Series Name: Sutliyan
Cast: Ayesha Raza Mishra, Vivaan Shah, Shiv Pandit, Plabita Borthakur, Sunil Sinha, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Disha Arora, Vivek Mushran, Nikhil Nagpal and Inayat Sood.
Director: Small Town Films
Rating: 3.5/5
"Years of knots are there, it's okay to be confused. Just a little time and a little love, this sutliyan will start looking beautiful again." With that beautiful dialogue we all have heard that relationships are like threads and from time to time our bonds also get tangled like them. Presenting this beautiful concept of relationships in our lives, ZEE5's latest offering Sutliyan is an 8-episode series that will remind you that no matter how complicated relationships are, one can always nurture them and Could settle them with time and of course, some love.
Set in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, we are introduced to Supriya Chandel (Ayesha Raza Mishra), a mother of 3 grown children living away from her, and played by her late husband Vivek Mushran. Ramani (Plabita Borthakur) is the middle child who works in a bank in Bangalore, while elder brother Rajan (Shiv Pandit) runs a bath fitting business. The youngest brother Raman (Vivaan Shah) is an activist who loves to raise social issues. Like everyone else the lockdown brought a lot of pain and sorrow due to the loss of livelihood and loved ones, for Chandel too, it was heartbreaking to lose the head of the family. However, due to the COVID rules, none of the 3 kids come for their father's funeral and Supriya Chandel in her growing age is left alone to arrange everything.
When the three siblings Ramani, Raman and Rajan come home before Diwali and spend time with their mother, we see how they are all bound by a loose thread of love that breaks when they don't care. Could be for any longer. Every child is plagued with guilt, aware that they were not there for their mother in the wake of a family tragedy. When they all meet Supriya, she changes. She is strong and is going through life with the hope of making it better. With dreams in her eyes, Supriya wants to start her own business of Sutliyan, where she makes decorative items with yarn. While Rajan and Raman find their mother's behavior no different, Ramani vows to find out what has changed in her.
As the show progresses from episode to episode, we get acquainted with the people and problems of Ramani, Raman and Rajan's lives and why each of them decided to come back to their mother's house before Diwali. Supriya, on the other hand, is trying to get permission to the local committee to get stall number 1 at the Diwali fair, which takes place annually on the land owned by her and her late husband. In Supriya's life too, her friend Trilok ji (Sunil Sinha), a local grocery shop owner, plays an important role after her husband's demise. Seeing her as an extra help to her mother, Ramani feels uneasy and decides to get to the bottom of it and this is where her old friend Sameer (Nikhil Nagpal) enters. He is a typical smoker, friend-zoned guy who is in love with Ramani. But, there are reasons for not having feelings for her and soon, we are introduced to her friend TJ (Inayat Sood) from Bangalore, who travels to Bhopal to spend time with her.
As we move forward, Rajan and his wife Amita's relationship also makes headlines. The couple is seen quarreling, again pointing out the knots in their bond. In all this, Rajan has yet to disclose to his mother that his business has been affected and he has gone bankrupt. Facing pressure from creditors, he decides to sell the land, which his late father had bought for the three children. Raman, the youngest of them all, is also shown to have a complicated relationship with Trilokji's daughter Dipannita (Niharika Lyra Dutt), who is married to a man she does not love. Their bonding is also not without complications. In all of this, how the kids are trying to make up for the time they lost in bad times with their moms while dealing with their problems, that's what drives the story.
From watching them fight among themselves to decide whether or not the family land should be sold to spying on their mother Supriya's relationship with Trilokji, each moment reflects how slowly and steadily they are dealing with those complexities. trying to reconcile what has come into their relationship as one. Be family and seamless again. Till the sixth episode, what will keep you hooked is the beautiful treatment of complicated relationships. It will give you a warm hug to the Chandel family assuring that things will be all right.
Talking about the performances, Ayesha Raza Mishra as Supriya is brilliant in the role of a mother who is trying to find her own footing and start her own brand. She is the backbone of this family and to be honest, of the show too. Shiv Pandit as Rajan manages to connect you with the pressure of dreaming big, yet at times, you don't like how practical he is, selling his late father's land to pay off his debts. is ready. His performance is definitely commendable and will impress you. Plabita as Ramani comes across as a strong-willed but vulnerable woman who has her own secrets and is not yet ready to open up about them to the world. His performance manages to leave the most impact in the scenes where he is in self-doubt as to how to cope with his own guilt of leaving his mother alone.
Vivaan as Raman will remind you of the youngest child in the family who feels no one loves him and craves attention. He tries to hide his vulnerability by lying to his siblings about what he does and even relies on substances to escape his reality. He manages to pull off the part convincingly. Whenever Sunil Sinha as Trilokji supports Supriya like a true friend, you will have a smile on your face. Inayat Sood as TJ manages to effortlessly portray the weaknesses and doubts in his and Ramani's relationship. Disha Arora and Niharika Lyra Dutt are quite confident in their acts as Amita and Dipannita.
This 8-episode series has a clear vision of good writing and direction by Sudip Nigam, Abhishek Chatterjee. Not for a moment do you feel like you are in a melodramatic old world and that is why you want to go to the end of the series. In the era of dark, gritty and intense shows available on streaming platforms, Sutliyan is definitely a breath of fresh air. It's an attempt to make everyone believe that no matter how complex bonds and relationships get, they can always be made comfortable just by paying attention and taking care of them.