BOTTOM LINE
A Breezy, Unhurried Hill-Station Romance
PLATFORM
NETFLIX
RUNTIME
8 Episodes, 4 hours
What Is the Show About?
Years after his relationship with Sudha, Chander builds a peaceful life running a hilltop café alongside Preeti. However, his past continues to haunt him, influencing his career choices while unexpected visits reignite old conflicts. Though Chander and Preeti are very much in love, the former needs closure to fully commit to his present, both professionally and emotionally.
Performances
All the lead performances are neat. Vikrant Massey’s portrayal is impressive, delivering just what you expect from him, both as a young lover and as a transformed, mellow, mature man. It is also the reason why the performances of the female leads, Vedika Pinto and Mahima Makwana, feel relatively fresher and impactful, because you do not see them coming. Others, including Adil Hussain, Loveleen Mishra, Sadiya Siddiqui and Rajeev Siddhartha, are not left with much to do, but shine while they last.
Analysis
Years after his relationship with Sudha, Chander builds a peaceful life running a hilltop café alongside Preeti. However, his past continues to haunt him, influencing his career choices while unexpected visits reignite old conflicts. Though Chander and Preeti are very much in love, the former needs closure to fully commit to his present, both professionally and emotionally.
In most mainstream romance dramas, filmmakers tend to stuff the narrative with events and a dense plot, rarely pausing to explore what it means to be in love at length, with rare exceptions like 96 or Little Things. Netflix’s web series Musafir Cafe, a book adaptation, is another addition to that small list. It is a love story woven largely around conversations, suggesting how the past never quite leaves us.
It would be interesting to know how and why the book was chosen for a web series. The story is of the kind that one would rather read on a slow journey than see translated into a four-hour series. However, writer Sharanya Rajgopal and director Ruchir Arun succeed in creating that intimate, leisurely mood to draw viewers in, with a narrative that criss-crosses between the protagonist Chander’s past and present seamlessly.
For a good while, you do not quite understand what Musafir Cafe is trying to do. The regular shifts between timelines contribute to the confusion. Though they are a couple with contrasting ideas, Sudha and Chander have dreamy conversations, yapping as though there is no tomorrow. On the other hand, the present-day segment has Chander leading a dream life with another woman, Preeti, while still awaiting closure about his past.
As someone expecting a conventional plot and awaiting some progress in the narrative, you tend to grow slightly restless with the near-static story. Everything feels a little too airy, cinematic, until you get used to its slow, pahadi-life rhythm. It takes at least a couple of episodes to make sense of the conversations, the protagonists’ little nothings, insecurities and the differences between the past and present timelines.
Given that the narrative is largely limited to only three characters, Chander, Sudha and Preeti, there is adequate room to understand them at length. A coffee enthusiast, Chander unexpectedly returns from a plush life in the US to set up a hillside café. An ambitious Sudha is keen on building a career in law, staying true to her late father’s wishes. Both have different expectations of love, marriage and work.
While Chander and Sudha are hopelessly in love and make every effort to strengthen their relationship, things do not go as planned. Naturally so, for they are people with differing priorities. The man feels the relationship should come first, while the woman does not want that at the cost of compromising her professional identity. It is a clash where it is hard to pick sides.
Beyond Chander and Sudha, the writers paint an empathetic portrait of Chander’s present-day partner, Preeti, mirroring her confusions and apprehensions and lending the show an edge. Still, at a certain point, you feel that Musafir Cafe treats its conflicts only at a surface level and perhaps could have done more to tap into its psychological depths. One would have liked to know more about Sudha’s life after the break-up, even if it was quite obvious or nothing out of the ordinary.
Though far from perfect, Musafir Cafe is a compelling portrait of love from the perspective of three characters across various phases of their lives. While it takes some time to get used to its pacing, it remains generally light and breezy, giving its characters enough space to breathe without overstuffing the show with dialogue. For the same reason, with the absence of many events, it can feel monotonous too. Still, that appears intentional, reflecting the idea that moving on from the past is often painful and slow.
Music and Other Departments?
In sync with the reflective mood of the show, the songs are soothing and easy on the ears, with a wide range of composers, Raghav Kaushik, Garvit Soni, Priyansh Srivastava and Neel Adhikari, contributing to the album. The background score blends smoothly with the proceedings too.
Cinematographer Aniruddha Patankar captures the slow life at a hillside café across the serene locales of Mussoorie and Bhopal through his visuals without becoming repetitive.
While the setting of such a show is meant to be leisurely and laid-back, it would have been nicer to witness sharper, more precise writing and fewer stretches where the conversations beat around the bush.
What works?
Leisurely, light and relaxed narration
Good lead characters, performances
Technically impressive
What doesn’t?
Takes a while to get used to its unhurried pace and mood
Some conversations feel too random/repetitive.
Over-simplified ending
Musafir Cafe OTT Web Series Reviewed by M9 News
