Decoupled review: R Madhavan, Surveen Chawla are not enough to save this mean-spirited satire

The latest Netflix Indian original is about the decoupling of Arya Iyer (R Madhavan) and Shruti Sharma (Surveen Chawla), a wealthy Gurugram couple who have had issues in their marriage for a few years now. Shruti finally decides to do something about it and the rest of the series revolves around them breaking the news of their divorce to their daughter Rohini (Arista Mehta) and those closest to them.

Created and written by Manu Joseph, Decoupled delights in putting its characters in numerous embarrassing and politically incorrect situations. Arya is a successful novelist, though we rarely see him writing, just saving voice memos to himself. His wife Shruti is a successful venture capitalist, though her work only consists of meetings a Korean billionaire investor Mr Lee (Darren E Scott), whom she considers having a fling with.

The privileged pair live in their own little bubble and Shruti is frequently embarrassed by Arya’s constant outbursts giving his opinion, needed or not. Like the egotistical Indian male who can’t stop sharing offensive jokes on WhatsApp and/or social media, Arya must share his views with random strangers to unburden himself.

These bon mots are meant to be keen observations on society but just end up demeaning others, more often than not those in the hospitality industry and working class. Arya and his two friends, a down-on-his-luck filmmaker Mayank (Aseem Hattangady) and Guru Agni (Atul Kumar), a former corporate boss-turned-lifestyle leader, are constantly grousing about men and women, class differences and culture. Mostly it’s about how they cannot be offensive any more.

The three are hoping to land a show at Netflix (very meta) titled ‘Daaru With Guru’ about conversations with men that will give women 'insight'. Netflix rejects them; but we are not so lucky.

One neighbour, an economist, in their posh society even comments on Arya’s showy antics, saying, “There is a Trump in every colony.” Though I must admit, the rivalry between Arya and writer Chetan Bhagat (who plays himself) is amusing as the best-selling author turns up in places to outdo him at every turn.

Each episode opens with clever credits that introduce the titles; the production design by Sheetal Duggal tastefully shows their affluent lifestyles both at home and outside. The costumes by Thea Tekchchandaney show the imbalance in their relationships, Shruti is almost always immaculately dressed while Arya loafs around in sweats or athletic wear.

The shallow Arya even meets up with his ex-girlfriend Pooja, only to reject her after he notices she has gained weight. He manages to strike up an affair with a flight attendant Masha (Sonia Rathee) who continues to be with him despite his abhorrent actions.

Much of Decoupled’s eight episodes, directed by Hardik Mehta, revolves around Arya’s self-satisfied ways. Which gets a little absurd after a point when all Shruti and Arya do is bait each other. The matter about informing their tween daughter gets dragged over episodes, leading to a grand finale where they have a grand decoupling party at a resort in Goa.

Shruti’s understanding but bewildered parents Surinder and Madhu (the excellent Akash Khurana and Apara Mehta) also attend while questioning the breaking-up couple's determination to co-parent Rohini even after the divorce. “I feel I’m in some Ayushmann Khurrana film,” Surinder exclaims after one explosive dinner.

There are more than a few references to the Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) which does the series no favours. Somehow, Madhavan and Surveen Chawla soldier on through the mean-spiritedness and make it through to the end. Hidden deep down below the shocking and distasteful behaviour is a story about an unravelling marriage. In certain scenes, both the leads bring out their former love and current untenable situation well.

The series has its funny moments: there is a joke about the size of flats in Mumbai versus Gurugram that lands well, and the decoupling dinner has the sign ‘Shruti Sheds Arya’. But the bad (and cringe-worthy) outweighs the good. Coming from executive producer Vikramaditya Motwane and filmmaker Mehta, this seems all the more surprising.

Decoupled is now available on Netflix.