I haven’t followed any of Manu Joseph’s previous writing adventures so I had absolutely no preconceived notions about him. But after watching Decoupled I totally understand why he is showered with polarized viewpoints. You may not like his writing but you cannot ignore him. His writing in Decoupled brings about the same reaction in me.
I, truly, admire a writer who uses his writing as a tool to vent out his irritations about the observations in his environment. But one needs to know where to stop. Manu’s writing, after a time, comes across as ranting and borderline bickering. The worst part is, it appears intentional.
THE LOGLINE
A misanthropic writer and his startup-founder wife juggle their divorce with the absurdities and annoyances of life in their affluent world.
The conflict is completely missing.
In one word - MISANTROPIC the logline tells us much about Arya but we are left wanting to know more about Shruti. And yes we are left wanting to know more about her even at the end of eight episodes.
What I do like about the logline is - it targets that segment of an audience that mostly remains neglected. The 40 plus, going through mid-life crises, both, personally and professionally.
Does it serve the purpose eventually? Not really. None of it does.
STORY IDEA, SCRIPT and SCREENPLAY
I, too, was working on a similar concept so the story idea instantly appealed to me. I believe that not much content is targeted at the age group 40 to 50. But my wonder and anticipation both were crushed as the story crumbled like a fragile male ego.
We know the main protagonists - the couple, have a troubled marriage and an equally troubled divorce but what exactly is the trouble?
We are left wondering.
The writer chooses to use Arya Iyer’s voice as his own, to dish out every misogynist thought that would have ever crossed his mind or probably any anti-feminist comment or post he would have ever read on various social media platforms.
He doesn’t miss a chance to advocate Masculism, but as we proceed further to peel off other layers of this over-ambitious story idea, it starts feeling like a conversation between the writer and himself.
Like other characters in the story, including Shruti Sharma Iyer, we too are sidelined.
There is an effort to make the writing appear clever and that makes the spoken word comatose.
The restaurant scene in episode-1 has so much going on - a social commentary in every spoken sentence. You may try to keep up with it and may appreciate it in parts but at the end of it, these may seem to be random thoughts woven together for a scene that could eventually lead to a fruitless cliffhanger-like culmination.
By Episode-3 it becomes a collage of unrelated scenes leading nowhere.
There could have been more scenes between the couple - like the one in the Gym where they both ponder on dating younger people.
In episode-3, Masha.
Episode-4, Shruti’s parents.
Episode-5, Arya’s old friend Pooja.
Episode-6, the detour to the driver’s village.
Episode-7, display of “TOXIC MASCULINITY” in the locker room
are all tropes used to add to the hilarity and absurdity culminating to nothing but a Decoupling ceremony in Goa.
The most offensive being the old friend Pooja’s track.
At one point in episode-7, Shruti tells Arya - “Arya, Stop annoying them.”
As a viewer, I completely second that.
Reema from Netflix rightly sums up the entire Screenplay -
“Scenes don’t work!”
“Humour is just NOT LANDING!”
“The whole thing is too offensive!”
“You cannot say these things anymore!”
It may be to underline SELF AWARENESS on the part of the writer.
Of course, there is room left for the second season but surely if someone like Reema is at Netflix we would be saved from it.
Parasite, I suppose has gained the title of the best pop culture reference in recent times.
CHARACTER ARC
Arya is the second-best author in India and also a Misanthropic. He stays that way.
While the writer indulges in displaying Arya’s Misanthropic characteristics, Shruti’s character is literally a bystander in this one-sided narrative.
Arya is not the only annoying character. Jwala Kapoor the Life coach, Agni the Guru, Dr Basu, too, are equally annoying with absolutely no purpose in the overall scheme of events.
Being able to create unlikeable characters, like in the real world, is good writing but so many of them make it as unreal as all likeable characters in a story.
I like Reema and Shruti's Mother's Character.
THE PLOT-HOLES
Why is a 14-year-old Golu, Arya’s fan?
Arya writes books like - “The girl who wounded me” and “Use me darling”
I wonder how Arya manages the lifestyle because mostly he is doing nothing other than annoying people around him. What with him being the 2nd best Author and Netflix not buying any of his books. We all know what self-publishing did to real Authors.
Children of Rohini’s age, from affluent families, would not know about deleting Google search history? Not sure about that!
Why is Arya so rude to Reema? Arya's cynicism here appears very unnatural and forced like some other scenes.
How do the organizers at Bandra fest arrange for the Maids within seconds?
BEST SCENE
In each scene where Chetan Bhagat makes an appearance as himself.
I simply loved each time he manages to sneak into the narration. In retrospection, I believe, I kept enduring simply to watch more of Chetan.
WORST SCENE
The Bandra Lit fest scene is the worst of them all.
ON THE SCRIPTOMETER
It is an average script with no intentions of being GOOD.
It is bold writing but in BOLD.
What needs to be mentioned though - finally, Netflix is taking risks with Indian Content. Thankfully, writers like Manu Joseph are able to freely make something different and put out characters like Arya Iyer. What would "How I met your mother" be without Barney Stinson?
Some of the digs are perfect and hit hard where they should but far too many.
Since the writing is Primarily targeted at the Urban - Elite, stick to its original language English. The Hindi version may sound even more absurd than intended, as the couples affluent world in the series.
NOZZER PARDIWALA
*Since I review the film from the perspective of the SCRIPT alone, I may not comment on the acting, music, and other aspects of the film, however exceptional they may be.
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