This Tendulkar too brings u joys!-Review

This Tendulkar too brings you joy

Monday to Thursday, 9.30 pm, SAB TV

Among the sea of weepy, scheming, wicked, catty, bitchy, tired, boring and annoying prime-time heroines, comes a happy, gurgling, sparkling brook called Mrs Tendulkar. Interestingly, Mrs Tendulkar is a 'he', a house husband, who's a writer by profession (he writes a daily soap!) but has happily stepped behind as his banker wife takes her place in the sun.

Meet the Tendulkars, wife Vibhavari who's the new manager of a bank in Naigaon, her husband, Suhaas and their three children, one of who is fondly called Chendu (meaning 'ball' in Marathi). They are the new residents of the bank quarters colony where wives stay at home while their husbands riff raff in the name of work. They pick their ears with hairpins, swipe other people's dabbas, spend time drinking chai than moving files and generally make merry in their 8 am to 4 pm banking hours! So naturally then they are threatened by the presence of Vibhavari Tendulkar who is fast learning to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Back home, Suhaas is harrowed by the women of the colony who don't think twice before barging into his house, asking personal questions and even demanding to know the answers. Add to that, three hell-raisers in the name of children, a truant maid servant and a TV producer breathing down his neck for the script of the daily serial, he is writing!

The makers JD Majethia and Aatish Kapadia along with writer Mukul Abhyankar and directorSameer Kulkarni leave no stone unturned to bring on the laughs every few seconds. All the supporting characters are a mixed bag of oddballs — one likes to talk big (Amitabh Bachchanis his elder brother and Mukesh Ambani, his childhood friend!), another spouts shayari and yet another is a hen-pecked husband whose problems have now been compounded with a woman boss in office too. Then there are their wives, Mrs Pagare who talks like a headmistress, bosses around everyone in sight, another who is slow on the uptake, yet another one, a Gujarati woman who is the delightful of the lot. Then of course, there's Mrs and Mr Tendulkar who are a charming couple.

The show takes a light-hearted look at the whole equation of two working partners and no big deal is made about the fact that it's the husband who has made the sacrifice. In fact, Suhas even gives a sweet reason why he chose to help "at least one woman in my life to follow her dreams". He loves being at home, doing the chores, cooking and looking after the children. The show also pokes fun, albeit in a nice, self-deprecatory sort of way at other so-called TRP runners (read shows featuring dukhiyari heroines with long-winded titles).

The other positive points include the performances by Deven Bhojani as Suhaas (watching Deven is an absolute pleasure) and Kishori Godbole as Vibhavari Tendulkar. The kids, especially the older boy (Rishabh Sharma), are bang on with their expressions and funny lines. A thumbs up to Vikas Patil and Smita Sarvade as the Pagares, Samir Shah and Amita Choksi as the Trivedis and Manjushree Kulkarni as Mrs Upasani.

The downers, if we can call that, is Deven Bhojani trying to 'Gattu'fy Suhas in some scenes. Yes, we loved Gattu of Baa Bahoo Aur Baby but Suhas is a grown-up man and a father of three! Then there is the tendency of hanging on to certain tried-and-tested characters or characteristics. Like the Gujarati woman who seems to be yet another version of those Junagadh-Amdavad types, who speaks with that exaggerated 'ara rara' accent or the 'slow' woman who reminds you of Hansa (from Khichdi). Last but not the least, Suhas comes across as more Gujarati than Marathi with his accent.

All said and done, Mrs Tendulkar is still a refreshing, immensely entertaining watch as it reverses roles (like one woman calls it "aap log ulti Ganga kyun baha rahe hain"), turns 'convention' on its head and spins a delightful tale.

Verdict: ***1/2

Give the other prime-time prima donnas a miss for Mrs Tendulkar.

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