Rasbhari review: A story amongst problems

Latest after Anuskha Sharma produced crime thriller 'Paatal Lok' in May, Amazon Prime aired another Indian series called 'Rasbhari' on Thursday. Penned by the writer of 'Badhaai Ho', Shantanu Shrivastava, the 8-episode show features Swara Bhaskar as the lead actress.

For starters, the show is a gospel of gossips. From teacher to guard, husband to wife, student to co-student, and woman to women. The gospel is a native of Meerut, a city in Uttar Pradesh, deciphered as ‘Raavan ka Maayka’ in the title of the pilot episode itself. The show 'Rasbhari' is made of bizarre pictures of a city driven by sex-scandals, where having an affair is quite obvious for men. The story, however, is no better than problematic.

The narration stars Nand Kishore Tyagi (played by Ayushman Saxena), a teenager desperately chasing his desire to lose virginity. One of the ‘man’ of Meerut, who unsurprisingly falls for his married English teacher Shanu Bansal (played by Swara Bhaskara). The story, hearsay takes an orbit of lust gazing. When Nand starts stalking Shanu, as rumors of her sexuality have been aired already. The stalking infuriates with no sense of ‘private life’, and sneaking and spying on Shanu and her household. The show is a delight for thought-provoking ideas, as the character played by Swara is a metaphor of suppressed sexual desires in women. Although an epilogue at the beginning of every episode from Shanu/Rasbhari’s childhood is an illustration of dos and don’ts of a ‘woman in-making’.

The social drama takes a turn when Nand fails to charm Shanu and decides to destroy her for the rejection. Meanwhile, in his approach to rightful revenge Nand invents a story humanizing Rasbhari as an evil spirit with mental illness. A burden that needs to be swayed off for a moralistic judgment of female character. And then onwards it’s problematic as everything is entrapped in the hot teacher’s charm, and nothing goes beyond it.

AMONGST PROBLEMS

Rasbhari tired to deliver everything and failed in its inventories. The approach of teenager’s desire, women ensuring their household subjacency and infidelity, and talks of adultery. The delivery of these ideas, however, fail to make a mark and remained half-baked by the end of the series. But, to be watched for unapologetic Swara Bhaskara, and Shantanu Shrivastava's picturization of teenage, it is a good show of laughs and chuckles.