All About Pammi

Starring: Gaurav Gera,Karan Goddwani,Usha Nadkarni

Timing: Monday to Saturday,7pm

Rating: **1/2

Dressed up as Shah Rukh Khan with a superstar logo and picture of Irrfan on his leather jacket,Gaurav Gera climbs the mandir steps with filmy determination,rings the bells and recites dialogues like Amitabh Bachchan. He’s a wannabe actor from Gorakhpur desperate for divine intervention. The first episode of Mrs Pammi Pyarelal was nothing short of a Bollywood drama straight from the Eastman spools of the ’70s. The makers set the pace and make it more spoofy with Gera pulling off a Shashi Kapoor ‘ma,ma,ma’ run and introducing a tech savvy Mr and Mrs God in heaven granting his wish,slapped with conditions of course. Enter Pandeyji,a Mumbai-based casting agent who tells Gera to pack his bags and come to tinsel town. Gera arrives only to play a deadly role — a dead body. He then catches up with best friend Rahul Pyarelal (Karan Goddwani) who gives us a male version of Chamko (remember Deepti Naval in Chashme Baddoor) in the form of Ghissu,a detergent that shrinks clothes. Together,they go house-hunting,land at Faujdaar Villa where Rahul,unwittingly agrees to the ‘ab tak chhapan’ encounter specialist retired jailor Kamini Faujdaar’s (Usha Nadkarni) rule that only a married couple can reside in the villa. It’s a role of lifetime for the actor in Param Gulati (Gera),who gives in,and transforms into Mrs Pammi Pyarelal,stepping out in style from an autorickshaw with Rahul.

Gera makes for a fine woman in appearance,especially with his curvaceous look. The way he moves his lips,blinks his eyes,brushes his hair and holds his sari makes you want to see more of him,as her.

Once the show introduces other members of the house,Mrs Pammi Pyarelal falls into the trappings of a clichéd Hindi sitcom,one that plays heavily on caricatured characters,funny background score,and run of the mill situations. There are Kamini’s three sons,Rajbir,Randhir and Ranjeet. As the name suggests,Ranjeet (Mazhar Sayed) lusts for

Mrs Pammi.

As a show,Pammi is part goofy and part eccentric,and maybe that is how it was intended to be. While it set the pace in the first couple of episodes,it will need a lot to keep it steady daily. We wish the makers could’ve revealed more on how Param transforms into Pammi,how she puts together a wardrobe in a jiffy and comes dressed to kill.