and for that matter Karan have to go through. Sometimes the writers seem to indulge in narrating their stories more than the others. It also doesn't help that the episodes are way too long, sometimes meandering around the actual plot but not completely hitting the point. Each episode is one hour long and takes leisurely time to establish itself. I wish editor Nitin Baid had shortened the episodes a bit.
The cast is, of course, pitch-perfect. Dhulipala makes Tara her own. She brings out the complexities of the character so well. Tara is a social climber who has to literally restart her life post her separation from Adil. She is vulnerable, but also slightly manipulative, and Dhulipala looks gorgeous and performs her role with earnestness.
Complementing her is Mathur in a role that remains confusing and someone who needs to come to terms with his own identity. Haldar delivers a fine performance in her debut as Mehr, a confident transwoman who knows she has to struggle to make her space. Raghuvanshi, meanwhile in a coming-of-age role, also brings in the right amount of innocence to her character of Jazz. Mona Singh, my favourite of the lot, plays the interesting Bulbul Jauhari so well that you almost mistake her to be the typical Punjabi aunty from Old Delhi. Her scenes with Vijay Raaz, who plays her onscreen husband, and Shivani Raghuvanshi are fantastic.
Since it is a Zoya Akhtar production, there is a bevvy of stars in cameo roles. Mrunal Thakur, Radhika Apte, Pulkit Samrat, Neelam Kothari, Dia Mirza, Sanjay Kapoor and many more play cameo roles in the show - all well cast (thanks to casting director Nandini Srikent) and justifying their characters. My personal favourite was Mrunal Thakur as the innocent, battered beauty queen, struggling in an abusive relationship. The vulnerability that she brings into her role tugged at heartstrings.
Made In Heaven season 2 also tries to spoon-feed the audience with a preachy, sketchy conclusion at the end of every episode. When they can't find a solution, they remain ambiguous but never let the audience assume on their own- a bit unnecessary to the whole narrative.
Despite its self-awareness and woke nature and the excruciatingly long episodes, Made In Heaven makes for a compelling watch. It helps that everything on the screen looks stunning. Who doesn't like appreciating beauty, right? But more importantly, it holds a mirror to a privileged society and the elite who are often seen through tinted glasses. Made In Heaven is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
