Adapted from a novel by Divya Prakash Dubey, “Musafir Cafe” the 8 episode series currently streaming on #Netflix stars Vikrant Massey (Chander), Vedika Pinto (Sudha), and Mahima Makwana (Preeti). 

I disliked the show and the first three episodes were immensely painful to watch and I wouldn’t have suffered through it or written a review. But my friends liked it. I was intrigued and suffered through it and disliked it all the way to the end. It is possible that the original story gave these characters well deserved depth and intensity and turning that into a series changed it. The director of the series is Ruchir Arun and writing credits are shared by Sharanya Rajgopal.        

Here, one story is about the couple, Chander and Sudha (set up by their mothers, with the clear intention that mutual liking would lead to marriage). If sudha was clear that the marriage was not in her plan at that time or ever, she only had to explain it to her mother who seemed accepting and respectful of her daughter’s desires. Sudha and Chander meet and find that their chemistry matched, Chander enjoys the spontaneity Sudha brought into his planned daily life. At first Sudha seems refreshingly flirty and so begins their rip roaring love relationship.

Sudha’s flirtiness soon seems cloying and painful to watch (made me suspicious of her ulterior motives and reminded me of Siya Goyal, the murderer in the Pune case), but Chander remains totally enamored by her. Despite the fact Sudha met Chander, initiated and continues to flirt with him, her words tell a different story. She insists that marriage is not in her life plan. One can’t help but wonder, why then did she go on a date to meet a potential marriage match and why she calls him one night and asks to move in with him. One night Chander tells her “I am falling in….” and she interrupts and says, “I know”. Then he says, “what are you!” and she says, “unforgettable life experience”. To me, she sounds like a diva, not even reciprocating with her love in their intimate moment. When Chander says, I am not sure how to explain our relationship to my mother, Sudha says, tell her, this girl is all about lust, lust and lust.  IF the majority of us would object to a man (unless maintaining independence was their mutually accepted intention), interested in nothing but lust in a relationship and only concerned with his life, his familial obligations, his career and his world travel desires with no space for a companion in life’s journey, then why would we find it totally acceptable in a woman?  

So here is Sudha who craves the thrill of being in love, craves the control of pulling and pushing away Chander, of flitting between intimacy and detached independence but refuses to take any accountability. She “magnanimously” advises Chander to move to Mumbai to follow his dreams and then moves out of his apartment, leaving him with a broken heart. The worst aspect of the whole sordid relationship was that when Chander calls her at home for one last try to get together, Sudha screams at him for calling her at home and talking to her mother, as if he was nobody. 

Chander moves on and finds another person, Preeti with great chemistry. Perhaps Chander and Preeti did not have the same kind of spark and intensity as Chander and Sudha (all relationships are different). But Chander and Preeti share similar life dreams, together they work hard, not on pipe dreams, but on real achievable goals and begin to turn their cherished dream into reality. They both concur that even when two people may have separate independent dreams, when two people get together, their dreams may evolve. That shows their maturity because at the minimum, loving another person demands a whole lot of flexibility.

Then Sudha (now engaged to Vineet) decides to make a reappearance, invites Chander for a walk and ruefully tells him his dreams are very real whereas she finds something lacking in her own life.  This girl seems haphazard and senseless. Driven by adrenaline, she seeks adventure and whatever she seeks out to achieve is within her reach, then she loses interest and goes after another shining new thing. She does not have relationships with depth or meaning but those that she can control and play with. Chander’s new partner, Preeti is aware that Sudha’s reappearance could derail her own relationship and breaks down silently.  And yet she gives Sudha credit for Chander’s success and requests her to stay, acknowledging the greatness of Chander and Sudha’s relationship. Has no one in this series a clear head on their shoulders? These days, nearly everyone has a past. That does not mean that anyone owes it to help their partner meet their ex for any reason. So here’s a silly relationship driven by an unsteady girl with a boy who himself acknowledges that every time he falls in love, he forgets himself (he has a sweet and giving temperament) and then there is his second steady, practical, and hard working partner who becomes a martyr, jeopardizing her own relationship to the man she loves deeply….….. Oh what a mess.  A short movie of this love triangle would be painful enough, but an entire series with more to come?

My recommendation: Give a thumbs down, get it out of your queue and move on.