Entertainment Review: Musafir Cafe

The biggest positive of Musafir Cafe is that it is an old-fashioned romance at a time when streaming platforms are awash with crime shows and the odd comedy.

The eight-part Netflix series based on a 2016 novel by Divya Prakash Dubey (who also makes a brief appearance as himself), and directed by Ruchir Arun, has another minor plus point– a woman who chooses her career over love; not just that, she won’t even allow the man to give up on his dreams for her.

Unfortunately, Sudha (Vedika Pinto) is also the typical manic pixie, which is how male writers invariably portray independent women– as slightly unhinged. They also make the woman regret her choices, but the illusion of control is good while it lasts.

A part of the show is set in Bhopal, and a picturesque cafe where young men and women meet potential matches arranged by their families.  Sudha–a divorce lawyer by profession– rejects most guys, but finds Chander (Vikrant Massey) interesting, possibly because he gave up a thriving career in the US to return to his roots. He also seems unfazed by her nutty behaviour — like when she fights with her roommate and crashes his rather too well-appointed rented apartment, after just a couple of dates. Also, men in fiction are too easily enamoured of women they can’t slot– she drinks his whiskey but also makes a perfect poha. She won’t marry him, but goes on a honeymoon to Mussouri. “Tum kya ho, yaar?” he exclaims more than once.

There is parental pressure to marry, and Chander’s liberal and sympathic mother (Anubha Fatehpuria) points out that he is compromising on his life’s goals to match hers. Sudha’s widowed mother (Loveleen Mishra) is worried about a possibly lonely future for her daughter.

The relationship is intense, yet doomed. After they split– she goes to Mumbai and earns the success she craved; he goes to Mussourie to open the gorgeous Musafir Cafe, with a new partner, Preeti (Mahima Makwana), a traveller, who willingly puts her life on hold for him. She is as calm as Sudha was stormy. She refuses to be swayed by the blatant flirtation and provocative advice by a handsome writer (Rajeev Siddhartha)

The locations of Musafir Cafe, shot with tourist brochure gloss make it easy on the eye. The good-looking cast may flounder in expressing emotions when the lines sound so bookish, but they are earnest and suitably mature. The show ends with the promise of a season two, but how much more of teary eyes and soulful looks the audience can take is the question.