Disney+ Hotstar’s latest special Pop Kaun is a laughing riot to being with but, is it everyone’s cup of tea? Directed by Farhad Samji, the series stars Late Satish Kaushik, Kunal Kemmu, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Chunky Panday, Saurabh Shukla, Nupur Sanon amongst others. With a sitcom based runtime which ranges from 30-40 minutes, the series has a total of six episodes.
– Disney+ Hotstar’s Pop Kaun Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Pop Kaun: Is This Worth Your Time?
Right off the bat, Pop Kaun starts off in the most pompous way possible in the comedy genre. We have Kunal Kemmu’s character Sahil make a rather grand entry which is followed by a miscarriage of statements along with some stereotypical camera work that urges you to laugh. You know from the first scene itself that it is either going to be comedic cringe content on the roll or something that will make you laugh as it will make you live in the moment.
The series centres around Sahil, who is the son of the politician, Brij Kishore Trivedi. Sahil’s love interest Pihu is the daughter of a rival gangster gang leader KBC. After a series of comedy of errors, we soon enough get to the point where Sahil and Pihu’s engagement finally occurs but, it leaves everyone with a bitter aftertaste when Sahil’s father is overcome with a heart attack/stroke during the celebration ceremony at the engagement.
Following this, Brij Kishore is unfit to stand for the upcoming elections and he passes the torch to Sahil. But, Brij’s other son, Sahil’s brother, is opposed to this notion. He declares in front of everyone, in anger and betrayal from his father, how Sahil is not actually Brij’s son. This leaves the entire room cold and the essential conundrum about who is Sahil’s real father emerges into the scene. It forms the basic crux of the story that is assisted by comedic relief and performances, both good and bad.
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Late Satish Kaushik, Rajpal Yadav, Saurabh Shukla and Johnny Lever really did steal the show in every frame. From dialogue delivery to the body language, the veterans have mastered it all and Pop Kaun is just proof of that because, honestly, if these actors were not in the picture the show would have had an unrecoverable crash landing.
Kunal Kemmu, who is essentially the star of the show, tries really hard and you can see this earnest performance as an actor to stand out in this intentional comedic piece. However, every time the scene was left solely on his shoulders, there was too much pressure it seemed for the actor to leave a mark. Nupur Sanon, on the other hand, clearly just remains a supporting female character that has nothing much to contribute. On contrary, it is another member of the Lever family- Jamie Lever, who really has everything in store to just make the moment right.
Pop Kaun has a storyline that is a drag. You can very well skip through a number of elements and still realise the plot is progressing exactly where you left it off. Is this a good thing or a bad thing in a story is something for the viewers to decide because the subjectivity of watching a comedy drama really comes into play in this Hotstar Specials.
Pop Kaun: Final Verdict
There isn’t a lot to take away from Pop Kaun as a series, apart from the amazing set of performances and watching Mr. Kaushik for one last time making us all smile. Coming from the makers of Housefull 4, this was expected in some fashion. The intentional comedy really only works well with a plot that is designed to be less mysterious and more chaotic in nature.
The eccentricity present in the show tries to push it off but, ultimately, the drama-related elements of the series are what take the major blows when it fails to support the light entertainment present in front of us.
You can watch Pop Kaun now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.