Gullak (Season 3) review: Superlative performances by the lead cast make this show worthwhile

After entertaining audiences with its banter and antics over two seasons, the Mishra family is back with the third season of the popular TVF-SonyLIV web-series Gullak.

Like the earlier seasons, the third revolves around the humdrum existence of the Mishras, their hopes and dreams, and their rock-solid bond that endures through all the disagreements and squabbles of daily life in a quaint North Indian town.

Yet, much has changed. To begin with, younger son Aman (Harsh Mayar), who was struggling with his studies, has topped his school in the tenth standard board examination. But the happiness of the family is shortlived as it will have to pay high fees for Aman's further studies. Older son Annu (Vaibhav Raj Gupta) has found a temporary job with a salary of Rs17,000 a month.

The one thing that hasn't changed is Shanti Mishra (Geetanjali Kulkarni), the sharp-tongued mother of the boys and the glue that holds the family together.

Season 3 opens well, too, with the Mishras having to deal with the new problem of Aman's college admission. The older son, meanwhile, wants to get the good life with his first salary. And as it happens in most lower-middle-class households, he has to put his dreams on hold.

Though the third season seeks to celebrate the ordinariness of lower-middle-class life in a small town, writer Durgesh Singh and director Palash Vaswani fail to recreate the unadulterated charm of the previous seasons. Everything, from the banter of the husband and wife to Aman's confusion about choosing the right academic stream, feels like a calibrated attempt to adhere to a formula that worked. You can feel the old charm here and there, but it's not consistent enough. The technical departments, including the production design, playful score and two soothing songs by Anurag Saikia, face the same problem. The simplicity just does not feel natural like it did earlier.

Indeed, the overt ordinariness of the show feels more like a reaction to the huge reception the previous seasons received from audiences. With the exception of the season finale, the conflicts and problems in this season feel quite flat.

The third season also seems to lack the natural comical flair of the earlier two. One can almost sense the writer's desperation to add funny moments to keep the tone light-hearted. There are some genuinely funny scenes, but they don't leave a lasting impact. Even the dramatic scenes are unable to create anything as sparkling as the finale of the second season when Aman becomes the school topper.

Yet, this season remains watchable because of the natural performances of the main cast. While none of the characters has a strong arc this time, both Kulkarni and Jameel Khan make up for it with their superlative performances. Kulkarni especially combines innocence with quirkiness, seemingly without effort. The boys, Vaibhav Raj Gupta and Harsh Mayar, are absolute naturals.