“Made in Heaven,” created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, has finally released its highly-anticipated second season, after more than four years from when its first season dropped on Amazon Prime. Led by Sobhita Dhulipala and Arjun Mathur, who played the co-owners of the titular wedding planning company, the series wowed its audience through its fascinating world of high society glitz and its passionate, occasionally blunt criticism of the socio-economical problems that plague the Indian society, especially the ones that plague Indian women.
“Made in Heaven” tries to paint a picture of a vapid society without being the same itself. Underneath the glitz and supposed polished exterior, “Made in Heaven” tries to bring the proverbial closet’s skeleton out in the open. Zoya Akhtar has her share of detractors, with the primary criticism being the nature of her written characters. They are the ultra-rich, the crème de la crème of the society, glaringly painting a contrasting figure for a story set in India. But it is the world Akhtar knows a thing or two about, and hence she is quite deft at critiquing it.
That is how “Made in Heaven” worked in its first season back in 2019. And it is continuing to do so in the second season. Banality is starting to seep in, novelty is starting to wear off. However, the heart of “Made in Heaven” is still intact, which makes this follow-up season scale the high mountains of expectations of the series’s fans. Written by Akhtar, Kagti, and Alankrita Shrivastava, the show’s primary focus has not wavered in the second season as well. It continues to portray the societal blemishes that come hand in hand with a big fat Indian wedding while not forgetting the joy of the key element that makes a marriage work. Love.
Although the series comes after four years, the story is moved only by six months. Once again, through a myriad of marriages, “Made in Heaven” deftly navigates a plethora of issues. Once again, the core team of Made in Heaven, the company, tackles these issues. However, the core team changes a bit in the second season. And it changes for the better. Last season ended with the end of ‘Made in Heaven,’ making Tara (Dhulipala) and Karan (Mathur) clutch at straws. Their savior was the loan shark turned partner of the company, Ramesh Jauhari (Vijay Raaz). With Jauhari’s help, they were able to keep the core team that consisted of Jazz (Shivani Raghuvanshi) and Kabir (Shashank Arora).
The two new additions to this team are the Production Head, Meher (Trinetra Halder Gummaraju), and Bulbul Jauhari (Mona Singh). Each of these additions bring a new layer to this dramatically diverse team. Meher is a transgender woman (Gummaraju herself is a transgender woman) and is as deft at her job as she is at thwarting unwarranted unintelligible comments from people who choose to remain ignorant about the non-binary LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Bulbul, on the other hand, comes as an antagonist for the core ‘Made in Heaven’ team, appointed as an auditor by her husband and thirty percent shareholder of the company, Ramesh Jauhari. But, soon, we see her value, with a great turn-in by Mona Singh.
Along with the ‘Made in Heaven’ team, we have each member’s respective subplots, reflecting their individual struggles in their respective lives. Does it get too much in this season? Yeah, it does a bit. One could argue that some of the subplots could be trimmed or done away with. However, “Made in Heaven” is mostly successful in navigating all the subplots due to the opportunities these subplots provide to its talented cast. I mean, it is understandable when you have Jim Sarbh and Kalki Koechlin playing Adil and Faiza, who are basically from the subplot of Tara’s life which we would like to see a bit expanded.
The lead pair, Sobhita Dhulipala and Arjun Mathur are the heart of this show. And they do not show any sign of relenting in the second season either. Mathur, especially, is heartachingly excellent. The entire supporting cast is excellent. Trinetra Halder Gummaraju and Mona Singh, the two new additions, are not just there to add to the numbers. Gummaraju shows that it is not just representation that she brings to the show; she brings an authentic vitality to her character’s plight. And Mona Singh just knocks it out of the park.
“Made in Heaven” is one of the finest shows that have come from the Indian OTT spectrum. The second season does not go against that fact. We can only hope that the possible third season does not take four more years to come.
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