Think of many things. Never place your happiness in one person’s power. Be just to yourself— Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy

The remarkable Netflix series - A suitable boy - is made after a famous book with a similar name by Vikram Seth. The story revolves around the time after the partition of Sub-continent. The struggle of Muslim-Hindu and the bond of families of love and respect despite their religious differences is a part of it.

The Cast of the series

The main female protagonist, Lata beautifully played by Tanya Maniktala is an Indian girl, who is full of life looking forward to her future possibilities. Namik Das played the role of male protagonist Harash, who is a self-made man and a shoemaker by profession. Another male protagonist, Maan was played by Ishaan Khattar and his female protagonist was Saeeda Bai played by Tabu. All the actors gave an outstanding performance along with supporting characters.

The Plot of the story

Lata’s story

Rupa, Lata’s mother after successfully arranging the marriage of her elder daughter with a university professor, is worried about lata’s marriage. On the other hand, lata is exploring the world and have no interest in getting married. Out of the blue, she met a mysterious guy in her university, and within few meetings, she fell in love with him. She was secretly meeting him until her mother found out about him. She rejected him immediately after hearing that he is a Muslim. She, along with Lata, left to her son’s house in search of a suitable boy for her. There she found that her daughter-in-law's brother is taking interest in lata, who is nothing but a famous poet that according to her is not a real job; so, she left from there too to her relative's place. There she met a shoemaker, who she found a suitable boy for lata. Lata at first showed no interest in him but after a few sweet gestures of him, she developed a soft corner for him. Between the three suitors, she found it difficult to choose one of them as her husband. Surprisingly, in the end, she chose that person who had the least chances to be with her.

Maan’s Story 

Being a passionate young nawab, Maan was fond of Ghazal. He happened to fell in love with Saeeda Bai, who is a courtesan and inherited her late mother's gifted musicianship and captivating beauty. Soon the news of their love-affair spread like a wildfire, and Maan’s father made him leave his house. Saeeda sent him to the village to learn the Urdu language for her. In the village, he gained respect from mistreated framers but returned after getting Saeeda’s letter. The story took a new twist, when Saeeda revealed her relation to Mirza’s son who was Maan’s best friend, but with one misunderstanding Maan stabbed him with a knife. The maid made Maan run away from that place but, after leaving he turned himself in for the murder of his best friend. When his parents heard this news, his father visited him and told him that Mirza’s family cut off all their connection with them, and his son is alive. Due to the sorrow of separation, his mother after visiting him passed away and he failed to attend her funeral. His friend when called-on to tell the incident to the court; made it his fault to fell on the knife and got hurt. Without evidence, the court declared Maan not guilty and he went out of jail.

The era of post partition:

As the story progresses, you will see the struggle of Muslims in occurring the land and respect they once had before partition. At one point, the bloodshed of Muslim-Hindu and their hatred for each other make you wonder how many lives they might have lost just because of their differences. Especially on the incident, where Hindus built a temple in front of a mosque and on the occasion of Muharram, Hindus were celebrating Diwali and they crossed each other’s path and left the streets with blood. After watching that scene, my heart felt a wave of pain for those people who were innocent but ignorant of the harsh reality of the world.

Rating of the series: 

The rating of this series is 6.2/10 IMDb, though 79% of Google users liked this series. The people who watched it, appreciated the performance. I enjoyed every episode of it and loved the songs played throughout the series by Saeeda Bai, So without any doubt, I highly recommend it.