There is something about Hyderabad that is inexplicably alluring for an outsider like me. Is it the moments of shared silences between the din of a bustling metropolitan city? Is it the waft of fragrances of the various kinds of food that are rather very unique to the city of pearls? Is it that fascinating lingo that is mostly Telugu but with a fair smattering of Hindi and Urdu? Or is it in the awkward warm embrace from a city that is both welcoming and distant at the same time? After successful stints in New York and Mumbai, the Modern Love bandwagon makes its next pitstop in the city of Hyderabad and brings with it six stories that deal with the various shades of Pyaar, Prema and Kaadhal.
To establish the series in Hyderabad, it is impressive how the makers didn’t want to go with the regular shots of Charminar but decided to explore the city a bit further. We see the Buddha statue of Hussain Sagar lake. There is a Jandhyala film festival becoming an important plot point, and so is the standup comedy scene in the city. There are Muslim characters who are involved in the narrative without being relegated to tokenist roles. We are made aware of the city’s rich food heritage and implores us to look past the Biriyani. However, barring a few scenes in the ‘Why did you leave me here?’ (directed by Nagesh Kukunoor) and ‘My unlikely pandemic dream partner’ (directed by Nagesh Kukunoor) shorts, Modern Love: Hyderabad is set in a largely upmarket part of the city that almost screams Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills from every frame onscreen. While it isn’t wrong to just portray the posh side of the city, the lack of diversity in the setting of these stories paints a rather one-note picture of the romance in Hyderabad. It doesn’t help that the stories aren’t locally sourced, and the titles too are… well, too English for a Telugu series.
Directors: Nagesh Kukunoor, Uday Gurrala, Devika Bahudhanam, Venkatesh Maha
Cast: Revathy, Nithya Menen, Ritu Varma, Aadhi Pinisetty, Malavika Nair, Suhasini Maniratnam, Komalee Prasad, Naresh Babu
Avinash Ramachandran 