‘Pawan & Pooja’ Review

MX Player has come up with another absorbing drama Pawan & Pooja, which is produced by Siddharth P Malhotra and Sapna Malhotra for Alchemy Films Pvt Ltd.  

Names Pawan and Pooja remain the same, but there are six different people with diverse views on love, life and relationships. Senior Pawan (Mahesh Manjrekar), with a younger heart, wants to enjoy his life to the fullest possible extent is ably supported by Senior Pooja (Deepti Naval), who together venture out to fulfil their regret list after 40 years of marriage life. 

Middle Pawan (Sharman Joshi) and Pooja (Gul Panag) are a disgruntled couple after 18 years of marriage and they try to experiment with ‘swinging’ to add that missing ‘fire’ in their marriage life.

Younger Pawan (Taaruk Raina) and Pooja (Natasha Bharadwaj), who belong to Generation Y, are from two entirely different worlds but with a common interest of making prank videos for a virtual reality show.

Pawan & Pooja reflects on highs and lows of relationships in the lives of these three couples and the love, trust, guilt, happiness and expectations from their loved ones. On their way to discover themselves, these six individuals trudge through many difficult phases arising out of misunderstandings and excessive expectations.

The task ahead for Pawans & Poojas is to fight out all those adversaries and clear the air to live happily ever after

With Mahesh Manjrekar and Deepti Naval at the helm, the performances are sure to be cracking. And they prove it with great authority and maturity once again in Pawan & Pooja. Even adept performances of other younger actors are completely overshadowed by these veterans. 

Mahesh is at his vintage best in a role that stands as a testimony to his versatility and his irreplaceable talent. Deepti’s presence, too, makes the proceedings look more realistic on screen and she must have definitely taken many viewers who belong to her generation down the memory lane by displaying the character of senior Pooja with the same ease and it’s a delight to watch her in a full-length role after a long time.

Gul Panang and Sharman Joshi also contribute well in their respective roles. Natasha and Taaruk appeal a lot to the younger generation with their flawless performances and charm.

Although the story oscillates around three couples, the screenplay is packed in such a way that there is neither a lag nor any single out of place scene that distracts the attention of viewers.

This is the beauty of this show. The story and screenplay by Agrim Joshi, Debojit Das Purkayastha and Abhishek Chatterjee (who also wrote some very quotable dialogues about life), along with the direction of Shaad Laal and Ashok Bhuyan, prove their competence in handling a complex script proficiently and brilliantly. 

Photography by Viraj Singh and music by Raju Singh add more splendour and melody to this tale. The tune Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui 2, which comes in the background for some scenes of Deepti Naval, is extraordinary and it lights up the mood.

Editor Dharmesh Patel’s obsession with Mumbai skyline continues, which can be avoided to give the show a sleeker look as those shots are quite needless.

A must-watch for all, old or young, to do some soul searching and learn a lesson or two about love and life to keep the relationships strong and everlasting.