I actually want to write an essay, oh no, wait! I want to write an eBook about this show as an article wouldn’t be enough. But, I will try my best to give away everything I can in this article.
How is Made In Heaven Season 2? Better than Season 1? Worth your time as each episode is close to 70 minutes? Yes, Made In Heaven 2 is totally worth your time. You can sit the whole day watching this show and yet, when it ends, you would want more of it. Made In Heaven is a show that film-making students should study – the way it’s written, not just the story but every character – from Tara’s mother to Meher. No character is small, their screen space might be but their characters are not. Every character has its own story and it’s so complete in itself. Nothing is half-baked. Take Bulbul (Mona Singh) for example. When new characters are introduced in the new season, the story usually loses its charm. But Mona Singh and Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju made this season even stronger by talking about issues that have been spoken about multiple times but not in a way this show did this time – subtly, without being preachy but by focussing on the consequences of paying and not paying attention to the flaws of this society.
While we see Tara (Shobhita Dhulipala) and Karan (Arjun Mathur) living broken and emotionally damaged lives due to the toxic expectations of their mothers, the beauty is that they are still standing by each other. In this season, we see Tara go through her divorce with Adil. Though seeing him with Faiza is breaking her down, she turns the page and yet in the end, writes the story in her favour. The consequence of which is that her love interest, Chef Raghav (Ishwak Singh) walks out of her life as he is not supportive of Tara taking over Adil’s house as the divorce settlement. The entire show, we see romantic interests walk in and out of this duo’s life, but what remains constant in their lives is each other.
Parallely, we see many more stories unfolding that hold your attention even when Tara and Karan are given some breathing space. Bulbul, Made in Heaven’s new auditor, who, on the surface, looks annoying turns out to be the woman who becomes the support system of the team. From letting Jazz bring international tourists to Indian weddings so that she can fund her brother’s treatment at the rehab to giving Tara Adil’s company details so that she can fight her case against him smartly, she does everything in her capacity without expecting anything in return. On the other side, we see her fight her own battle – with her past and her present. Bulbul Johari is a character that tells you the story of every woman who is silently fighting domestic violence single handedly. The way this character’s story is woven and performed by Mona Singh, you will instantly fall in love with this addition.
Speaking of domestic violence, we all see Anik (Siddhanth Karnick) and Adhira’s (Mrunal Thakur) story where the charming life coach is seen hitting his actress fiancee frequently in episode 2 – Beauty and the Beast. This is when Bulbul’s past starts resurfacing as she, from her experience, tells the Made In Heaven team that Adhira’s injuries are not accidental, Anik has been abusing her. The team doesn’t pay attention to her gut feeling until one day, they find Adhira unconscious on the floor during pre-wedding celebrations. The reason? Anik loses his mind and kicks her in the face. As Indian women love to be the rehab for damaged men, Adhira marries Anik. The story doesn’t end here. But for us, Made In Heaven takes us to the next wedding.
Just like season 1, Made In Heaven Season 2 brings to light different flaws of the society – from caste to gender discrimination. Radhika Apte’s dalit wedding, that is episode 5 – The Heart Skipped A Beat, talks about issues we think don’t exist anymore. There are people who are still fighting for their rights – basic human rights – and privileged people like us are not aware of it or maybe we turn a blind eye because it doesn’t concern us. I am glad that a show like Made In Heaven spoke about it. The best part of this episode is the wedding. You may see grand weddings in the web series but when you see the setup of this wedding, your heart indeed skips a beat.
Other weddings talks about other issues like:
Episode 1 – Mirror mirror on the wall: Sarina (Zayn Marie Khan) and Aman’s (Rohan Gurbaxani) story focuses on people’s obsession with fair skin
Episode 3 – And they lived happily ever after: Kriti (Neelam Kothari) and Gulshan’s (Samir Soni) story talks about middle-aged love. While the couple couldn’t unite in the younger days as their parents opposed their union, they elope when they realise that their kids are not getting married because they love each other, it’s just infatuation.
Episode 4 – Love story: In this episode, we see a scripted wedding. In love or not in-love, we are still not sure about but this truly is a Bollywood wedding where everything is all about glamour and not so much about love for the celebrities, Sarfaraz Khan (Pulkit Samrat) and Leila (Elnaaz Norouzi).
Episode 6 – Warrior princesses: In this episode, as Karan and Tara decide to handle different weddings and not work together, we see two stories unfold here, one is where Shehnaaz (Dia Mirza) silently watches her husband remarry without getting divorced, other is where we see lesbian couple, Aditi (Shibani Dandekar) and her partner, Radhika (Sheena Khalid) come together for life against all odds.
Episode 7 – A taste of heaven: Here we see Roman (Imaaduddin Shah) and Julie (Sarah Jane Dias) trying to get married as she is pregnant but as Roman is just in his 20s and not settled yet, Julie asks him to follow his passion and not rush into marriage just because she is pregnant. Julie decides to let him go on the wedding day on the condition that he will keep loving her and their baby.
While all these stories are taking the centre stage as Made In Heaven wedding stories, there are two beautiful stories that are playing in the background.
Firstly, a big round of applause to Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju for honest portrayal of who she truly is. Trinetra is a fab actress and the way she carried herself in Made In Heaven Season 2, her acting career looks super bright. What a graceful woman!
Hers is one of the cutest and shortest love stories that makes you believe in love again. Since it’s the shortest, I won’t tell you a bit about it. Just watch this beauty live her fairy tale on screen.
Next is Arjun and Vikrant Massey’s, that is, Karan and Nawab’s love story. In season 2, we do see Nawab but not indulging in a passionate relationship with Karan. Their love is now beyond physical. We see Nawab coming back in Karan’s life when he is not himself at all. He comes back to heal him. For me, in this season, their love was more spiritual than anything else. When Karan cannot take any more of his mother’s hatred, he finds solace in sex and drugs. He stops confiding even in Tara which shows that friends can only pull you out of everything in life. These souls are different. When everything fails to save you, they show up. They show up to remind you who you are. Nawab’s one advice to Karan – Don’t apologise for who you are and his unconditional acceptance brings him back from the darkness.
And then when Karan’s mother passes away, we see Nawab find his way back into his life – only to heal him. A gay love story that is beyond sex. In Made In Heaven Season 3, I would really love to watch this progress.
P.S: Made In Heaven Season 2 explores human intimacy beyond sex. It focusses on human connections – unconditional love, support, and acceptance that we need in our lives to remain emotionally and mentally sane.
ALSO READ: Made In Heaven Season 1 Review