Oops! Ab Kya? Is Effortlessly Bingeable

AN OFFICIAL HINDI ADAPTATION of the American TV series Jane The Virgin, Oops! Ab Kya? on JioHotsar is refreshingly easy to sit through. It’s one of those shows that catch you by surprise by offering endearing performances, characters worth investing your attention in, cliffhangers that will make you gasp and also a unique combination of old-school TV ethos packaged with graphics, a voiceover and Gen Z lingo — to be palatable for all audiences.

Suffice it to say, I was surprised. And I didn’t stop watching until all eight episodes were done. A large part of it was seeing Apara Mehta on TV again (millennials who watched K serials with their moms will relate); there’s something so calming about her screen presence—it feels like home.

Let’s be clear, though. There’s nothing inventive about the story, even for those who haven’t seen Jane The Virgin before. Where Oops! Ab Kya? works is presenting an interesting idea with the right dose of drama and thrill. Our story begins with an introduction to the three main characters of the show: Subadra Jani (Apara Mehta) who plays the matriarch of the house, her daughter Paakhi Jani (Sonali Kulkarni) a single mother and aspiring choreographer, and Paakhi’s daughter, Roohi Jaani (Shweta Basu Prasad) who is our protagonist.

Paakhi had unexpectedly gotten pregnant when she was 19 and so began the setting up of a uniquely “hatke” household with three women of different generations. Roohi works in hotel management at the fictitious Maharaja Hotel, is dating a police officer, Omkar (Abhay Mahajan) and is convinced that she will only lose her virginity after she’s married, perhaps due to the trauma of being a child born out of wedlock.

Our story kicks off when Roohi visits a gynaecologist to treat a UTI and gets inseminated with her boss's sperm by mistake. The doctor mixes up two clients (one who needs UTI meds, and the other who is in the process of artificial insemination) and the blunder results in a comedic plot point that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

It doesn’t help that Roohi has a crush on her boss, Samar Pratap Singh (Aashim Gulati) and that his wife is a “Komolika,” as Omkar refers to her. An accidental pregnancy while still being a virgin is quite a riveting premise to base a TV series on, and when you pepper this with other plot points — a mysterious drug lord who uses Maharaja Hotel as his base, Samar’s wife Alisha and Omkar’s comedic dynamic (they both don’t want their partners to end up together and team up to prevent it from happening), Roohi’s mother and father (Javed Jaffrey playing Maanav) reuniting as middle-aged singles — Oops! Ab Kya? becomes breezy and fun to watch. The eight episodes zip by quite effortlessly and there are plenty of cliffhangers to pull back your attention if you start to get bored.

Impressed by Aashim Gulati? Watch him in Taj: Divided By Blood on OTTplay Premium

Speaking of which, the show isn’t flawless. There is an oversimplification of all subplots and, by and large, everything is slightly over-produced. The story starts to lag a bit in the middle and some of the twists are quite predictable. But this isn’t a show claiming to be excellent or mind-blowing. Oops! Ab Kya?’s plus point is that it’s a low-effort watch, and fun while being that. It’s nice to see Javed Jaffrey, Sonali Kulkarni and Apara Mehta on screen, bringing a sense of TV familiarity that is quite needed for a series like this. Shweta Basu Prasad has an innate quality of being the centre of attention in any project she’s a part of, and it serves her well here.

For those of you who have seen Jane The Virgin, one of its biggest plus points was its satirical tone towards Latin American telenovelas. This is missing in Oops! Ab Kya — which is a travesty, given the Indian television landscape and its penchant for all things melodramatic. However, it’s important to give a shoutout to Dice Media, who bring a certain youthful sensibility to all their shows: the trademark of which can be seen in Oops! Ab Kya? And even though there seem to be many genre beats mixed into one show — romance, comedy, whodunnit, crime, thriller and family drama — it gives you the feeling of watching a good ol' TV show from the early 2000s. Scenes between the three women of the show: Subadra, Paakhi and Roohi were the highlight for me, and I am excited to see what’s in store for the next season.

Oops! Ab Kya? is currently streaming on JioHotstar.