Gullak 4 review: The series maintains its edge despite a few stray episodes

Nowadays, the use of small coins has diminished, but piggy banks still hold significance in a large part of India. It is definitely important in small town homes. Piggy BankIt’s a sweet, bittersweet family drama, now in its fourth season.

Five new episodes of the TVF-produced SonyLIV show, with a pleasantly light touch, depict the pitfalls of parental expectations and the complexities of being an adult in an age where relationships are often akin to walking a tightrope across a pit of burning coal.

piggy bank 4As warm and sweet as it has always been, the series celebrates the reassuring embrace of familial relationships that sustain themselves despite disputes and arguments. The Mishra family banters and bickers. They get angry, have fierce fights and arguments and come close to breaking up. Yet, they find ways to forget their differences and move on.

Produced and directed by Shreyansh Pandey and written by Vidit Tripathi, piggy bank 4 The film may not be full of shiny coins, but it continues to pay dividends. The writing is steady and the quality of the acting not only feeds off the script but also enhances it as it adds layers to the exercise.

The lead actors, as they did in the previous three seasons, bring a fresh air of naturalness to their performances. More than anything, what stands out is their sheer consistency as they go through a number of contrasting emotions and situations across the five episodes.

At the centre of it all is of course the wise, omniscient Gullak (voiced by Shivankit Singh Parihar). Set in a shared space with a bulky transistor, another relic of a bygone era, it sees the four members of a family busy with their chores and often working at cross purposes.

Inanimate Facilitator It opines on the oddities of middle-class life at a critical juncture. Its sharply insightful pronouncements – they range from the sarcastic to the surprisingly intelligent – almost always provide a larger comic context for what is happening.

This format of storytelling still works well, despite the fact that its novelty has inevitably worn off a bit. Piggy BankThe synopses have a broad, eloquent sound, which contrasts with the perpetually conversational tone of the verbal exchanges between the human characters.

The familiarity of the people on screen and the relevance of their behaviour is what gives them a distinct identity. Piggy Bank Its edge. piggy bank 4 Despite some sporadic deviations that are related to the law of diminishing returns, it maintains its edge. Overall, the payout is still quite substantial.

The show is about individuals dealing with real-world problems: shared responsibilities in a family, finding space for two adult boys forced to live in one room, the process of growing up and the pains of love, and the pressure to meet targets at work.

Funny banter, petty squabbles, a few fights, some serious misunderstandings and, of course, threats from the outside world keep the Mishra family – Santosh (Jameel Khan) and Shanti (Geetanjali Kulkarni) and their sons Anand (Vaibhav Raj Gupta) and Aman (Harsh Mayar) – on their toes.

In one episode, the municipality issues a show-cause notice to Mishra. The possibility of bulldozers demolishing parts of the house is very high. The crisis gives rise to a discussion on the ethics and dynamics of bribing a government official – speed money is euphemistically described as a facility fee – to escape danger. But can Santosh Mishra do it with a straight face?

In another episode, Shanti falls prey to a chain-snatcher while returning from a temple. She is in shock. The Mishra family goes to the police station to lodge a complaint. According to Gullak, an encounter with the police can be a life-changing event for an ordinary small-town family. Shanti comes out of it in one piece, but not in the way her husband and two sons would have expected.

The decision to throw away household junk that has been collected over the years leads to discord in the Mishra family. Aman is desperate to deal with his family. junk dealer But his plans are fraught with risk.

Outside the home, Aman falls in love with a girl he meets at a coffee shop and Anand, as a medical representative, tries to find his footing in a challenging profession but struggles to deal with his boss, who is always an irritable person.

Anand and Aman keep having fraternal squabbles, but when things start getting out of control, the elder brother intervenes and stops the younger boy from rebelling against the head of the Mishra family in the wrong way.

While not particularly spectacular or surprising, piggy bank 4 It’s fun. Some parts of the show get a little dramatic, but no matter what Mishra does, the tone of the storytelling never gets disturbed.

Geetanjali Kulkarni and Jameel Khan give excellent performances that keep us immersed in the everyday life that Shanti and Santosh Mishra are used to. Harsh Mayar, Vaibhav Raj Gupta and Sunita Rajwar (as Bittu’s mom who suddenly appears at the most inopportune moment) are always on point in their roles.

Held together by the writing — it chooses to err on the low-key side — and supported by flawless performances, the five episodes piggy bank 4 The dreams, dilemmas and confusions of the Mishra family were once again brought to light.

Presenting yet another truth about living life under the shadow of anonymity in small towns, piggy bank 4 Most of it is correct.