Review: Bhaag Beanie Bhaag

By Mahima Kochar | 21 December 2020

Bhaag Beanie Bhaag Created by Neel Shah and Ravi Patel | Rom-Com | 16+ | 1 Season

Perhaps it is the freshness that Swara Bhasker brings with her name to the screen or the perpetual undying hope of Indian cinema finally gifting us a breakout piece (which it undeniably does - sometimes) or it is the moment of desperation that leads you to either text your toxic ex or distract yourself by watching any new show that comes up on your watch-list. It can be any of these reasons that throw you at the mercy of Netflix’s new web series “Bhaag Beanie Bhaag” to pass the lockdown blues but, the question is, does it succeed?

Released on 4th December, Swara Bhasker’s ‘Beanie Bhatnagar’ is a 29-year-old woman from a middle-class family who, quite typically, has a life that looks perfect from the outside but is frivolously boring on the inside. A mega-rich, boring boyfriend who is oblivious to her needs (oh, where have we seen that before?), a 9 to 5 desk job that pays the bills but does nothing to fulfil her and a side-kick best friend whose only role is to provide snarky comic relief during times of bad decisions. This is what makes the show.

The twist here?

Beanie wants to leave all of the shackles behind to do stand-up comedy. Oh, the scandal. Not because this is an unmarried Indian woman breaking her marriage for a job that doesn’t pay but because they seem to have forgotten a vital part - you need to be funny to do stand-up.

In an interview with Vogue, while talking about how she prepared for the role, Bhasker said, “Stand-up is a craft. You have to learn the syntax, grammar and beats. And I did stand up! I got Netflix to organise two performances for me”. She learnt from well-known Indian comedians (a lot of who were part of the script-writing) such as Sumukhi Suresh, Sumaira Shaikh, Kunal Kamra etc. What is laughably ironic here is that the very script that was written and helped on by comedians lacked the expected cheeky humour, relay of fast, witty dialogue and stomach hurting laughter (the kind that catches you blindly and leaves you reeling with aching cheeks).

Of course, there are exceptions. One of the creators of the show, Ravi Patel, who plays opposite Bhasker as ‘Rav’, makes up for what others fell short on. With his charm and NRI American accent that you come to begrudgingly like, Rav is what keeps you going once you reach episode 2.

However, even past that, the cliches grip you.

The runaway bride, the racy bathroom sex, the good girl to bad girl troupe portrayed through a night of spontaneous drinking, smoking and having said sex; all of these moments were a rough amalgamation of scene ideas that were strung together to create a plot.

The problem is, the concept of the show is great. Regardless of its similarities to Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” the idea of targeting this field in the Indian metropolitan setting holds so many possibilities to break rules. The potential it has to smash stereotypes (of being unmarried and doing what fulfils you) and push for more realistic content from the industry is strong. Even Swara Bhasker has had a history with introducing the normalisations of the use of a vibrator on screen in “Veere Di Wedding”.

It also is relatable. Overbearing desi uncles and aunties, the expectancy of marriage and not long after, a baby (or babies, jeez), the want for freedom and its arrival coming much later in her late-20s. Even Girish Kulkarni’s performance as Beanie’s father represented every middle-class dad with their melodramatic flairs and penchant for wanting/saving money.

We could let the undeniable similarities to “Marvelous Mrs Maisel” slide, a show about a married woman who after finding out her husband cheated on her began on a journey of becoming a famous stand up comic, especially after what Dolly Singh (Kapi, Beanie’s best friend) had to comment about this. When asked about the similarities she said, “Now any film on a woman trying to be a pilot will be compared to 'Gunjan Saxena'. We must give the show a chance”.

Which does make sense. How often do we question movies like “War” and “Ek Tha Tiger” for ripping off the same old plots? Why do we see movies dominated by the men of Bollywood peaking over ones focused on female leads? Let’s not even get into the lack of representation of non-binary folks and people of the LGBTQ+ community; the misrepresentation holds more movie space (Why Akshay Kumar, why?).

So, yes, “Bhaag Beanie Bhaag” does hold some merit when it comes to normalising the struggle with societal expectations and we need to push for more representation of female protagonists. However, the fact that the show only managed to evoke my first laugh at the end of episode three or that it was a struggle to finish the 6 episode series and not cringe does not help. For the one step it took towards appreciation it fell three steps behind.

Must you watch this show? Perhaps not. There certainly are better ones out there that have the same feel-good rom-com factor but just not as diluted. Well, that and the ability to make you laugh. Bhaag Beanie Bhaag