Just like season 1, Unpaused: Naya Safar revolves round Covid times. From the way it affected the common man to frontline warriors, it talks about covvid’s impact on everyone’s lives. Where the first episode, The Couple, speaks about job loss of a women employee who was expecting a promotion after successfully working on a project which is close to its launch; the second episode, War Room, is a story of a woman whose son committed suicide and is now expected to save the life of a man she thinks is responsible for her son’s ‘murder,’ the so-called suicide. Will she help him get the bed and save his life is the plot of the story.
While The Couple talks about frustration women went through during these tough times as layoffs hit them hard, it ends on a good note. It’s a bitter-sweet story of a couple who finally comes out of the situation – stronger, accepting it, dealing with it.
War Room is good too. It doesn’t go anywhere though so if you watch this story thinking that it will talk about justice or injustice, then it won’t. It’s just an everyday story where you live with emotional pain that kills you everyday but you can’t do anything about it.
The third story, Teen Tigada, is about 3 men who are stuck at an isolated place as the government announces lockdown. I did not like it much. Why? Because it’s slow and uninteresting. The idea behind it was nice but it has not been executed well. That’s my personal opinion though, I am sure there will be people out there who will like it for the idea behind it, as many people have gone through such ‘feeling stuck’ days during covid. But it’s not for everyone.
The fourth story, Gond Ke Laddu is my favorite among all. It’s heart-warming. So what is Gond Ke Laddu all about? It’s a mother’s story who is sending her daughter gond ke laddu by courier as she has just delivered a baby. What happens next? The delivery guy who is supposed to deliver the parcel meets with a minor accident that damages the parcel. Fearing that he will lose his job as his manager has already warned him of the consequences, he still delivers the laddu. How does he manage that is worth watching! Neena Kulkarni as a mother is excellent as always. If I have to mention someone here, I would talk about the two young actors who have played the couple here. Wonderful performances!
The last story, Vaikunth, brings back the most depressing and horrifying memories of covid times. It talks about death. And no, I couldn’t gather courage to relive those times. I remember how everyone suggested to not watch news, when the death cases were at an all time high, to stay away from depression and take care of your mental health. I just read a headline where Nagraj Manjule, the protagonist of this particular episode, also called it depressing. So if you want to stay away from this particular episode, please do.
Otherwise, Unpaused is Unpaused. I was head over heels in love with the first season and I would suggest you watch Naya Safar as well. It’s refreshing to watch such heart-warming stories about the most trying times of our time. But yes, if I had to pick one of the two seasons, I would pick season 1.
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video