Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah is difficult to review because of it's large number of episodes which range from simply superb to totally awful, which is also true about The Simpsons. My intention is to express my love for roughly the FIRST 300 EPISODES that have infused a recurring joy in my life and maybe millions of others too.
It's a sitcom about the families living in Gokuldham Society. There are Gujaratis, Marathis, Punjabis, Bengalis, Tamilians, etc all forming this multicultural society that is united in good times and bad. It's an ideal society to live in and here's an awesome spoof news article of that fact http://my.fakingnews.firstpost.com/entertainment /man-sues-tarak-mehta-ka-oolta-chashma-as-he- fails-to-locate-gokuldham-society-in-mumbai- 7013.
The main characters are of Gada Family, Jethalal Gada, a Kutchi Gujarati businessman, his wife Daya, son Tapu and father Champaklal Gada. Another prominent character is Atmaram Bhidhe, a Marathi tuition teacher who is frugal and the secretary of the society. There's also Nattu Kaka who works at Jethalal's electronics shop. I find rest of the characters pretty one-note, but really great as supporting roles.
There is such a broad range of comedy in the series. There are very realistic and relatable situations and story lines that transform into a farce via comedy of errors and where everything that can go wrong does in the life of Jethalal. The results are non stop laughs. For example, Episode XYZ. Daya wants Tapu Ke Papa Gada to be healthy and slim down and few episodes later all members of the society end up in jail. Now how that one hilarious situation leads to another could be considered a perfect example of a domino effect or a chain reaction.
And often there are some genius and hilarious physical comedy and slapstick elements. You can often see the poster of Charlie Chaplin behind Taarak Mehta when he concludes the episode with a message. But instead of Charlie Chaplin, I would like to reference Jacques Tati when describing a lot of humorous elements of the show like observational humor, using architectural elements in deriving comedy, ensemble of people doing choreographed comedy and creating striking imagery, for example, when everybody is out there getting the obese Dr. Hathi out of a rickshaw that he is stuck inside of.
The actors have played their characters with great charm and nuances that have made them such big household names. The show's humor is always good natured and it often carries social messages because they know they are a powerful medium and the audiences share a direct relationship with these characters. This show's format is of a daily soap but a comedy one and people look forward to it and unwind on weekends or weeknights watching it, just like how the men of the society gather for a soda at Abdul's every night and the ladies sit in the chairs in the circle and chatter. It's an omnipresent show, always on-air, in barbershops, while waiting for your turn at the clinic, TV showrooms.
I wish they had kept the quality intact and not focus on quantity. I hope that despite it's majority of episodes being really lazy and cringeworthy, it gets recognized as a masterpiece for it's first 300 episodes or so and someday the makers produce that quality of work again.
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