Love, hate, guilt and relationship blues
Image Source: Zee5
Zee5 and ALTBalaji have come out with another family drama titled, “Hum Tum And Them, Bachchon Ke Side Effects” (HTAT). The first word about the series is that it is a great watch.
If moms are from Venus, dads are from Mars and children are from Earth, then the outcome is obviously “Hum Tum And Them”. Yudi (Akshay Oberoi) is a carefree single parent who lives his life to the fullest with no strings attached.
He has three teenage children, the hot headed elder son Aryan (Bhavin Bhanushali), frivolous daughter Vyoma (Aashika Bhatia) and joyful Ojhas (Gautam Ahuja) who are forced to live with their Dad after a 5 year long gap.
On the other hand there is Shiva (Shweta Tiwari) who is on the verge of a divorce and lives separately with her teenage daughter Jahan (Sara Gesawat). One fine night Shiva gate crashes her way rather unintentionally into Yudi’s life.
This kick starts an extensive tussle. Incidentally, all four children are drawn into a labyrinth of this relationship jigsaw. They struggle to combat their fears, misconceptions and challenges while Yudi and Shiva try to get along. The journey to fill emptiness derived out of estrangement is what makes up the rest of the story.
Shweta Tiwari who is well known for her talented portrayals in many soap operas has come out of her comfort zone to do a web series for the first time. She has a perfectly created role to match her talent as Shiva. Her brilliant performance as a possessive mother with a modern yet confused outlook craving true love is commendable. Her scenes with Jahan bring out her best.
Akshay Oberoi looks young for a 40 plus year old father who spares no chance of enjoyment. Strangely but truly, when it comes to his daughter, he turns into a typical, over doting dad who doesn’t want her to cross the line.
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| Image source: Zee5 |
Sara gets a larger than life role as Jahan who is unable to come to terms with things happening around her and her mother’s life. She does a great job as a 13-year-old adolescent who gets entangled in the triangle comprising of Shiva, Yudi and Nikhil (Nikhil Sanga) who is her father. She has good screen presence and displays desired skill to pull off the intricate character of Jahan with ease and efficacy.
Bhavin Bhanushali has chipped in with an impressive performance as Aryan, the son who hates his father. Trupti Khamkar as Gauri who plays the role of a mentor for Shiva carries her bit efficiently. One more credible performance comes from Nikhil Sanga as Shiva’s convoluted husband.
Special mention should be made about the signature track “Kuch Is Tarah” which is quite pleasant to the ears. Kudos to the lyricist and musician Kingshuk Chakravarty along with singers Joell Mukherjee and Madhubanti Bagchi.
Preeti Mamgain’s story, concept and theme are quite contemporary and excellent. This is aptly supported by Radhika Anand’s perfect screenplay. The direction by Sahir Raza is great except for the fact that some sequences get repetitive and feel stretched.
Editor Geeta Singh fails in this aspect to make the narration more crisp and compact. The Mumbai skyline visuals which appear quite often to denote day and night are an eyesore and hinder the flow of narration. Apart from these minor hitches, Hum tum and Them is a must watch with all essential ingredients in right proportions to make it an engrossing family drama.
