Does washing dirty linen of family members in front of a psychiatrist help others members to come out clean, let's find out.

Title: Perfect Family

Director: Sachin Pathak

Cast: Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Gulshan Devaiah, Girija Oak Godbole, Kaveri Seth, Hirva Trivedi, Ronav Vaswani

Where: Youtube

Rating: 3 stars

There have been many films which have mirrored the importance of unity in a family. Of late, there have been many films which have mirrored the importance of mental health. Does Pankaj Tripathi’s Perfect Family, which is a mixture of the two aspects, do full justice, let's find out!

The 8 part series starts with the introduction of Somnath Karkaria (Manoj Pahwa), his wife Kamla Karkaria (Seema Pahwa), their daughter Pooja Karkaria (Kaveri Seth) and their son Vishnu Karkaria (Gulshan Devaiah), his wife Neeti Karkaria (Girija Oak Godbole) and their kids Daani Karkaria (Hirva Trivedi) and Daksh Karkaria (Ronav Vaswani).

One day, for some reason, Daani Karkaria gets punished by her sir and eventually gets bullied by her peers in class. This then leads to her parents getting to know that she is a HSP (Highly Sensitive Person). And in order for her to be ‘retained’ in the school, Daani’s parents are advised to meet Dr. Megha Verma (Neha Dhupia) who happens to be ‘MBBS, MD, Psychiatry, MS, MFT’. For the sake of their child Daani and also their image in society, the Karkarias agree to undergo clinical sessions with Dr. Megha.

Do the Karkarias successfully get a mentally stable certificate from Dr. Megha and the road that they take to obtain it is what forms the rest of the series.

Actors' Performance

First things first. Full marks for the casting director for having meticulously cast the actors in their respective roles. That explains the reason behind the near flawless performances by the veterans Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Gulshan Devaiah and Girija Oak Godbole in addition to Kaveri Seth, Hirva Trivedi, Ronav Vaswani and others. The fact that the actors refrain from going OTT makes them extremely relatable and one amongst us.

A special mention goes out to Neha Dhupia for having delivered an extremely subdued performance. She is so effective and impactful that, you, as an audience will start yearning to have an understanding psychiatrist like her to pour your hearts out to!

A big pat on the back to the director Sachin Pathak for having brought out a series that shows that mental illness is not a disease and that it can be treated by proper counselling. The best part about his direction is that, not even once he comes across sounding preachy. A few dull moments notwithstanding, his direction is just apt. Here’s looking forward to more such gems from him.

Even though the screenplay (Palak Bhambri, Adhiraj Sharma) is taut, one would have wanted a dash of memorable one liners or punches considering the presence of Manoj Pahwa and Pankaj Tripathi. While the cinematography (Arun Kumar Pandey) is appreciable, the editing could have been a bit more watertight. The b𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 s𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 (Roby Abraham) is decent.

FPJ Verdict

With Pankaj Tripathi and Sachin Pathak at the helm of things, they have proved that one does not resort to expletives or high octane actions to create a masterpiece. Considering its being released on Youtube and is freely available, Perfect Family is bound to find its resonance amongst all the members of the family.