Broken But Beautiful first impression: Vikrant Massey and Harleen Sethi fail to make a connection with the viewers.ALTBalaji’s latest offering Broken But Beautiful is about two individuals who are emotionally ‘broken’ after a failed relationship. Veer, the male protagonist of the show, is played by Vikrant Massey, while Harleen Sethi plays the role of the female protagonist, Sameera. Veer and Sameera narrate their suffering after the heartbreak in their monologues. However, what irked me was the overuse of the terms ‘broken’ and ‘I am broke’. Perhaps the title of the show didn’t establish the theme well enough.
The first episode gives an insight into the life of Veer who has lost his wife Aleena in a car accident. Three years after the loss, Veer is still coping with the grave loss and is suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). In the second episode, we meet the female protagonist, Sameera. She has been dumped by her boyfriend of five years. Sameera is trying to bring back the balance in life. In this attempt to regain normalcy, she has the support of her two best friends who hate their best friend’s ex more than she does.
The pain of a broken heart is a universal experience. As you watch Veer and Sameera let go off a relationship, you are reminded of everything you did to survive a breakup. Sameera stalks her ex-boyfriend Kartik on social media as he is the one who occupies most of her thoughts. She looks for ways of getting in touch with him and chocolates have become her best friends.
Veer has lost his belief in love and emotions. One night stands are the only brief human connections in his life and he ignores all his friends and relatives. He is unable to move on from the reality that his wife passed away three years ago.
As Veer and Sameera take one episode each to explain their grief to the audience, you wait for them to stop the rambling. I get it that you are upset and your broken heart will take time to heal, but what more. Their stretched past made me lose the connection with the two characters which I developed in the first fifteen minutes.
Also read | Broken But Beautiful actor Harleen Sethi: One needs to love themselves first before loving others
Instead, I would have loved a little more insight into Veer and Sameera’s relationship with their former partners as that would have helped me empathise with them better. Of the actors, we have seen Vikrant Massey do a much better job and Harleen Sethi seems just fine.
With nine episodes remaining, I hope Ekta Kapoor’s latest web series becomes beautiful.
