Romantic comedy is the most used and under-appreciated genre in entertainment. It is difficult to find something that is new and yet it seems to leave you with the same long feeling you usually get after watching a good romance. Never kiss your best friend for you. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Sumit Shahi who was also one of the authors of the series. Nakul Mehta and Anya Singh have a chemistry that keeps you hooked and eventually you want to see the show again.
The show follows the lives of Tanie and Sumter in London, from their college days to their twenties. Summer is a frustrated son who wants to become a filmmaker but is forced to study engineering and complete an MBA due to his father’s desire. Tanie is a dazzling starry-eyed girl who has great ambitions and hopes to achieve them all. While Sumer openly rebels, Tanie chooses to hide her rebellious side from her parents. Their friendship breaks up by the end of their college and as they do it again years later, they realize that their lives have not panned out as expected.
The show feels like you’re watching two different stories, one a high school romance and the other a classic rom-com. Nakula pursued her MBA in college and then left it to follow her passion for film making, but is struggling to make her way. Tanie is a bright student at college, expecting everyone to become the young CEO of a large company, but a junior writer in a local magazine. Both Nakula and Anya hit young, dumb, careless college students and 25-year-olds through equally relaxed adulthood.
A lot of things about friendship in the show are correct. Sumer and Tanni protect each other from toxic relationships, support each other through break-ups, lie to each other’s parents and have no filters around each other. The show also succeeds in showing pain while trying to carry on broken friendship. The story takes you on a wild journey of sarcasm at pseudo-intellectuals, sensitively handling the topic of homosexuality, making more than one masturbation jokes, and doubling up as an anti-drug PSA.
Ever kiss your best friend is really ‘meta’. Sumer and Tanie continue to call out generic plot-points and clichés in romantic stories but are followed by a quintessential climate. Tanie keeps breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience, a fun way to reveal the thoughts going on in her mind. The character blames romantic novels for setting high expectations in relationships, but it is written by Sumrit Shahi and Durjoy Dutta, two of the most prominent romance novelists of our time.
And Jaane Na Dega Kya ‘and Na Ji No Panga’ songs add to the show’s classic romantic vibe and can become popular songs outside the show as well. The show is filmed in a young and quirky manner and London’s scenic spots make it even more attractive. The only drawback to the characters other than Sumer and Tanie is that they are not fully explored and do not get a chance to explain their actions.
The show is all about friendships that are more important than relationships. Fear of being in a relationship and ruining a good friendship will make the audience sympathetic. The show delves deeply into the friendship that people naively call the ‘Friend Zone’, which believes that a girl and a boy cannot only be best friends. In an age when people are more lonely than ever, Kissing Highlights the importance of being a reliable partner for your best friend.
Watch the music video for Never Seen Jane Na Dunga Somewhere Kiss Your Best Friend.
