'Single Papa' Review | It could have been a jolly good show

On paper, Single Papa is a riveting, refreshing tale that challenges gender norms in parenting. It truly should have been a riot — funny, warm, sensitive, and brave. But the end product is an off-balance narrative that is, by and large, unfunny, with comedy-of-errors bits awkwardly woven in.

It makes you wish that the execution matched the intention as the theme indeed was well meaning.

The series never finds the right balance. Neither the laughs nor the emotional beats land consistently. Somewhere around the fourth episode, it finally discovers some momentum, but by then, the harm is done. Across its six episodes, it becomes a textbook example of how even the most brilliant ensemble cannot salvage substandard writing.

Kunal Kemmu plays Gaurav Gehlot, a 30-year-old loveable man-child who still depends on his mom for practically everything and relies on the timely pocket money he receives from his father. He lives his life on a 'to-do list' and divorces his wife, Aparna, because she doesn’t want kids. Soon after, he sends his boisterous Indian family into collective shock by announcing he’s adopting a baby he found in the backseat of his car.

What follows is Gaurav’s metamorphosis from a man-child to a man with a child as he navigates the societal pressures of being a divorced single father of an adopted baby. The adoption itself becomes a battle as he pushes back against the sexist belief that a man can’t match a woman’s capacity for love when it comes to raising a child.

Kemmu is a genius when it comes to comic timing, but the scope to showcase it is narrow here. He lifts the series even when the script fails him, but he can only do so much.

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Subplots — one involving Gaurav’s father and his friend, and another involving his mother — feel nugatory and jarring. They add little value and only stretch the narrative further out of shape.

Neha Dhupia plays Romilla Nehra, the stern chairperson of CACA, and gets a small arc of her own. Dayanand Shetty as the manny, Parbat Singh, is… a surprise. Not necessarily a pleasing one. It’s not his externality that makes it difficult to accept him as little Amul’s manny, it’s his inability to step out of the persona so deeply rooted in the audience’s mind. Every few minutes, you can’t help but imagine him pulling out a gun.

On the brighter side, Aisha Ahmed is an absolute delight. Her chemistry with Kunal Kemmu is spot on. Prajakta Koli, as Gaurav’s sister Namrata, is her adorable self, the persona we’ve grown to love over the years. She’s one of those rare social media stars who genuinely deserves every bit of the success and opportunities that came her way.

Isha Talwar as Gaurav’s ex-wife Aparna, Suhail Nayyar as his friend Pawan, and Manoj Pahwa and Ayesha Raza Mishra as his parents do justice to whatever they’re given.

The final resolution is fine, even expected. The real problem is the journey. The story takes the long route, several detours, and ultimately reroutes itself to reach a destination that was par for the course. But the route feels forced and unconvincing, leaning heavily on sudden emotional turnarounds, both from family members and even the stern Romilla, to tie things up. 

The show had the heart, the premise, the cast. What it needed was sharper writing and a steadier hand.

Single Papa is now streaming on Netflix.

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