‘Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare’ Season 2 Review: Dull ‘Comedy’ That Perks Up in Serious End

A scene from “Hain Humare.” (Publicity Photo)

By R.M. VIJAYAKAR/Special to India-West

MUMBAI — There are some series wherein the stories are a continuation of the kind where it will not make sense to watch them without watching what transpired earlier. And so I watched the first 8 episodes (Season 1) of “Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare” to understand Season 2.

Season 1 comprised the tale of Ronny (Zakir Khan, standup comedian by profession in real life), who tells tepid lies to everyone to help them. By default, he manages to help them and solve their problems. A recurring leitmotif with him is his statement (“Chacha vidhayak hain humare”) that his uncle is a political leader or MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly in the state government) and so he can get most issues (like college admission and other special favors) done to help acquaintances and friends.

A goalless young man with a nature of gold, he is the apple of the eye of his parents (Zakir Hussain and Alka Amin) and has a sister, Shanoo (Pritha Bakshi) who indulge him, though he can easily get a job despite his lack of education. With this base, we enter Season 2, where his lie is caught and a corrupt MLA (Abhimanyu Singh) who shares his surname and whose mention he makes each time realizes that Ronny is dropping his name.

Encountering the youngster, this Chachaji of sorts finds potential in him to be a youth leader and inducts him into his party and makes him known—as an efficient worker for him. Meanwhile, those who want favors from him continue to do so, including his sister’s friend Tanvi (Onima Kashyap), who runs a special school for children.

Ronny’s bosom friends from the earlier season are Anwar (Vyom Sharma) and also Kranti (Kumar Varun), who runs a popular snack joint famous for its samosas, where the three buddies hang out. With the induction by Chachaji of Vicky (Sunny Hinduja), an educated, foreign-returned dude, into the party, Ronny finds a malicious rival out to decimate his standing, as Vicky is also the son of a dead party executive.

Vicky, for his own reasons, creates problems for the simple Ronny, and is quite a goon by nature, that too with a dark secret. Meanwhile, Ronny’s one-sided love, Avantika (Venus Singh) whom he has tried to nobly marry off to her boyfriend in the previous season when he came to know of her true love, and who considers him just a good and helpful friend, begins to see him in a new light, and Ronny’s parents approve of her. Avantika’s wedding has not taken place.

Things get complex as Vicky drives a wedge between the three close friends and creates trouble for them. Chachaji initially backs him and is influenced enough to throw Ronny out of the party. However, a back-to-the-wall Ronny, his family under threat from Vicky, his reputations in cinders, his friends gone and his standing ditto, decides to rebel.

The problem with the concept, writing and direction is that the show is supposed to be a comedy—and isn’t. Even Season 1 was tepid but harmless, and I bore it because there were great reports of a riveting Season 2, and as I said, I needed to understand the base (together, the two seasons made for 16 episodes of about 30 minutes, eight each per season).

Season 2 gets “filmi” and clichéd as the villain tries to be everything a film baddie of this kind is. The interesting parts come in the serious portions in the end, from the time Ronny slaps Vicky in public at a party event to the last interactions between Chachaji and Vicky and Ronny and Vicky. Ronny’s last meeting with Abhimanyu as he decides his political future and the quirky love triangle devised at the end are redeeming factors. Our question is: when we are changing tracks from comedy to serious stuff in the second season, why be apologetic? A whiff of this should have been given in Season 1 itself.

Zakir Khan is good, a plump and harmless young man who only wants to make others happy. His writing is erratic though—and he is supposed to be hilarious in his comic acts. Zakir Hussain and Alka Amin as his parents are fantastic. Vyom Sharma and Kumar Varun are effective, as is Pritha Bakshi in the relatively straight, simple and short role as Ronny’s sister. The two girls in Ronny’s life are alright, Onima Kashyap scoring higher as Tanvi.

Abhimanyu Singh impresses as Chachaji and so does Vineet Sharma as Singham the cop. Sunny Hinduja, looking quite a bit like Saif Ali Khan, makes for an effective, if stereotyped villain. Shashie Vermaa and Sushil Bonthiyal try to engender some laughs as Chhagan and Magan, two cohorts of the politician, but merely look like junior comics in films.

Rating: **1/2

Created by: Zakir Khan

Produced by: Rasika Tyagi

Directed by: Shashant Shah

Written by: Zakir Khan & Ayush Tiwari

Music: Vishal Dadlani & Karan Malhotra

Starring: Zakir Khan, Vyom Sharma, Kumar Varun, Venus Singh, Pritha Bakshi, Bhavya Sharma, Sunny Hinduja, Zakir Hussain, Alka Amin, Abhimanyu Singh.

Onima Kashyap, Vineet Sharma, Shashie Vermaa, Sushil Bonthiyal & others