Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi review: Poignant study of the unending cycle of prejudice and discrimination

On the face of it, Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi is a simple tale about a young man Nirmal (Vaibhav Tatwawadi) who is back in his hometown Buxar, Bihar, after 24 years to attend the wedding of his cousin Aatish (Akash Makhija) and finish one last job. But as he meets his relatives — Santoshi-maa (Alka Amin) and sundry sisters and relatives — and roams around the village and slowly begins to understand the villagers' problems, this simple tale turns into a poignant and soul-stirring study of the unending cycle of prejudice and discrimination.

Nirmal Pathak's father had left their hometown with only Nirmal for company, leaving behind his wife and family, after realizing that no matter how hard he tried, the entrenched caste system would not leave this society. So he settles down in Mumbai instead.

When Nirmal returns, he realizes that while nearly a quarter century has passed and the girls in the village have started using laptops and youngsters are using smart phones and new catchphrases, the social fabric has not changed much. A person from a so-called lower caste still sits away from his 'upper-caste' friends, and while his friends are offered tea in modern steel tumblers, he has to drink from an old, broken clay tumbler. Children from the scheduled castes are still considered untouchable and ejected from public functions. Girls are still married off without their opinion being sought and women still wake up as early as 4am and do all the household work till 11pm.

This is an alien world for Nirmal, and writer-director Rahul Pandey and co-director Satish Nair use this fish-out-of-water trope brilliantly without going overboard. The series has some thematic similarities with Shah Rukh Khan's cult favourite Swades (2004), but it soon grows out of it and creates its own identity that is distinct yet familiar and relatable. The writer and directors have put in immense effort to get each and every frame right.

Nirmal's entry into Buxar is quite misleading. His suitcase and wallet get stolen on the train and just when he thinks things can't get worse, his cousin Aatish calls and tells him to jump off the train before it gets to the station. He does so and is almost abducted. At this point I thought, here it is, the 5,000th crime drama set in some lawless part of North India. How wrong I was.

There is a laid-back pace to the storytelling in Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi. The initial episodes are light and breezy, but by the third episode the show shifts tone and becomes an emotional drama. But this shift in tonality is done so smoothly and delicately that you may not even notice it. It was only after I had completed viewing the series that it suddenly occurred to me.

Rahul Pandey's writing captures the essence of rural life and makes us aware why issues like casteism, sexism and patriarchy persist in India's smaller towns. He not only underlines how the self-proclaimed upper castes continue with this broken system for their own benefit, but also how those lower down the pecking order also propagate it by doing to those below them as is done unto them by those above. This is an endless cycle. And the people have got so used to the system that they genuinely believe this is the only way a society can function.

The series does an excellent job of giving these discriminatory actiions a sense of mundanity. These atrocities might be a new thing for Nirmal, but for the villagers they are as normal and natural as, say, drinking water when one is thirsty.

When Nirmal notices this, he decides to introduce change into this society. It is said that change begins at home, so he makes a rule that all the menfolk will take their own glasses of water at mealtime. But even such simple tasks hurt the ego of some males in the family.

There are several subplots in the series — Nirmal trying to bond with his biological mother Santoshi-maa, his friendship with his cousin Aakash, his fight against the blatant sexism and casteism in his own house as well as the village, and Aatish marrying Reena for political reasons.

Although the hero here hails from a so-called upper caste, the series never feels like it is following the upper-caste saviour trope. Sure, it would be great to see a guy from one of the so-called lower castes fighting for their rights and bringing about social change, but the bitter truth is that if all the 'rebellious' things Nirmal does in the series were to be done by someone without his caste privilege, he would most likely not live to see the next day dawn.

Nirmal is also frustrated with the people for mutely accepting their lot and all the humiliation that goes with it and asks why they don't stand up for their rights. Instead of giving us a lot of gyaan through a long monologue, the series answers this question with a simple line of dialogue: "Jab humko unke ghar me pehli baar chai mila na toh humko sirf chai dikha, chini mitti ka cup hum kabhi dekh hi nahi paaye [When we were offered tea in their house for the first time, we only noticed the tea, not the broken clay tumbler].

The series also does an excellent job of capturing the essence of small-town North India. And writer-director Rahul Pandey and co-director Satish Nair deserve full credit for it. Even the simple interactions among supporting characters are made memorable by the rustic and realistic dialogues and superlative performances. Every character has his or her own identity and they are not one-dimentional.

The stellar cast of the show, including Tatwawadi, lift the series with their natural performances. Tatwawadi hits it out of the park as Nirmal Pathak. He gets into the skin of his character and connects with the audience. Nirmal is a senstive, emotional guy who believes in doing the right thing and is ready to risk his life for it. Tatwawadi beautifully captures Nirmal's distinct personality traits.

The next best performance comes from Akash Makhija as Nrimal's cousin Aatish. This has to be Makhija's breakout performance. The actor perfectly captures Aatish's volatile nature as well as his ability to get his own way. Alka Amin plays Santoshi, a patient wife waiting for her husband for 24 years without complaint. The actress is outstanding, especially in the way she shows her character's emotional turmoil and helplessness without ever saying it. Tanishq Rana as Nibha, Garima Vikrant Singh as Genda-bua, Stuti Trivedi as Reena, Vineet Kumar as Netaji and the other friends do complete justice to their roles and add gravitas to the series. Another thing that stands out is the hard work of all the artistes in mastering the dialect.

Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi is one of those rare social dramas that is entertaining as well as educative. Don't miss it.

Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi was premiered on SonyLIV on 27 May.