‘Wakalat from Home’ Review : Zoom Calls,Communication and Entertainment

Zoom calls are hardly effective in office meetings, and they certainly aren’t effective in storytelling.

‘Wakalat from Home’ was being promoted as ‘a lockdown production.’ It was filmed during the lockdown and the story is set during the lockdown as well. With no way to conduct a shoot on a set, the series was shot with actors in separate video frames, and then mashed together to look like they are on a Zoom call.

The question is : Can you tell a story effectively via Zoom call footage?

Plot and Characters :

So Mikesh and Tanya- sorry sorry. Sujin and Radhika are going through a divorce. Its the same couple from Permanent Roommates. The same. Played by the same actors (Nidhi Singh and Sumeet Vyas.)

They have the same roles in the relationship – Dumb, quirky, silly boy and Annoyed girl. Only this time, their chemistry fails to translate through to the audience.

Sujin and Radhika are set up in different homes, and cannot meet in person due to COVID. Their lawyers Lobo (Gopal Dutt), and Rajni (Kubbra Sait) face the same dilemma. The judge, Judge Parekh (Akarsh Khurana) has decided that this case isn’t that important so it can be solved from home.

The Experience :

The episodes are short. I wish my work calls were short like that. There are ten episodes in total, documenting the hearings of the case.

To add comedic elements to the story, the director has tried to convey that with every character, there is something going on in the background, which is a cue for characters to react. This trope however, gets boring.

There is a lot of repetition. We have seen all of it before. Yawn.

• A fighting couple, basically Mikesh and Tanya without the chemistry.
• Two professionals, one serious, one silly
• People not wearing pants during Zoom calls. Haha so funny hahaha lol.
• People and pets causing interruption. *cue toinggg funny sound effect*
• Zoom calls freezing and communication being interrupted.

It is a drag. And even though the series wraps up in two hours, it felt like four.

Summary :

Points to the creators to attempt this one.
However, it seriously lacks in entertainment value. Zoom calls are hardly effective in office meetings, and they certainly aren’t effective in storytelling.