Saas Bahu Aachar Pvt. Ltd. revolves around Suman who constantly struggles to set up an achaar business and kickstart her entrepreneurial journey with a pure-hearted intent to get her kids back from her ex-husband, Dilip. Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt. Ltd. starring Amruta Subhash, Anjana Sukhani, and Anup Soni, is streaming on an OTT platform from today, 8th of July.
Have you heard of the word ‘sonder’? The internet classifies it as a noun and defines it as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” Clearly, TVF has cracked the depth of this feeling, for, with each new series, it brings a story and characters who can easily blend in the sea of featureless faces in a crowd, and yet, when picked, observed, and analysed, can take the viewer into a world absolutely unique.
Everybody has a story – and this time, we are brought face-to-face with Suman, a woman trying to set up her homemade pickle business so she can take custody of, and look after her children. This can be the single-line premise of director Apoorv Singh Karki’s Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt. Ltd. To elaborate, Suman (Amruta Subhash) has parted ways with her husband Dilip (Anup Soni) after his second marriage to Manisha (Anjana Sukhani). Suman and Dilip’s two children Juhi (Manu Bisht) and Rishu (Nikhil Chawla) stay with their father, along with Manisha, their half-brother Vivaan (Shreyansh Kaurav), and their ‘Daadi’ (Yamini Das). As Suman realizes that her neighbour Shukla Ji (Anandeshwar Dwivedi) whom she trusted for the marketing and sales of her pickle business has been cheating her of money, she decides to take things into her own hands.
The first episode is titled ‘Hisaab Kitaab’, and brings into forefront the importance of money, and most importantly financial education and independence in a woman’s life. And while Suman has grown up untrained in these departments, she falls back on what she has trained for her entire life: her culinary skills. In one relatable, yet profound, scene, she jokes that she would go to Kaun Banega Crorepati and answer at least a couple of questions right for some prize money. Have most of us not played with this not-so-ingenious idea before?
TVF and director Karki upturn the set perception of ‘Saas Bahu’ drama on Indian television. This is the age of OTT Saas Bahu, where relationships between these women are humanised, rather than vilified. This is the same for the relationship between Manisha, and her two stepchildren Juhi and Rishu. These are fragile, human, dynamics, and the writers make it a point to handle with care and empathy.