Chiraiya Review: Thought-Provoking Yet Inconsistent

Chiraiya could have been a powerful, hard-hitting series but it ends up feeling scattered and emotionally uneven, observes Divya Nair.

What Chiraiya is about

'Family ek sweater ki tarah hoti hai; naya dhaga bahut dekh bhaal ke jodna chahiye.'

A family is like a sweater, every new relationship is like a new thread woven together. Adding one wrong colour or stitch can ruin the whole weave that took so long to build.

What a beautiful way to describe the fragility of relationships!

When ghar ki badi bahu Kamlesh (played by Divya Dutta) introduces the characters of her family, you instantly feel a sense of warmth, like you are in a relatable, middle-class Sooraj Barjatya family, rooted in values and tradition, but modern in thoughts and expression, balancing both worlds.

Enter new bride Pooja, an arts graduate with contrasting views.

Kamlesh hesitates to accept her, but gives in for her laadla devar Arun, whom she treats like her own son. On the first night of their marriage, Arun does something that even today, most men in India feel is normal.

Arun forces Pooja to have sex without her consent -- not once, but multiple times, despite her clear resistance. His excuse? It's legal and normal because he is her husband.

Traumatised by the incident, the next morning Pooja confides in Kamlesh that she was raped by her husband.

As the eldest bahu who believes that 'Arun kabhi galat nahi ho sakta', Kamlesh instantly slaps Pooja reminding her that it's not rape; it's what couples do on their first night of marriage and it's legal.

The series of events that happen next may either sound reasonable or make your blood boil, depending on how aware you are about the ground realities of marital rape in India.

Perhaps it was the writer's intention to put Pooja in a series of fictional but extremely helpless situations from which there is no running or going back.

To watch Pooja, a UPSC aspirant who once campaigned for LGBTQIA rights, coil under the emotional burden and social expectations of a conservative marriage will perhaps hold a mirror to society where women are miscounselled by women they trust to endure, adjust and move on. Pooja quietly endures it all, until one day, during their honeymoon, unable to bear the pain, pressure and abuse, she takes an extreme step for her own safety.

When Kamlesh learns the truth, she decides to go against her family to punish her brother-in-law.

In six episodes, Chiraiya lays bare a family's futile attempt to bury its shame in order to protect their son and preserve their standing in society.

Director Shashant Shah fails to balance his idea of protecting a traditional Indian family and educating a society that is stuck in its patriarchal values. It reflects in Kamlesh's dilemma who is torn between these two worlds and has to rely on her husband and her father-in-law to take the righteous path. Even when Pooja declares her stand on marital rape, the conviction fails to resonate.

Just like how the cheerful theme music for Chiraiya sticks out like a sore thumb, the series arranges several pieces of a potentially compelling narrative but fails to bring them into a cohesive arc.

The best performances in Chiraiya

Despite a formidable cast featuring Sanjay Mishra as the learned, award-winning patriarch and Tinnu Anand as the legal counsel, the collective performances falter due to the lack of a tight story with a bold and consistent voice.

Having said that, Siddharth Shaw shines in his role as the abusive husband, masking his brutal personality behind a deceptively innocent face.

Prasanna Bisht is impressive as the helpless victim trying to make sense of the situation while battling the demons of guilt and denial.

Faisal Rashid plays the eldest son and Kamlesh's doting husband with such earnestness that you'd almost want a separate series just for him.

Is Chiraiya worth watching?

Chiraiya deserves credit for taking on a subject that is uncomfortable but urgent and necessary. There are plenty of moments that feel raw, unsettling and thought-provoking, especially in how they expose the silence and complicity within families.

The way Kamlesh opens up a newspaper and defines a woman's role speaks volumes about deep-rooted conditioning -- that front page headlines are meant for men, while women are expected to confine themselves to the 'softer' sections like recipes and gharelu nuske. So when Anju addresses Kamlesh as a c****** bhabhi, she doesn't take offence, but tries to make amends in her own way.

The awakening is slow, but impactful.

When one of her peers beautifully explains what AI is -- she says jab computer apna khud ka dimaag lagaye -- Kamlesh finally learns that reading the first page of a newspaper can be so empowering to a woman.

But the overall impact of this quiet rebellion and awakening is diluted by the inconsistent storytelling and a lack of a strong narrative and voice. What could have been a powerful, hard-hitting series ends up feeling scattered and emotionally uneven.

Chiraiya streams on JioHotstar.

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