MASABA MASABA- Netflix Series: MY TAKE

Blogs are, as it is, never too dispassionate, but this one’s gonna be particularly informal cuz that’s how I feel after binge watching Masaba-Masaba a second time– casual, informal, communicative, yet badass. This is also the first time I’ve ever gone back to an already-watched drama series; I’m a sitcom person otherwise.

DISCLAIMER: Some of you might take exception to me not mentioning anything about the second protagonist, Masaba’s mother, Neena Gupta. But this blog is purely my takeaway from the show. Meaning-making would differ for people of distinct vantage points and varying age brackets, and the essence wouldn’t be captured from the same characters either. And in any case, immaterial of the fact that both Masaba and Neena Gupta play the lead actors, Masaba’s journey is undeniably foregrounded from beginning to the end; it’s not for no reason the show’s called Masaba-Masaba and not Neena-Masaba!

I don’t know what I could possibly reduce marks for and in what domain– dialogues: good, script: great, potential to inspire: remarkable, acting: umm…well that had scope for improvement at certain points, but who cares for acting when the plot and the script are so phenomenal! I’m usually not the one in the friend circle to have movie/series recommendations, but Lord knows it just how many times I’ve told my girlfriends we’ve got to watch the show together!!

 

It being drama has enough of it of course, but just the right amount I’d say. It portrays the ‘adult-life’ problems most of us millennials can be seen struggling with. Be it work-life balance, dating problems, or disappointment in people we thought we could trust– the series strikes a chord in more ways than one. While Season 1 focuses on how a small glitch can avalanche into a catastrophe—special credits to social media—in a career as glamorous as fashion and has our protagonist, Masaba Gupta, pulling her shit together and working her way up again, Season 2 is a dossier of her inside-story while she continues to scale up her operations, stepping into new ventures.

 

The show has set a definition of “success”. It is that which gets you consumed with work so much so that your personal life becomes an unimportant passenger somewhere in the backseat while career drives you on, only to one day realize that time is running out for you to find stability in romance and start a family, and so now you might just have to freeze your eggs— “If you’re worried about time, just give yourself more of it, freeze your eggs!” Gia, Masaba’s best friend, tells her in Episode 2 of Season 2 when she sees Masaba worrying about the prospect of motherhood with the fact of being in her 30s and not having a stable partner, or even the time for it.

 

The show dispels a kick-ass energy that inevitably makes you rise from whatever shit-pit you might have found yourself in and infuses you with the strength you need to be up and running again. Not just that, I’m gonna extend the argument a little further at the risk of being called “superstitious”, but you might even find good things coming your way once you get yourself hooked to the show. Call it the law of attraction—that you end up attracting more of what you focus on—or some real spell being cast out of the show on its audience, but you would definitely feel some inexplicable might birthing at the pit of your belly and rising up in your gut. I mean how else do I explain the drive I had to have applied to so many different places for so many different job roles the first time I had finished watching the show, despite having always known myself to be lazy, and being able to get my act together after finishing a second turn binge watching it in spite of having fallen flat for the nth time right before?!

 

I could keep harping on the wonders of the show and the vibe it emanates, but you’ve got to experience it for yourself, especially if you’ve been lackadaisical lately or are looking for a trigger to get-up-and-go!