Motorcycle Chronicles:
If the quaintly titled Dupahiya (two wheeler) gives off Panchayat and Laapata Ladies vibes, it is because the enjoyable series (on Amazon Prime Video) is set in the same rural universe, which is realistic but also scrubbed of any unsavoury aspects of Indian village life.
Set in the fictional Dhadakpur, called Belgium of Bihar by locals, because for the last 25 years there has been no crime in this village. A female panch, Pushpalata (Renuka Shahane), is looking forward to a trophy for the feat, a ticket to be elected sarpanch, and a borewell that would supply the village with clean water.
Elsewhere in Dhadakpur, Roshni (Shivani Raghuvanshi) chooses the younger brother of the suitor who has come to see her, because he lives in Mumbai, and she wants to get out of a stultifying village existence. Turns out the swaggering Kuber (Avinash Dwivedi) is given more importance than his ordinary-looking older brother Durlabh (Godaan Kumar), by their own father (Aaloak Kapoor), because he is better placed in life. Kuber is more ‘valuable’ so instead of a scooter, Roshni’s father Banwari (Gajraj Rao) has to promise to buy a high-end motorbike for the potential son-in-law.
Roshni’s younger brother Bhugol (Sparsh Srivastava) dreams of getting to Mumbai with her, and becoming a “superstar.” For a change, in this household it is not the female child who is discriminated against, but the male! To fuel his ambition, Bhugol keeps making reels, and sneaks out the safely stored bike to get his buddy Teepu (Samarth Mahor) to shoot a video. To his horror the bike gets stolen, which spells disaster for the family, and the possible end of Roshni’s match.
They have to hide the theft because reporting it would ruin the crime-free record of the village, and they also have to save face with the future in-laws. This subterfuge leads to the most absurdly hilarious episodes.
Roshni’s ex-boyfriend Amavas (Bhuvan Arora) had been banished from the village by Pushpalata for petty theft, but he still holds a torch for her, and gets involved in the tangles that follow, as does Pushpalata’s daughter Nirmal (Komal Kushwaha) who has an inferiority complex due to her dark skin. The lazy cop Mithilesh (Yashpal Sharma), with nothing to do in a crime-free area, spends his time reading pulp novels and ordering about his assistant.
Amavas is the first suspect in the theft of the bike, but proved to be innocent, he still offers to acquire a replacement, for which he and Bhugol (the name, meaning geography, always evokes a smile), set out on their own adventure, that involves the birthday celebration of an owl called Dollar.
Sonam Nair and her writers (Chirag Garg and Avinash Dwivedi), keep the gags coming at a brisk trot, and pull back the reins, just when it looks like the episode is going to tip over the top and crash. So, while there are bits that slow down the plot, there is always a new character to pick up the slack– like the aspiring reporter Madan (Chandan Kumar), or the chop shop thug (Pranjal Pateriya), who is also a finicky choreographer of the region’s launda naach (male dancers in drag). And, can there be a hinterland show without the redoubtable Brijendra Kala, playing the editor of a local rag called Khabar Falana.
Such a collection of amiable characters were last seen in Panchayat. There are greedy dowry seekers (don’t they demand cars, these days?), criminals, misogynists and the like, but the collective goodness of the others keep violence and male chauvinism in check. The messages about dowry eradication or bias against dark complexioned girls are gently eased in. Actors like Gajraj Rao, Yashpal Sharma, Renuka Shahane, Bhuvan Arora and Sparsh Srivastava make Dupahiya watchable, but the lesser known actors fit right in too. The colloquial dialogue is sharp, piquant and funny—the English subtitles cannot do the lines justice.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
