Happy Family: Conditions Apply review: Ratna Pathak Shah steals everyone’s limelight

3/5

Story:

A Gujarati family believes in the concept of living together and eating pure vegetarian food. Will they be the exact same when you dig deep?

Review:

Happy Family is a myth. There is no family that is happy 24x7. No human is happy 24x7 and all you do is tolerate one another. Happy Family: Conditions Apply is about such members of a family – innocent and scared but daring to live, after dying every single day.

The show is introduced with a nameplate and an abandoned house. Happy Family sure did not have a great start ever but it gets better with every episode. It gets cuter, especially with the whole family. That is till the last episode happens. There again, you see a glimpse of a building when the dialogues start.

Ratna Pathak Shah enters the show and she is her classic self as Hemlata. Even if stereotypical, she still tries to and almost gives her best. She is the best part of the series. Her drama is on point. It is hilarious how she tortures everyone around her.

Raj Babbar joins in as the helpless husband. He is perfect as a father too. His hilarious moments might be limited to wife jokes but still land. The actor nails the emotional and practical scenes.

Sanah Kapur as Aayushi is next and she barely gets to act because the camera pans out of her face before she can even try. She keeps on trying throughout the show since but barely catches up.

Atul Kulkarni as Ramesh is the surprise and quite a pleasant one. In the role of a chemist, he is just enough and still, borderline hilarious.

Ayesha Jhulka’s Pallavi is given just the opposite role. She is made to join the dumb trend of taking selfies with random things at random moments. Nonetheless, she ends up being adorable, especially when with Ratna's Hemlata. The actress kills it with her expressions. Jealousy is best on her face.

The show is instantly offensive as it gets to racial jokes. Five minutes into the series, you know not everything is as it seems. The one thing that doesn't work with Happy Family are the stereotypes. South Indians are all about coconuts and Gujaratis are khaman dhokla. It doesn't get more cliched than that.

That apart, some of the jokes work really well even when drama is the main topic of the show. The show captures a Gujarati family well. The inside jokes are something that only people of the culture understand.

The problem with this show is that nobody can read the room. They cannot understand anything either in their 'happy family' or outside it.

Meenal Sahu, in the role of Sanjoy (Raunaq Kamdar)’s wife Tisca is the reason for it. He too ends up keeping a secret which you almost never see coming.

Sanah and Meenal’s pokerface dialogue does not help the show one bit. There’s either that or there’s overdrama. Even Atul is made to overact at times. That’s how the show is built.

The cinematography on the show isn’t amazing at all. The focus is never on what really matters and that distracts you from the story almost always. That is till a commercial song becomes a part of the show. Thankfully, it is not out of the blue and adds to the glam factor.

To top it up, there’s dramatic music everytime there’s a scene change. As the episodes progress, the music is a little over but works well anyway, especially because the tunes give you time for dialogues too.

Atul Kumar as Suresh has a brief role but is the most mysterious on the show. The character is explored slightly but there’s still a lot to know about him.

The comic relief in Happy Family comes in non-veg jokes. It is a cute moment and somehow works. Soon after, the drama and tempers rise.

Margaret Wanjiku Kariuki as Kai is barely there too. This is mainly because of her appearance, which is questioned on the show. The scene between Ratna and her though is absolutely something. From the buildup to actual scene and everything after, it all works well.

Paresh Ganatra makes an appearance and he is the same as always. He has another trademark. While one member of the family is obsessed with selfies, he is obsessed with photos.

Pranoti Pradhan is made to overact. She is the other half of him. The actress has very little to offer given her role.

The Gujarati accents definitely do not work all the time on the show. While some work, others are just forced. Meanwhile, the punchlines are well written and executed. They work best with Ratna.

A small mystery continues with every episode. However, a big one keeps you hooked for the longest time.

There's a segment with fashion show. The designs are too cool to handle.

There's a very big surprise as the show nears its end. JD himself makes a cameo appearance in the scene.

Happy Family gives you a big hint about season 2. It however leaves you with many questions up in the air.

At the end, though, the show ends up being heartwarming and gives the message of being accepting of one another despite the flaws. That works for the better of the show.

Verdict:

Happy Family finally taps into the topic. Till a long time, it was about the conditions apply after it. The show is all about the Indian families and how they believe in the concept of living together despite it all. The show is also progressive in a way that it doesn’t force opinions on you. Even if dramatic and offensive from time-to-time, Happy Family works.