Envoy score: 3/5
In one of the episodes of MX Player and TVF’s ‘Cheesecake’, the camera zooms onto a sticker on a car which reads “My kids are with paws”. This is what the series is all about.
Neel (Jitendra Kumar) and Sameera (Akanksha Thakur) are a millennial couple who don’t see eye to eye due to various differences in their priorities, aspirations and desires. Even after entering the 3rd year of marriage, they are unable to come to terms with each other.
This is evident from the opening scene at the breakfast table and their tantrums are an indication of things that are in store during the course of time.
Then there is the humiliation of Sameera, who gets a trivial 5% annual increment despite being declared by her boss as an asset to the company. This ignites the fury of Sameera culminating into an outburst on corporate politics.
Her rhetoric on HR as fit for nothing except to come out with a gift of dinner set for every New Year is definitely going to raise the eyebrows of HR fraternity and of course, bring sheepish smiles on faces of all HR opposers.
In the process, she gets sloshed to gulp down the humiliation she received at work. On her way back, Sameera comes across the golden retriever (Aaryan) who follows her all the way to her home.
Sameera does not have any other option except to let the dog into her home. Now the dog becomes the bone of confrontation between Neel and Sameera. What follows forms the crux of the narrative.
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole”. This is what the kind of enlightenment provided by the series, which is nothing short of a strong revelation on mundane relations.
The show will appeal immensely to dog and pet lovers. Aaryan as “Cheesecake” steals the show. Aaryan is cute, lovable and does its very best. You can’t stop cheering for Aaryan whose performance is on par with lead actors Jitendra Kumar and Akanksha Thakur.
Though this is not to be compared to the likes of ‘Marley and Me’, it does justice to the genre of dog stories in its own way. It conveys the importance of human relations, emotional connections and bonding between hearts, be it a dog or human being.
There is a sincere effort of Palash Vaswani, the Director, and Gautam Ved, the writer, who successfully recreate human and pet relationships through the show. Music and Lyrics of Santanu Ghosh need special mention as songs are soothing and suit the mood very well.
Jitendra Kumar and Akanksha Thakur do total justice to their characters. Kumar Varun as Shikar, the National Geo documentary maker, and a friend of Neel evokes some laughs with his histrionics. Mahesh Manjrekar, who appears in a brief role as Mirza, the dog shelter provider, definitely adds extra attraction to the star cast.
At the end, Aaryan as ‘Cheesecake’ and trainer Ramdas Shinde and his team deserve special mention for all the hard work they did to make this drama engrossing.
A thoroughly enjoyable 5 episode series with an underlying caution on human relations. There is no reason to give it a miss. Go watch it for Aaryan!