Social dramas that try to inculcate contemporary or prevalent nuanced issues have started to be in vogue recently. Perhaps because we have spent the last few decades believing that filmmakers and writers who tell personal stories will never find an audience. Or they may only be able to find a place in the critically acclaimed category. Thankfully, mainstream media has moved on from these antiquated ideas. It is unafraid to venture outside the comfort zone of palatial houses with highly stylised characters in order to unapologetically explore a niche landscape. ‘Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi’ by SonyLIV is an earnest step in the same direction. And we’ve got four reasons why you should add it to your watchlist right now.
This show has enough heart, soul and awareness to make you feel like you are under the sun on a chilly morning, it makes you feel warm. The show is about a person named Nirmal Pathak, he has the biggest revelation of his life and that leads him to travel far away to his real family. When he arrives in the village of Buxer, he realises that he has been missing out on a whole world for the past 24 years. He meets his real mother and kits, which leads him to wonder why he was kept away in the first place. Ghar Wapsi is an investigation into the same question.
Is Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi Based On A True Story?
While it might appear so, as most of the things in it hit way too close to reality, and it manages to capture the societal issues very effectively, however, it is still not known whether it is based on a real-life story or not. But Nirmal Pathak could be any person, anyone could be in those situations, and that is what makes this show unavoidable and interesting as well.
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About Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi
The best thing about the evolution of the OTT space is that filmmakers and writers can now tell stories from their personal space to an audience. In contrast to the big screen, where the Friday numbers and their estimation would be decisive. Language is no longer an impediment (remember how too much Bundelkhandi was a “problem” for some in Sonchirya?) That is, it is no longer a “problem.” Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi is a genuine step in the right direction.
The show unapologetically explores a niche landscape, which may turn some people off. Of course, there is a wealth of heartland content, some of which is only on the surface. But Vaibhav Tatwawaadi goes a little deeper. It is a universal story about a once-glorious family that is now partially nuclear.
This story is about a man who is broken and startled and changed after being hit by reality. The challenge is not only to collect the broken pieces and mend them by accepting reality, but also to adapt to a new environment. He also has a big secret that he keeps close to his heart. Then we meet his mother, who has been waiting for her son for 24 years. For two decades, she was abandoned and left to suffer in longing.
The show captures the class divide effectively; the show manages to show it at a micro level too. How caste and orthodox and patriarchy ruin and deprive us of a lot of opportunities. Somewhere, in the third episode, a well-known political figure is in the middle of a boastful monologue about the elements – religion, money, and blessings – that help one thrive in politics when he is interrupted by a young man who calls these elements “toxic”, of the new SonyLiv show Nirmal Pathak ki Ghar Wapsi. The politician then smirks accusingly and asks, “Are you from JNU?”
Writer Rahul Pandey and showrunner Naren Kumar then somehow manage to establish a world that feels authentic and lived-in and not a fancy untouched version of it. The show is also helped by a very capable cast who looks perfectly at home with the thick Bhojpuri dialect (Garima Singh, playing Genda Bua, deserves a special mention here).
But most importantly, Nirmal Pathak ki Ghar Wapsi acknowledges that it’s rather impossible to tell a story about rural India without talking about what sticks in its throat, and what essentially makes it. There is a deliberate lightness to the first portions, but the unrest grows gradually with each episode as we see Nirmal making a stronger dent in their house and society’s set-in-stone rules.
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