Bada Naam Karenge Review: Rajshri's OTT Debut Takes Aim At Modern Romance, Remains Old-Fashioned

We don't usually see love stories on film or OTT much these days, so our eyes were peeled for Rajshri Production's Bada Naam Karenge. The ambitious SonyLIV series unfolds like a feature film rather than a series. It's easy to get invested in the romance between Surbhi (Ayesha Kaduskar) and Rishabh (Ritik Ghanshani) in a story set in Madhya Pradesh. But once we get to the heart of the matter, Bada Naam Karenge becomes jumbled under the weight of so many characters and remains a bit dated.

Bada Naam Karenge: Plot

The romance features two families: the wealthy Rathis of Ratlam and the middle-class Guptas of Ujjain. A possible rishta is floated between Rishabh Rathi and Surbhi Gupta. As the families explore their union through an arranged marriage, the audience learns about a hidden secret between the two. Will Rishabh and Surbhi get together, or will the expectations of their families get in the way?

Bada Naam Karenge: Writing and Direction

The story and screenplay of Bada Naam Karenge has been penned by S Manasvi. Vidit Tripathi has also helped out with the screenplay and co-written the dialogues. Moving to the past and returning to the present, the initial batch of episodes holds promise as the young couple's story goes from enemies to lovers. Once the large cast of supporting players gets involved, it feels too behind the times. The main conflict between the two families also gets dragged out over the last few episodes, only to be quickly resolved over a big emotional scene.

There were several strong points in the series; Surbhi is a strong female lead, and her interactions with her family are wonderful to see. As a couple, she and Rishabh have a sweet romance. The callbacks to previous Rajshri films and songs are nostalgic. But the Rathis feel like a family from the 1990s, unfortunately. Neither showrunner Sooraj Barjatya nor director Palash Vaswani can mend that aspect.

Bada Naam Karenge: Performances

As mentioned before, Kaduskar and Ghanshani sell the love story, and their earnest performances held the series together. The ensemble cast which included actors Kanwaljeet Singh, Alka Amin, Rajesh Jais, Chitrali Lokesh, Rajesh Tailang, and Anjana Sukhani as the Rathi clan were saddled with a melodramatic storyline. Deepika Amin and Jameel Khan come off as far more relatable in the series.

Bada Naam Karenge: Final Verdict

There's a quote from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) in which Dev Patel's character says, "Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right, then it's not yet the end." The second half of Bada Naam Karenge operates along those lines. One misunderstanding snowballs into a larger strife, which takes nearly three episodes to undo. However, if you have been craving a romance or family drama, then the first half of the series, backed by a melodic soundtrack by Anurag Saikia, certainly does the trick.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Reviews, Entertainment News and around the world.