Bada Naam Karenge review: Rajshri Productions makes streaming debut with a highly effective show addressing generational conflict

Rajshri Productions has been a pioneer in the digital space in many ways. It was one of the first Indian production houses to launch its own YouTube channel. In the year 2008, the company launched a show titled ‘Akbar Birbal Remixed’ exclusively for web and mobile devices. It, therefore, comes as a surprise that the production house took some time to step into the mainstream streaming space. ‘Bada Naam Karenge’, which has just started streaming on Sony LIV, marks Rajshri Productions’ debut in the OTT space. While Sooraj Barjatya serves as the showrunner, the show has been directed by Palash Vaswani.

“Main tujhe phir milungi…”, one hears a few lines from a Hindi-translated version of this classic Amrita Pritam poem in the voice of Surbhi (Ayesha Kaduskar) in the first scene of the show. One understands the significance of this one line a little later. Rishabh Rathi (Ritik Ghanshani) hails from the famous Rathi family in Ratlam which owns Shree Ganga Mishthan Bhandar, a large confectionary store in the city which is famous all across the state. Rishabh, who has just completed his MBA, has dreams of turning Shree Ganga Mishthan Bhandar into a franchise. While Rishabh has no plans to get married at the moment, he agrees to meet a girl at the insistence of his family. When the two families finally meet, Rishabh is shocked to see Surbhi in front of her. While the two families believe it to be Rishabh and Surbhi’s first meeting, the two of them have already been familiarized with each other.

The films made by Sooraj Barjatya are known to be long but engaging. The same can be said about this show. The show spans across nine episodes. The first episode is 1-hour-long and the last episode has a duration of 1 hour and 22 minutes. The rest of the episodes are 30-45 minutes long. Though you need to keep many hours aside to binge-watch this show, the good news is that you can be sure about being engaged as a viewer throughout its duration.

The show, which addresses generation conflicts, does a very good job of bringing the views and sensibilities of two different generations to the fore. While doing so, it ensures it gives each generation its space and does not make a villain out of anybody. The well-balanced narrative, undoubtedly, is the biggest strength of the show.

The show is filled with several beautiful moments which tug at your heartstrings. After you finish watching the show, you might feel compelled to revisit a few scenes which have been wonderfully written, directed and performed. While the sequence featuring Rishabh sneaking into Surbhi’s hostel is cute, the one featuring Surbhi’s family discussing the finances involved in the marriage gives one an idea about the financial strain which middle-class families go through while organizing a wedding.

Ritik Ghanshani brings the challenges faced by a young man trying to live up to traditional values and adapting to the ways of the modern world effectively to the fore. Ayesha Kaduskar delivers a very confident performance and adds a certain warmth to Surabhi which works very well for the character. Kanwaljeet Singh, as the patriarch of the Rathi family, performs exceedingly well. Alka Amin lends the required gravitas to her character. Rajesh Jais and Chaitrali Gupte leave a mark as Rishabh’s parents. Jameel Khan gets several scenes to shine and he performs very well, as always. Deepika Amin, too, performs very well. Rajesh Tailang gets an author-backed part and he makes the most out of it. As Neeta, Anjana Sukhani delivers one of the most memorable performances in the show. Sachin Viddrrohi, as Champak, adds a lot of humour to the proceedings.

Palash Vaswani’s direction is very good. A subject of this nature needed to be handled with a lot of sensitivity and he passes out with flying colours. The story, by S Manasvi, is highly relatable. The potential in the story is fleshed out very well in the screenplay (S Manasvi, additional screenplay: Vidit Tripathi). A lot of the dialogues (S Manasvi and Vidit Tripathi) are witty and add to the charm of the show. The camerawork (Shiv Prakash Rathour) and editing (Gourav Gopal Jha) are good. The songs (Anurag Saikia) are not up to the mark. Only the ‘Kanha’ song makes some sort of an impact. The background score (however) is good.

It is very rare to come across a show on a streaming platform in India which caters to a family audience. ‘Bada Naam Karenge’ is that rare show. More importantly, it is a very well-made family-friendly finite series that should, hopefully, pave the way for more such content to be churned out in the near future.