Not Just a Love Story: Four Years Later Belongs to Shahana Goswami

THERE’S A LOT that doesn’t make sense about the Lionsgate Premium show Four Years Later that dropped on the platform this weekend. The title for one, which pertains to a very miniscule theme of the show: an Indian couple who get married and then have to spend four years apart before they’re finally reunited. This trajectory wraps up in two of the series’ eight episodes; the remaining runtime tackles many different themes, including racism, gender roles in marriage, and a feminist coming-of-age.

Four Years Later is also being billed as a romance or relationship drama, but on watching all of the eight episodes, I can safely say it’s actually Sridevi’s (Shahana Goswami) story. Her journey of breaking away from the shackles of being an Indian wife and how she finds her true professional and personal calling. The story is kind of all over the place and the themes are repetitive, but Shahana Goswami and Akshay Ajit Singh pull the series together with their authentic performances and believable chemistry.

Sridevi and Yash (Singh) meet in an arranged marriage setting in Jaipur; he’s the typical restrained and responsible older brother of the family, on his way to becoming a doctor. Sridevi is a textbook manic pixie dream girl in the beginning — edgy enough to pique Yash’s interest, out-there and unafraid to chase what she wants. They eventually fall for each other and get married. Soon after, Yash gets the opportunity to do his residency in Sydney. His parents think Sridevi will be a distraction for him, so the newlyweds commence a four-year-long long-distance marriage.

When they reunite all those years later, things have changed. Yash is drowning in work stress, surrounded by racist colleagues and neighbours; Sridevi feels trapped in a patriarchal marriage and is shocked to move to Sydney to see Yash totally out of control. He has anxiety attacks and can’t pass his medical exams. Together they have to forge the path ahead if they have any chance of making it together.

This is not a new story and some of the conflicts that are highlighted seem outdated. What makes it easy to pull through the eight episodes is Shahana Goswami’s passionate performance. Sridevi’s not written with much freshness, but Shahana’s emotive performance makes even dialogue-free scenes compelling. When she struggles with Yash’s parents, when she cooks with enthusiasm, when she dresses in saris in Australia with ease, when she befriends a local cafe owner and talks about her life in India, when she makes the first cup of authentic adrak chai for the Aussies with a huge smiled plastered on her face…as the audience, you live these moments with her and that’s a hallmark of a very good actor.

Four Years Later has its heart in the right place. When in Jaipur, the colours and production design pop and shine like a kaleidoscope; when in Sydney, the greys, blues and warm tones take over. Yash and Sridevi’s relationship also goes through its ups and down, with both actors showing us what it takes to make a relationship work through years of struggle. But it’s also a patchy, slow-burn show that has a wobbly pace and sometimes ideas are introduced without seeing them through.

For example, the first few episodes play around with a non-linear narrative but by episode four it’s abandoned for a straightforward narrative. Sridevi’s struggles with Yash’s parents are amplified only to a certain degree and then left abandoned after a shocking scene involving Yash’s father slapping Sridevi. However in the next episode, this instance is fully ignored and by the end of the season everyone has made up with no mention of the slap. This is particularly disturbing because the finale also marks an empowering turn where Sridevi is finally in charge of her own life and master of her own dreams.

Things don’t add up in Four Years Later, which is a pity because it had all the ingredients of a good show. Nonetheless, it’s easy to watch and despite my apprehensions, I found myself bingeing it over one day. Now that’s always a good sign.