When you are single, committed or are married, when you are in love you go through issues. Yes, the nature of the problem is often dictated by the status of your relationship. ‘What’s Your Status’, the new web-show by the channel Cheers! on YouTube, traces the journey of three young individuals, at different stages in their lives, as they grapple with issues pertaining to the heart.
Balu (Manjot Singh) is an MBA graduate, in his early 20s, who laments the fact that he has never had a girlfriend in his life. He gets attracted to Aisha Sharma (Plabita Borthakur), a fresher, as soon as he sees her for the first time. TJ aka Tej Kiran (Naveen Polishetty) is heartbroken after he realises that his girlfriend, whom he has been in a long-distance relationship with, has been cheating on him for a long time. Bharat (Abhay Mahajan) is a married man in his early 30s who is struggling with the responsibilities of a married life.
The show starts off interestingly giving us a peek into the lives of the three male protagonists. The story is set across three different cities and contrary to what some people might think, the three chapters or the characters never come to face-to-face with each other. While one gets to witness some sparkling moments sporadically, none of the three stories offer anything that is novel or fresh. You have seen these characters and the things that they go through in several films and shows; every single turn in the show can be seen from a distance. Ever since the digital revolution has happened, there has been an overdose of shows portraying the lives of the urban youth. While revisiting this theme again and again is not really a problem but the writers and directors making such shows should come up with the kind of content that helps one in differentiating them from the kind of stuff everybody seems to be making. There are so many things in the screenplay that does not seem very convincing. The tropes used to make TJ come across as an irresponsible man seem silly. The meeting and the conversation between Shweta (Megha Burman) and the old man (Shishir Sharma) does not make any impact either.
Out of all the three stories, it is the one featuring Manjot and Plabita that makes the maximum impact. Though the plot takes a predictable route, there is far more uniformity in this story as compared to the other ones. The performances help in uplifting the otherwise ordinary show to a great extent. The casting is also very good. You know Bharat is a Maharashtrian even before he is introduced as one as the actor playing him has a natural Marathi accent.
There is still some interesting content being made on premium OTT platforms but there is an urgent need for content creators on the web to try and look for more original and fresher concepts and stories.