Die Trying review: This Kenny Sebastian ‘Brohemian Rhapsody’ is enjoyable in parts

The narrative isn’t captivating enough, the character arcs have not been explored properly and the comic punches are far too less coming from minds such as Kenny, Rohan Desai, and Naveen Richards. But considering the kind of Indian content that is available for the audience on streaming giants like Amazon, Hotstar and ALTBalaji, Die Trying isn’t a particularly bad show. But there is nothing all too impressive about it either.

To be fair, Die Trying has its share of remarkable moments. The comic sequences that are there, are genuinely funny, especially the ‘lime-soda’ conversations between the waiter and Rohan. Richards and Urooj Ashfaq have done a fine job at the dialogues, they seem genuine, rooted in reality and un-dialogue like. Like in one of the episodes, Kenny asks a girl if he can buy her a drink and pat comes her reply that the bar has a ladies night. Die Trying also almost successfully attempts to present a fresh and realistic look at the subtle nuances of a relationship in the Indian setting. Like the conversation between Rohan and Prakriti (Niharika Lyra Dutt) where they are both saying the same thing, that they just want to hang out, but still are not on the same page, clicks with the audiences.

When most of the online content focuses on lives in Delhi or Mumbai, the 2004 Bangalore setting also adds a certain level of novelty to the show. Jason, played by Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula, is by far the most amusing character on the show. His dialogue delivery is natural and he attaches a certain kind of authenticity to everything he does. His character has also been sketched far too neatly than the others. While Kenny is all kinds of likable in his virtuous act, there is nothing new that he is able to bring to the table. Vidyuth does a passable job at playing Rohan but again he isn’t as nuanced a character as it could have been. The cameo by Naveen Richards (despite his forlorn wig) is entertaining, so is Sumukhi Suresh’s.

But most of the other supporting characters in the series have nothing much to do and end up being stereotypical projections of the characters they are based on. Ajji played by Vasudha Puranik is a delight to watch but has no more significance than swaying to the beats of Rohan and Kenneth’s songs or magically solving Rohan’s problems. Similarly, with the fraudulent and pretentiously spiritual music guru Steve Clay (Zachary Coffin). I think Die Trying would have been better without the entire recording sequence with him. Jason’s mafia dad and Soundarya’s (Soundarya Jayachandran) character are also particularly one-dimensional in that regard. To add to that, one can’t understand the point of Kanan Gill’s cameo at all.

Talking of the cliches, Die Trying also has its fair share of done-to-death situations like the whole contract gone wrong thing with Steve or Jason’s dramatic speech after he messes everything up among others. And right after scenes like these, the makers try to subvert this very cliche by turning the situation in the most unexpected way possible or ending the sequence with funny one-liners. While this appears to be a novel attempt at first, it gets repetitive and boring till the time you are done with the seven episodes.

Despite all of that, one can’t deny that like most of Kenny’s stand-ups, Die Trying tries to explore the nuances of the most middle-class and everyday problems. How slackers like Kenneth and Rohan, who only have each other to call their friends, do not give up on their big-time dreams. But the problem still remains with the plot. It doesn’t tie up together. We live in times when the audiences are ready to devote their time to shows which don’t even have a tangible storyline. And while that is not a bad thing at all, Die Trying has a material narrative, it just isn’t as thought-provoking or interesting.

Die Trying is not the kind of web series that would be on the top of my recommendations list or I would approve paying for but on a lazy afternoon when I have nothing else to do, I wouldn’t mind binge-watching on it either.