Janatha Colony Season 1 review: A light-hearted comedy that makes for a breezy watch

3/5

Story: Janatha Colony follows four sets of tenants in an apartment – a suspended constable and his family, a BMTC driver and family, three girls and three bachelors.

Review: Six episodes of the eight-part comedy drama Janatha Colony are currently streaming on Talkies. The show, written and directed by Pratheek Attavar and Rakesh Kadri, who have also written the dialogues, is about the interactions of four sets of tenants in a colony.

There’s a traffic police constable on suspension after insisting that a girl on a bicycle follow the helmet rule. Turns out, the girl was his superior officer’s daughter and the suspension was the result of this ‘traffic offence’. The cop’s daily routine now revolves around doing household chores, something he is desperate to run away from. He and his family are good friends with the neighbouring household, which is also a family of three. On an upper floor, three guys are in a typical bachelors’ pad, which is in abject squalor, but feels like heaven to them. Their flat is opposite to one rented by three girls that the guys have soft corners for.

The first six episodes of Janatha Colony introduces us to these characters and the relationship dynamics between them. For the most part, the episodes, which are between 16 – 23 minutes in length, make for a fun watch, as the makers set up certain plot points. There is no heightened drama but the good part is that the interactions between all the tenants feels quite normal and relatable. The show benefits a great deal from having an able cast including Shobharaj Pavoor, Aneesh Poojary Venur, Nakul, Bhoomi Shetty, Vandana Shetty, Mythri Iyer, Sampath Jairam, Shubha Lakshmi, Shreya Das, Pradeep, Yamuna Shrinidhi, Umesh Kinnal, Shivaraj Kavathar and Kaushik, on board.

I checked out the trailer of the show after I’d watched Season 1 and realized that there’s more to the current storyline. In this day and age of binge-watching, it makes no sense to split content that’s not meant to be split. Talkies has a history of taking the fun out of binge-watching a series, when it decided to stream Hate U Romeo with weekly episodes. Janatha Colony has two more episodes pending.

Verdict: It’s too early to vote good or bad on this show, but as someone who has caught quite a few offerings from the streamer, this is definitely one of the better ones. A final word can be given only once all the episodes are out. If you like light-hearted comedies, do check out Janatha Colony, but wait for the full season.