First things first. Eternally Confused and Eager for Love is a long, really long title. Secondly, it’s not an easy title to remember either. It comes across more as a title for a book rather than a movie or a web series. In fact, it also unfolds like a book, and that too in a chapter format. It’s quite verbose, and you feel like you’re turning over the pages and reading out the words, rather than seeing something unfolding on screen. For an offering that has been put together for the OTT medium, it does come across as rather strange.
That said, the core of the story is interesting, and that’s what allows you to give this quick-fire eighth episode series with a running duration of 20 minutes each a single sitting watch. Not that it is absolutely original. After all, a youngster trying to differentiate between finding love and making love isn’t something that hasn’t been seen before. In fact, the whole ‘coming of age’ theme was beaten to death more than a decade back in numerous Ranbir Kapoor starrers. However, with the sex element coming in, and rather blatantly, there is some edge to it.
What helps this Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Ritesh Sidhwani production is the fact that it is made entirely in English. A very Delhi-Mumbai show where boozing, clubbing, one night stands, hangovers are shown as part of everyday life with no real hang-ups or justifications, the market is of course restricted for this Rahul Nair creation. However, Nair knows what he is telling, for whom, and in which format, and hence there is a certain assurance that he draws in the execution of the series.
The leading man, Vihaan Samat, all of 25 and still a virgin, communicates with a miniature friend/philosopher/guide doll voiced by Jim Sarbh. At first, it sounds funny, but then becomes monotonous (and even tiring) and later you get used to it, just like it is in every relationship. There are women all around, and of all ages and kinds. There’s the ‘hot’ one, the ‘annoying’ one, the ‘fat’ (and assured) one, the papa’s pari and the friend-zoned one (Dalaai). There is a cleaning lady too for added measure. Vihaan has his encounters with them all but the one who really drives his conscience in ways more than one is his office buddy (and not a friend, mind you), played by Ankur Rathee.
The most interesting of them all are the parents played by Rahul Bose and Suchitra Pillai. They are a hoot. I would definitely want to see them as a senior couple in Decoupled 2 getting into that banter with Madhavan and Surveen Chawla. Considering these are all characters from Netflix, this crossover could indeed happen and spice up the affairs. Well, rest assured, that won’t be eternally confusing and as a viewer, I would be eager to see their love!
Eternally Confused and Eager for Love
Director: Rahul Nair
Genre: Comedy
Platform: Netflix
Language: Hindi
Rating: 3/5