Decoupled review: 'Misanthropist' Madhavan's charming act is overshadowed by insufferable story

2/5

"Decoupled" is about the life and times of Arya Iyer, India's second-best-selling pulp-fiction writer, who speaks his mind despite the many comedic consequences that follow. Arya and his astute techie wife navigate a failing marriage, complete with sarcasm, ego, and witty quips. This dramedy is about what happens when one celebrity tries to do the right thing against the backdrop of India's tense relationship between the privileged and the not-so-privileged.

Merriam-Webster defines a "woke" person as one who is "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues, particularly issues of racial and social justice." That's who R Madhavan as Arya Iyer plays in Decoupled. He is a pulp-fiction writer who is a misanthropist. The actor emulates that trait in such a way that you will love to hate his character instantly. Arya is seen as a man who questions everything like a child, and sadly, instead of answers, it's backfiring on him throughout the show.

The series has its heart in the right place, but if you pick it as a random show to watch based on the cast, you might not be ready for the uncomfortable sequences like I wasn't. Some instances have stayed in my mind for the very wrong reasons—be it Arya getting disgusted with a girl for having armpit hair or rejecting another who has big hips.

The intention of blurring the lines between the privileged and not-so-privileged might have sounded good on paper but did not translate well on screen.

The series has many references to Parasite, but not in a good way. For the uninitiated, the Oscar-winning Bong Joon-Ho film is about greed and class prejudice endangering the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the impoverished Kim clan.

For the same, they even bring in a Korean character who proclaims that he didn't like Parasite. He is seen most with Surveen Chawla's character, Shruti, who equally exudes a problematic attitude.

The basic premise of Decoupled is about Arya and Shruti, whose marriage has reached its expiry date and they can't wait to get out of it. But it's something that's mentioned only when they have to talk to their daughter.

However, if this was the only intention of the series, then kudos to Manu Joseph for creating one. However, as mentioned, it just didn't translate well on the screen.

The problematic characters are not limited to these two main characters but also the supporting cast, mainly played by Aseem Hattangady and Atul Kumar, who aggravate the problems. They casually talk about creating an app that will keep track of menstrual cycles and how they can plan sex accordingly.

All these conversations take place like garden-walk conversations, and they get away with the intensity very easily. The problems of classism and sexism are real and can be narrated humorously. But by calling a spade a spade, Decoupled has created the context in the wrong way.

The first episode of the series shows Arya's phobia of shaking hands with teenage boys, and it will just leave you disgusted as he squirms on seeing them. The title of the show just works as an undertone, as the series is hardly about a couple separating after being unable to tolerate each other altogether.

It also shows how ignorant the rich people are that they can't live without their staff, but have to "tolerate" a "stinky" driver and have a "not-so-good-looking" maid. Disgusted already? These are not my words but sequences from "Decoupled."

But you know who is the best part of the series? It's Chetan Bhagat who bounces back and forth in the show wherein he plays himself and the archrival to Arya.

Director Hardik Mehta, who penned Paatal Lok and directed Kamyaab, brought out something that has pointers that are supposed to be addressed very openly. But the execution, along with the screenplay by Manu Joseph, makes the series worrisome and debatable to watch.

Habib Sadeghi explained that when Gwyneth Paltrow popularised the term while going through a divorce with Chris Martin, "conscious uncoupling" was the ability to understand that every irritation and argument [within a marriage] was a signal to look inside ourselves and identify a negative internal object that needed healing. Here, the Netflix series tweaked it and titled it "Decoupled," where both the characters are pretty conscious of what they have signed up for, but it hardly sticks to it.