TVF's 'Tripling' Season 2 review: The siblings are back for a fun road trip

The most enjoyable part of 'Tripling' season 2, just like season 1, is the banter between the siblings.
TVF's 'Tripling' Season 2 review: The siblings are back for a fun road trip
TVF's 'Tripling' Season 2 review: The siblings are back for a fun road trip
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The much-awaited Season 2 of TVF's Tripling is finally here. Season 1 saw siblings Chandan (Sumeet Vyas), Chanchal (Maanvi Gagroo) and Chitvan (Amol Parashar) reunite after a long time and take a road trip together. Season 2, written by Akarsh Khurana and Sumeet Vyas and directed by Sameer Saxena, picks up six months after where Season 1 ended. Chandan is now the author of bestseller ‘Tripling’, based on the experiences of the road trip in season 1. While he is busy travelling the world on a book tour for his successful novel, he is clearly missing his siblings on whom the book is based.

Things start getting interesting when Chandan meets Chitvan is a public restroom and is introduced to his supposed nephew named Cheetah. After meeting Chitvan’s new girlfriend, Sheetal (Kubbra Sait) who takes the words ‘live music’ a little too literally, Chandan and Chitvan set out for Jaipur, as Chandan’s book is being presented at the Jaipur Literature Festival. But, the duo gets kidnapped by Chanchal’s royal guard and wakes up going around in circles on a ferris wheel. Their now MLA sister, Chanchal, is suing her elder brother for a controversial chapter that suggests her husband Pranav (Kunal Roy Kapoor), a minor royal, is impotent.

Pranav has vanished, humiliated by a hashtag #jijajibanjhain (brother-in-law is impotent). An off-the-cuff question by Chitvan in Season 1, it finds its way into the book. Since nothing really goes right once the siblings are together, Chanchal finds herself accused of Pranav's murder. The three of them stage a getaway to find her supposedly dead husband, and the game, as Sherlock would say, is on. As the squabbling trio travels to Jaipur, Kolkata and Sikkim in search of Pranav, they reconnect, remember childhood adventures, and meet a bunch of quirky characters who help them in their quest.

The most memorable amongst the people helping them out is Gajraj Rao as Nawab Alexander, a man forgotten by time. It’s hard to judge who is more ruined -- him or his mansion. Shweta Tripathi is delightful as his much younger but unapologetic wife, and their manservant who gives them the first big lead. The Byomkesh Bakshi subtext is delightfully implied by casting Rajit Kapoor as a Bengali detective who, like Bakshi, is a ‘truth seeker’. Kapoor’s portrayal of Byomkesh Bakshi in the old TV show is still considered iconic and it’s a wonderful tribute to both growing up in the nineties, and the show itself.

The pace does slow down when they hide at the Nawab’s derelict mansion, and when they wait for the detective to find results, but perhaps that’s also because you would rather just watch the siblings together doing what they do best. Sumeet Vyas and Maanvi Gagroo are excellent in their reprised roles, as is Kunal Roy Kapoor, but it's Amol Parashar who is an absolute delight as the unpredictable but inadvertently deep Chitvan. They could have easily become one-dimensional people; Chandan uptight, Chanchal confused and Chitvan weird, but the writers and director instead create real people who are funny without straining to be so.  

The most enjoyable part of Tripling season 2 like season 1 is the banter between the siblings. They are not a conventional close-knit family, but stand by each other when the going gets tough. Though growing up has meant going their own ways, their shared childhood memories and the unspoken affection they have for each other gives the show a wonderful layer of warmth. Chandan, Chanchal and Chitwan squabble and abuse each other and suddenly burst into laughter all in the span of one conversation, quite like real siblings do. Nilotpal Bohra’s music sets the right mood and Dhirendra Nath Shukla’s cinematography beautifully captures the picturesque locations.

The only thing that rankles is the rather in your face plugins of the show’s sponsors and perhaps the rather conventional graph of Chanchal’s character whose pregnancy resolves the issues with her husband, a man who for all practical purposes had abandoned her. But these are minor quibbles in an otherwise fun show that has plenty of laughs.

Hop on to this road trip, it’s a fun ride all the way.

Saraswati Datar studied screenwriting and filmmaking and worked with mainstream TV channels in Mumbai as a writer and producer. She now freelances as a columnist and scriptwriter working with digital publications in India and Singapore.

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