MASABA MASABA- Netflix Series: MY TAKE
DISCLAIMER: Some of you might take exception to me not mentioning anything about the second
protagonist, Masaba’s mother, Neena Gupta. But this blog is purely my impression of the show. Meaningmaking would differ for people of distinct vantage points and varying age brackets, and the essence wouldn’t
be captured from the same characters either. And in any case, immaterial of the fact that both Masaba and
Neena Gupta play the lead actors, Masaba’s journey is undeniably foregrounded from beginning to the end;
it’s not for no reason the show’s called Masaba-Masaba and not Neena-Masaba!
Even if I had to, I wouldn’t know what I could possibly complain about—dialogues: good, script:
great, potential to inspire: remarkable, acting: umm… well that had scope for improvement at
certain points, but who cares for acting when the plot and the script are so phenomenal! I’m usually
not the one to recommend movies or TV shows to my friends, but I can’t remember how many
times I’ve told them to watch that show!
It being drama has enough of it of course, but just the right amount I’d say. It portrays the ‘adultlife’ problems most of us millennials can be seen struggling with. Be it work-life balance, dating
problems, or disappointment in people we thought we could trust—the series strikes a chord in
more ways than one. While Season 1 focuses on how a small glitch can avalanche into a catastrophe
—special credits to social media—in a career as glamorous as fashion and has our protagonist,
Masaba Gupta, pulling her shit together and working her way up again, Season 2 is a dossier of her
inside-story while she continues to scale up her operations, stepping into new ventures.
The show has set a definition of ‘success’. It is that which gets you consumed with work so much
that your personal life becomes an unimportant passenger somewhere in the backseat while career
drives you on, only to one day realize that time is running out for you to find stability in romance
and start a family, and so now you might just have to freeze your eggs—“If you’re worried about
time, just give yourself more of it, freeze your eggs!” Gia, Masaba’s best friend, tells her in Episode
2 of Season 2 when she sees Masaba worrying about the prospect of motherhood with the fact of
being in her 30s and not having a stable partner, or even the time for it.
The show dispels a kick-ass energy that inevitably makes you rise from whatever shit-pit you might
have found yourself in and infuses you with the strength you need to be up and running again. Not
just that, I’m gonna extend the argument a little further at the risk of being called superstitious, but
you might even find good things coming your way once you get yourself hooked to the show. Call it
the law of attraction or some real spell being cast out of the show on its audience, but you would
definitely feel some inexplicable might birthing at the pit of your belly and rising up in your gut. I
mean how else do I explain the drive I had to apply to so many different places for so many
different job roles the first time I had finished watching the show, despite having always known
myself to be lazy? And being able to get my act together after finishing a second turn binge
watching it in spite of having fallen flat for the nth time right before?!
I could keep raving about the show’s wonders and the vibe it gives off, but you really have to
experience it for yourself, especially if you’ve been feeling a bit sluggish lately or need a boost to
get going!
