Watch TrailerTribhuvan Mishra CA Topper Review: One would imagine the world of chartered accountants to be full of money, power, authority, influence and black briefcases, and rightly so, and that a film or a series on them would look like a matte-finished affair marked with corporate showdowns, sprinkled with a cinematic interpretation of a complex web of challenges and tussle for clout. But Puneet Krishna and Amrit Raj Gupta’s Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper is none of that. But we aren’t really complaining. It’s novel for sure but fizzles out close to the finishing line.
As the title suggests, the series revolves around the life of a regular, middle-class chartered accountant who works at a government office in Noida. Yes, not all chartered accountants are rich. While Tribhuvan Mishra is a good-hearted man who loves his wife and children dearly, there’s one vice that makes him a ‘chugad’ or a loser. He doesn’t believe in any under-the-table dealings and has always voiced his concerns against bribery. As a result, he lives life on a ‘hand to mouth income’. And though people around him including his parents might express their disappointment in him from time to time, Tribhuvan holds great pride for not giving in to corruption.
But one day, due to a banking crisis, Tribhuvan finds himself in the soup. The RBI imposes a freeze on the bank where he has saved all his life’s hard-earned savings and he’s rendered cashless. His biggest support system, however, is his wife, Ashoklata, who’s a home baker. And even after almost 15 years of marriage, they have a healthy sex life and are passionately in love with each other. Ashoklata, who is in awe of her husband, often lauds him for caring about her sexual pleasures and dubs him different from most Indian men who only care about their own libido.
Now, this piece of information is vital to the plot as it sets the tone for the rest of the narrative. In a surprise turn of events, Tribhuvan enrols on a website and takes up the job of a gigolo or a male escort. Though reluctant initially, that seems the only possible source of a constant flow of cash into the household and pay off debts. He soon finds himself enjoying this new profession with his clients – mostly married and unsatisfied women – showering praises on him for his ‘service’. During one of these episodes, he meets Bindi, a film buff trapped in an unhappy and boring marriage.
On the other side, we get a glimpse of Bindi’s husband, Raja Bhai, a goon, who kills people under the garb of running a sweet shop. Will Ashoklata find out about her husband’s dual life? Will Tribhuvan and Bindi get caught by Raja Bhai? How far can Tribhuvan go for money? To find these answers, you’ll have to watch Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper. The series is definitely built on a never-seen-before plot but its weakest link is its lengthy run-time. It has a total of nine episodes with each spanning over close to an hour. For a show that rests its feet on comedy and thrill, its pace becomes a big deterrent and you’ll run out of patience soon.
Neha Dhupia had once famously and appropriately stated that only sex and Shah Rukh Khan sell. And the makers of Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper take it rather too seriously. Once again, that’s not a complaint. There are constant references made to not only Shah Rukh but also Salman Khan with Raja Bhai’s lackeys arguing over who’s the bigger and better Khan. And that renders a solid layer of comical quotient to the plot. The situation comedy will genuinely crack you up and the writer deserves credit for infusing that bit of respite in the story. While the sub-plot including Raja Bhai and his lackeys isn’t as exhilarating as the main premise, their conversations are filled with silly humour.
As for sex, it forms a major pillar of the plot of Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper. And yet the makers make sure that those sequences, not for even once, reek of sleaziness by portraying cheap titillation. Through Tribhuvan’s sexual encounters, the makers subtly make a statement on how society deems women with physical desires ‘dirty’ unlike their male counterparts. In one sequence, following a raid in a hotel in Noida, a policeman is taken aback when he learns that men too consider sex work as a means to make ends meet and that escort isn’t a term only associated with women.
Don’t be mistaken. Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper doesn’t try to glorify paid sex or extramarital affairs. But it deserves credit for dealing with the taboo subject of escort service sensitively. The series is a good attempt at exploring a theme out of the box and for the most part, it’s an easy breezy ride. Having said that, a better form of execution and treatment would have definitely helped the series. The climax following a good build-up is underwhelming too. And as mentioned earlier, Tribhuvan’s adventures get interrupted by Raja Bhai’s misadventures and that keeps digressing the attention from the crux of the narrative.
The script of Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper is elevated by some strong performances from seasoned actors like Manav Kaul and Tillotama Shome. Manav, who has already proved his mettle with his acting prowess on stage and onscreen, plays the titular character of Tribhuvan and completely owns the part. Despite being a tiger in bed, his helplessness, softness and vulnerabilities come to the fore every now and then and Manav aces these moments with ease. His restraint, unwillingness and moral dilemma on his first day of job as a gigolo is palpable.
His Tribhuvan is a beautiful example of the portrayal of modern-day masculinity onscreen. He isn’t afraid to put his failures, desperation and weaknesses on display and never for once lets them hurt his ego. He’s seen sharing an endearing bond with his wife and is also her biggest cheerleader. His dynamic with Tillotama’s Bindi also deserves a mention. Outside their marriage – one unhappy and one happy – they develop a relationship that many may look through the lens of moral judgment but its delicate telling adds a whole lot of emotionality to the story.
And Tillotama, like always, hits it out of the park in the series as a heartbroken housewife who finds joy and pleasure outside the sanctity of marriage and revels in it. She isn’t afraid to get what she deserves even if it comes at a cost. The rest of the cast including Shweta Basu Prasad, Naina Sareen and Jitin Gulati do a good job as well. A special mention goes to Yamini Das, who once again grabs eyeballs with her role as a middle-class mother from the heartland.
