If you live in India and love television, chances are that you’ve mourned the complete lack of good content and compelling stories. The trend of tacky sarees and messed-up murderous families, which started in the 2000s, has sadly stuck on and doesn’t seem to be on its way out any time soon. Luckily, those who were itching to tell a story that was real, fun and not studded with 20kgs of gold per frame found the medium and the audience on Youtube.
Since 2012, The Viral Fever, founded by Arunabh Kumar in 2010, has been creating clutter-breaking and viral-friendly web content for an entertainment-starved younger generation of Indians. With Permanent Roommates in 2014, TVF aced the web drama series format on its very first attempt.
Now, more than a year after its very popular first season, TVF has teased the world with the poster to the second season. The date has not officially been announced yet, though we can hope that the ‘coming soon’ is soon enough.
Permanent Roommates tells the story of Tanya (Nidhi Singh) and Mikesh (Sumeet Vyas) who have been in a long-distance relationship for three years. When the show begins, Mikesh has just moved back to India from the United States of America to propose to Tanya. He is on his knees with a ring in his hand, and she is not too sure about any of this.
The rest of it is, well, a sharable YouTube Playlist.
Mikesh is a simple guy who says things as they are and believes that he can make things work Tanya. She believes that the Skype versions of the two of them are far too different from real life. They are adorable in their colloquial awkwardness and confusions — Mikesh is not willing to let go, and Tanya is unable to. In her words, while this isn’t a “Yes”, it isn't a “no” either. The two move in together to figure out if they’d still be as wonderful in proximity as they have been a long-distance relationship. This is where the much anticipated second season is set to pick up from.
Developed by Biswajit Sarkar, more popularly known as the satirist Arnub, Permanent Roommates works because of its perfect everyday quality. The show’s authenticity is a relief from most things produced for Indian television. The first season ended after five, to-the-point, short well-scripted episodes, which is a welcome binge format to start with. Start watching with this first episode and let the ever-knowing YouTube autoplay guide you through the new and fresh world of brilliant Indian fiction.