In the 80's and 90's, sitcoms used to be extremely popular in India. Those were the times, when the entire family would sit together and watch these comedy shows. For a short period of time it allowed everyone to forget all their worries and have a good laugh with their loved ones around them. Sandwiched Forever is Bharat Kukreti's attempt at bringing back the good old times, except that this show is neither funny nor can it be watched with your family members around you.
WHAT'S GOOD :
1. The show has brought together some amazingly talented actors and all of them shine in their respective roles. I have never seen Atul Kulkarni do comedy, so it was quite an unexpected but pleasant surprise to see him act in a goofy manner with a lot of melodrama. I only remember Divya Seth from Humlog and Dekh Bhai Dekh, so it was good to see her after a long time. Divya is extremely convincing as the intimidating wife and mother. Zakir Hussain is known to scare people through his villainous acts in movies, not to make them laugh, but he succeeds in doing that as well. Lubna Salim plays the cute but dumb Manjiri quite well but is often letdown due to poor writing. Kunaal Roy Kapur has by now mastered this role of a lazy and under confident guy, so he doesn't disappoint. Aahana Kumra is not known for doing comedy shows, so this show definitely allows her to do something that she hasn't done before. Aahana also adds glamour to the show, as she can be seen wearing skimpy outfits throughout the series and there is no denying that she looks extremely sexy in every single one of them.
2. Bharat Kukreti is known mostly for being the creator of Comedy Nights with Kapil and The Kapil Sharma Show, so it's definitely a way forward for him to enter the world of web-series through this sit-com. Although, I must say that his work with Kapil was way better than this.
WHAT'S BAD :
1. The show lacks humour. The first and foremost thing that one looks for in a comedy show is its ability to make you laugh, this one doesn't have that. The jokes are either too old or too lame to evoke any kind of laughter.
2. The show is poorly paced. While watching Sandwiched Forever, you realize that it's not a web-series, instead it's television show that has been released digitally. The show is extremely slow and more often than not ends up being a boring watch. In the era of binge watching shows, Sandwiched Forever doesn't motivate you to watch the next episode, because you don't want to endure the pain of boredom once again.
3. The humour of the show often consists of double meaning jokes laced with sexual innuendo. Now, it can be counted as a positive for someone looking for this kind of humour, but it wasn't for me. Also, double meaning jokes are often added into the screenplay to hide its incompetence, a fact that holds true for this show.
4. A laughter track has been used in almost every scene, for no reason at all. Long time back, some shows like 'Friends' were recorded with a live audience, so their reaction was captured and added into the show. Be it laughter or excitement or shock or silence, it was always a real reaction. Later on some shows started adding a laughter track or an audience reaction, it wasn't real but was used aptly. But in this show, a laughter track has been added randomly after every ten seconds. Also, how can a laughter track help when the scene itself is not funny ?
5. The structure of every episode is pretty much the same. The husband gets stuck between two opinions given by his mother and wife, boy's father has an altercation with his wife, mother-in-law remains lost in her supposedly magic world and says something stupid at regular intervals, father-in-law doesn't trust his son-in-law, there will be some misunderstanding because apparently all characters lack common sense, and then everything gets resolved in the end. The one line plot of every episode is the chaos created due to misunderstanding between characters. You know where it's going the moment an episode starts, simply put, the show offers no surprises, everything is extremely predictable, and that is not something you would want your work to be if you intend to make a comedy show.
In conclusion, Sandwiched Forever is a casual time pass show that suffers from below par writing. If you are looking for entertainment, then you need to look elsewhere because this show offers very little of it.
WHAT'S GOOD :
1. The show has brought together some amazingly talented actors and all of them shine in their respective roles. I have never seen Atul Kulkarni do comedy, so it was quite an unexpected but pleasant surprise to see him act in a goofy manner with a lot of melodrama. I only remember Divya Seth from Humlog and Dekh Bhai Dekh, so it was good to see her after a long time. Divya is extremely convincing as the intimidating wife and mother. Zakir Hussain is known to scare people through his villainous acts in movies, not to make them laugh, but he succeeds in doing that as well. Lubna Salim plays the cute but dumb Manjiri quite well but is often letdown due to poor writing. Kunaal Roy Kapur has by now mastered this role of a lazy and under confident guy, so he doesn't disappoint. Aahana Kumra is not known for doing comedy shows, so this show definitely allows her to do something that she hasn't done before. Aahana also adds glamour to the show, as she can be seen wearing skimpy outfits throughout the series and there is no denying that she looks extremely sexy in every single one of them.
2. Bharat Kukreti is known mostly for being the creator of Comedy Nights with Kapil and The Kapil Sharma Show, so it's definitely a way forward for him to enter the world of web-series through this sit-com. Although, I must say that his work with Kapil was way better than this.
WHAT'S BAD :
1. The show lacks humour. The first and foremost thing that one looks for in a comedy show is its ability to make you laugh, this one doesn't have that. The jokes are either too old or too lame to evoke any kind of laughter.
2. The show is poorly paced. While watching Sandwiched Forever, you realize that it's not a web-series, instead it's television show that has been released digitally. The show is extremely slow and more often than not ends up being a boring watch. In the era of binge watching shows, Sandwiched Forever doesn't motivate you to watch the next episode, because you don't want to endure the pain of boredom once again.
3. The humour of the show often consists of double meaning jokes laced with sexual innuendo. Now, it can be counted as a positive for someone looking for this kind of humour, but it wasn't for me. Also, double meaning jokes are often added into the screenplay to hide its incompetence, a fact that holds true for this show.
4. A laughter track has been used in almost every scene, for no reason at all. Long time back, some shows like 'Friends' were recorded with a live audience, so their reaction was captured and added into the show. Be it laughter or excitement or shock or silence, it was always a real reaction. Later on some shows started adding a laughter track or an audience reaction, it wasn't real but was used aptly. But in this show, a laughter track has been added randomly after every ten seconds. Also, how can a laughter track help when the scene itself is not funny ?
5. The structure of every episode is pretty much the same. The husband gets stuck between two opinions given by his mother and wife, boy's father has an altercation with his wife, mother-in-law remains lost in her supposedly magic world and says something stupid at regular intervals, father-in-law doesn't trust his son-in-law, there will be some misunderstanding because apparently all characters lack common sense, and then everything gets resolved in the end. The one line plot of every episode is the chaos created due to misunderstanding between characters. You know where it's going the moment an episode starts, simply put, the show offers no surprises, everything is extremely predictable, and that is not something you would want your work to be if you intend to make a comedy show.
In conclusion, Sandwiched Forever is a casual time pass show that suffers from below par writing. If you are looking for entertainment, then you need to look elsewhere because this show offers very little of it.