Gullak 4 Review: Still Earnest But It Doesn't Feel Enough

TVF's lively Mishras and their clay piggy bank are back with yet another season of Gullak. The story of the four-member Mishra family, navigating their lives in a middle-class household in a small North Indian town, felt like a warm hug when it was first released in 2019. Each season tackled the nostalgic nuances of the middle-class family hood — from a rural setting, old-storied houses, nosey neighbours, daily expense management and silly bickering between siblings. While the tempering felt refreshing past three seasons, the latest one suffered from an overly drawn plotline. Created by Shreyansh Pandey, the show is written by Vidit Tripathi this time. 

Gullak Season 4: Meet The Mishras Again

We reunite with the family as they each struggle at a certain progression in their life. The older brother Annu (Vaibhav Raj Gupta) is trying to cope with the demanding job of a medical representative, and the younger brother Aman (played by Harsh Mayar) is in rebellion mode as a teenager. The parents, Santosh Mishra (Jameel Khan) and Shanti Mishra (Geetanjali Kulkarni) are in a conundrum to find the right way of parenting. There is also Sunita Rajwar as their neighbour aka ‘Bittu ki mummy’, whose presence just lights up the frame every time she enters it.

This season, the five-part series dedicates a meaningful incident to each lead character, however there is nothing very deep or challenging. One episode deals with the municipality serving the Mishras a show cause notice as it sparks a discussion on the ethics and dynamics of bribing a government official, and another deals with Annu's tiff with a boss all the while trying to find his feet in a challenging profession.  

However, the most striking of all is when Shanti falls prey to a chain-snatcher on her way back from a temple. She is traumatised and as the narrator points out 'it was not a mere gold chain that was snatched, but self-respect too'. While the Mishra men waste no time concocting schemes and tales on 'who must have done', it is Geetanjali's silence enduring all. She sits through recalling the trauma, listening to her husband 'rave' about the value of the chain and unfortunately guilt-tripping herself on the loss of it. Geetanjali as Shanti is remarkable, she is a firebrand. She captures the resilience of Shanti so aptly. 

In another episode, the decision to discard junk creates a discord within the family. Relatable in many factors for us, the episode ponders on what really constitutes junk. Shanti's mayke wale bartan or Aman's long-forgotten iron dumbell, however, the startling revelation was a newspaper-wrapped erotica novel designated to Shanti. 

In the finale, Annu forgoes his brotherly tiff with Aman as things threaten to spiral out of control, and talks the younger lad out of an ill-advised rebellion against the head of the Mishra family. Even the fuzzy 'Bittu ki mummy' has a wisdom spark and turns into a caring neighbour we all may have known in some or another way. The moment is sweet, and finale-fitting

Gullak 4 is fun but hardly conflicting. It is the over-simplification that loses the mark, unlike its predecessors. Parts of the show turn a tad melodramatic, but earnest Mishras and their tone of storytelling never goes awry. 

Views expressed are the author's own.