Review of Permanent Roommates Season 3: About four years before streaming giants stormed the scene, Permanent Roommates was the first show to release online in India. Before the strain in relations with Canada this year, the country was a preferred destination for tier-1 city newlyweds looking to move and start a new life. In Season 3 of Permanent Roommates, the struggle remains the same: to go or not to go. Sumit Vyas and Nidhi Singh return as Mikesh and Tanya, and their bittersweet banter creates a captivating, endearing, and entertaining show.
OG Impact The fact that Mikesh and Tanya find themselves at a juncture where one wants to move ahead feels natural, given we’ve seen both of them grow over the past nine years of the series. Permanent Roommates first arrived on TVF’s YouTube channel in 2013, making it the first online show to come from India. This was four years before it broke into the content space of streaming giants in the country.
Unlike Netflix India’s Little Things, which started on YouTube in 2016 but quickly evolved into a flagship show with four seasons on the streaming platform, Permanent Roommates still manages to maintain the charm of that quaint apartment. Despite streaming on Prime Video India, it doesn’t quite feel the impact. It hails from a pre-streaming era compared to Little Things, which came on board with the OTT boom.
Permanent Roommates feels like the story of millennials who never really aspired to have significant materialistic possessions. It’s the show that genuinely appreciates the ‘little things’ while others, like JNJs, aim for grand ideas with a broader audience and delve into the content before experiencing life’s essence.
The previous season of Permanent Roommates came in 2016. Then the streaming boom arrived, and creators took their time to figure out how they could establish a foothold in the rapidly growing streaming space. They experimented with an audio show and a small spin-off. It appears that they’ve returned with a season that seems more authentic and organic, prioritizing earned over forced and genuine over dramatic.
Mikesh and Tanya: Forever Young Even though it’s been seven years since the last season when it comes to their characters and their chemistry, Sumit and Nidhi don’t show any signs of ageingemotionally. They resolve the seven-year itch splendidly, slipping into their respective roles with ease, with the added challenge of second-skin characters.
Sumit excels in making that endearing man-child persona stand out. One can imagine that, like any aspiring actor, he wouldn’t want to go back to his humble beginnings. But he does what’s possibly impossible: he returns to his humble origins. He’s not your typical Alia Bhatt of Student of the Year, he’s back in his character, the self-deprecating, but character-defining man that captures Mahima’s attention.
On the other hand, Nidhi makes you wonder why she wasn’t given a chance for bigger things with her simplicity and emotional fluidity. She not only excels in deeper internal performance but elevates Sumit even further with her subtle reactions. Keep an eye on her unexpected character arc and how she crafts a case for herself in two emotional breaking scenes at the beginning and the end.
This season isn’t written and directed by OGs Biswapati Sarkar, and Sameer Saxena, who’ve moved on to other TVF properties. Instead, it’s helmed by Shreya Dhanwanthary and co-written by Shreya Srivastava and Vaibhav Suman, providing a female perspective to the narrative, where a woman aspires to a life independent of a man’s satisfaction. Little Things has hinted at this in its powerful Season 2 and 3, but Permanent Roommates puts a more significant emphasis on how women often take a step back for men, guarded as they venture into their initial enthusiasm.
This perspective also shines through Sheeba Chaddha’s portrayal of Mikesh’s mother. She’s in her element throughout the show, as she tries to embark on an independent life after her husband’s death, only to realize that she’s now dependent on her son. Sheeba captures the moments of that sudden realization, especially when she subtly laughs at an ongoing case, and then leaves Tanya with a thoughtful question, asking if she’s doing the right thing. Seeing her with Sachin Pilgaonkar is heartwarming, and I’d love to see a spin-off for their blossoming romance, “Making Friends.”
