‘Perfect Family’ review: Many home truths in a show about a dysfunctional clan

Perfect Family sees the Karkarias at the edge of a cliff, about to throw themselves off even while they believe that they flying towards the rainbow.

The problem isn’t just denial. The Karkarias are exploding as well as imploding. They snipe and bite, rather than converse. They have sky-high expectations from themselves and each other.

Although the daily, incessant drama has damaged one of the youngest members, nobody notices. Where does it hurt, 11-year-old Daani is asked. The answer to that question leads Daani (Hirvaa Trivedi) to have an episode at school and her family into mandated therapy.

Somnath (Manoj Pahwa) and his wife Kamla (Seema Pahwa) are from the generation that scoffs at psychiatry. Their daughter Pooja (Kaveri Seth), son Vishnu (Gulshan Devaiah) and his spouse Neeti (Girija Oak Godbole) are more in tune with terms such as empathy and coping, but they are carrying too much emotional baggage.

The Hindi series follows a family that is dysfunctional in the most functional way. Powered by an excellent cast as well as insightful writing and direction, Perfect Family doles out valuable home truths about the most basic social unit.

Palak Bhambri has created the eight episodes and co-written them with Adhiraj Sharma. Sachin Pathak deftly directs a series that, despite ample comedic moments, is far more concerned with the pain that is unique to households.

The counsellor Megha (Neha Dhupia) is the show’s equivalent of a priest, coaxing out confessions from the Karkarias during sessions. The observant and plain-speaking Megha is also a stand-in for the show’s creators, who advocate the value of professional intervention for families who are incapable of solving their problems.

Each of the Karkarias is ripe for therapy. Somnath is hidebound, unable to see how his patriarch pose has shackled his wife and children. Kamla is the glue that holds things together as well as the victim of Somnath’s unacknowledged bullying.

Pooja, who is estranged from her husband Ashok (Abhi Khajuria), resents not being counted as the true inheritor of her father’s business. Vishnu has a massive inferiority complex at home and work, created partly by Somnath’s tough love parenting.

Neeti, oppressed by the joint family situation, takes refuge in conspicuous consumption. She is keen on moving away with her husband, Daani and her other child Daksh (Ronav Vaswani) – which riles the senior Karkarias to no end.

Pankaj Tripathi serves as one of the producers. Perfect Family will be premiered on Jar Series’ YouTube channel. The first two episodes are free. The remaining six episodes are available for a fee of Rs 59.

The show’s strengths include honesty about just how insensitive family members can be with each other, and acuity about the price of maintaining a facade of normalcy. The flame-outs between Vishnu and Neeti are particularly harrowing, invoking Scenes from a Marriage and American indie films on the subject.

A neglected character is the couple’s younger child Daksh, who is stuck to his tablet and blurts out that his family is “mental” in public. Perhaps little Daksh needs to see a counsellor too?

The characters are obnoxious at times. They are vulnerable too. They are hurt and they hurt each other. In short, they are normal people – a point Perfect Family successfully makes.

One of the episodes references Little Miss Sunshine, one of the most resonant films about troubled family ties. Two other episodes, which deal with parenting, are particularly sharp in exposing the roots of the estrangement.

Megha has her work cut out for her. Neha Dhupia makes for a fine listening post, firmly guiding the Karkarias towards wisdom. The Pahwa couple are brilliant, as always. Gulshan Devaiah is terrific too as the put-upon, desperately sad Vishnu.

Girija Oak Godbole occasionally tips over into melodrama, but she is very good in the quieter moments of anguish. The child actor Hirvaa Trivedi is a wonderful addition to the cast.

Even though it sometimes appears that the Karkarias are better off without each other, Perfect Family balances a bracing reality check with optimism. The cliff hanger handing is questionable.

Keeping up with the Karkarias is often tough, what with rows breaking out in every other scene. Although Perfect Family doesn’t make the case for hanging out with them longer than necessary, the series does ensure that the time already spent with the characters is fruitful – in a bittersweet kind of way.