Tamil and Hindi actor R Madhavan is not exactly new to the world of web series. He had earlier starred in that bizarre but interesting show Breathe on Amazon Prime Video back in 2018. Actress Surveen Chawla, on the other hand, was seen in the hugely popular Sacred Games.
So when such two experienced hands headline the cast in a new web series, there is bound to be excitement. And when it is written by the journalist and author Manu Joseph, it triggers further expectation.
And so the series, Decoupled, which is in English, starts streaming this week, it better live up to all the hopes riding on it.
The premise of the series is about a divorced couple who is not able to live separately for reasons that are not too difficult to fathom (their daughter).
“Urban marriage is an interesting beast, which not a lot of films and series have been able to capture, because people overlook the small things that actually make up our lives,” says Hardik Mehta, who has directed the series.
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Levity in a heavy subject
As the duo has to continue living under the same roof, they try to make things less problematic for themselves. They even take a shot at 'open marriage', but obviously that doesn't work. The thing is the two highly successful and opinionated urban individuals have also grown blasé and cynical about love and companionship. The situation is rife for a strong writer to come up with pithy and pertinent observations on life and family. And that is what Manu Joseph seems to have done, if one were to go by the trailer of the series.
As separating couples the two deliver some of the most delicious zingers on marriage.
The series seems to offer a healthy doses of laughter and levity even while dealing with the weighted subject of husband and wife relationship in an urban setting.
Decoupled to stream from December 17 on Netflix
Surveen plays an intelligent and successful corporate professional, while Madhavan is a pulp novel author (Something that Manu Joseph, who himself is an writer of two fictional works, is bound to exploit for his funny lines).
Both Madhavan and Surveen seem at home while delivering those lines in English, and it doesn't feel alien or outlandish.
Hardik Mehta, the director, has formerly worked in Kaamyaab and is also working on a film named Roohi.
The series will be available for streaming from December 17 on Netflix, whose subscription rates in India have been slashed.
The makers have already revealed putative plans for the season two of Decoupled. But all depends on how the series is received in the first place.
