Musafir Cafe

For most of its 8 episodes, Musafir Cafe has the aesthetic of streaming television from the 2015-16 days (also known as the Little Things age). This natural-artifice aesthetic thrived when YouTube was still the platform for millennial motifs wrapped in modest productions: relatable DIY ‘content,’ relationship-core characters, designer dialogue (“travelers don’t just change places, they travel within themselves”), a gooey soundtrack and title montages, pastel-coloured narratives and branded locations. As watchable as these shows were, they were almost indistinguishable from each other. Given the current onset of true-crime fatigue, this romantic drama might feel either dated or nostalgic — or both at once.

In Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Shah Rukh Khan tells Katrina Kaif, ‘Har ishq ka ek waqt hota hai’ to make sense of their estrangement. It’s as though all of showrunner Sharanya Rajgopal’s Musafir Cafe hinges on this line where two love stories run parallel and reveal the fickle face of modern-day love. An adaptation of Divya Prakash Dubey’s popular Hinglish novel of the same name, Musafir Cafe travels between now and then as the origins of Chander (Vikrant Massey) and Sudha’s (Vedika Pinto) lovey-dovey past loom over the polite affections between Chander and Preeti (Mahima Makwana) in the present. One was his love, another is his partner, a distinction observed rather impersonally in Musafir Cafe.

Set between Bhopal and misty Mussoorie, the Netflix series Musafir Cafe follows three lives that become entwined through chance encounters and life-altering choices across time and distance. Software engineer Chander (Vikrant Massey) longs for a life that finally feels like his own, while the fiercely independent divorce lawyer Sudha (Vedika Pinto) is determined to shape her future on her terms. Completing the trio is Preeti (Mahima Makwana), whose wanderlust complements her quiet resilience. Created and written by Sharanya Rajgopal and directed by Ruchir Arun (Little Things, Ghar Waapsi), the series draws on characters from Divya Prakash Dubey’s Hindi novel of the same name. At times, Musafir Cafe feels like it could have been a breezy, crisp film.

एक लड़का है, जिसे शहर की आपाधापी भरी जिंदगी छोड़कर पहाड़ों पर सुकून से जीना है। एक लड़की है, जिसे देश के सबसे भागते-दौड़ते शहर मुंबई में अपना मुकाम बनाना है। लड़के को, वक्त लेकर अपनी परफेक्ट कॉफी बनाना पसंद है। लड़की चाय लवर है, क्योंकि वो जल्दी बन जाती है। लड़का जेन ऑस्टेन की ‘प्राइड ऐंड प्रिज्युडिस’ का मुरीद है, तो लड़की फ्रैंज काफ्का के ‘मेटामॉर्फोसिस’ की। मतलब यह कि दोनों के मिजाज में कोई मेल नहीं है। बावजूद इसके उनके दिल मिल जाते हैं और जन्म लेती है ‘मुसाफिर कैफे’ की प्रेम कहानी। चर्चित लेखक दिव्य प्रकाश दुबे के उपन्‍यास की यह प्रेम कहानी अब 25-25 मिनट के 8 एपिसोड की सीरीज की शक्ल में आई है, जो पुराने दौर के सुकून और ठहराव वाले माहौल में आधुनिक ख्याल वाले प्यार की खूबसूरत जुगलबंदी है।

Before you sit down to watch Musafir Cafe, do yourself a favour. Make sure you’re actually free. Don’t press play while waiting for a phone call, replying to messages or trying to fit in one more episode after a hectic day. Musafir Cafe needs your attention because it takes its own time. It lets its characters, conversations and emotions breathe, something we’re honestly not used to anymore. We’ve become so used to rushing through everything, even watching shows at 2x speed, that slowing down almost feels unfamiliar. This is the kind of series you watch at the end of the day, when you’re done with everything else and can simply let it unfold.