It's Not That Simple is a 2016 Indian
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
web series starring
Akshay Oberoi
Akshay Oberoi (born 1 January 1985) is an American actor of Indian-Americans, Indian descent, who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. After making his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama ''American Chai'', Oberoi played his first lead ...
,
Vivan Bhatena
Vivan Bhatena (born 28 October 1978) is an Indian model and actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. His notable films include '' Dangal'' (2016), ''Judwaa 2'' (2017) and ''Raja the Great'' (2017). Vivan won Mister India World title in 20 ...
,
Karan Veer Mehra
Karan Veer Mehra is an Indian television actor. He began his career with the show, ''Remix'' in 2005. Currently he is seen in Hott studio's web series ''Couple of Mistakes,'' opposite Barkha SenGupta. He was also seen playing the lead role in ...
,
Swara Bhaskar
Swara Bhasker (also spelled Bhaskar; born 9 April 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Best known for her supporting work in mainstream productions and starring roles in independent films, she has won two Screen Awards and has ...
,
Sumeet Vyas
Sumeet Vyas (born 27 July 1983) is an Indian actor and writer of films, web series and theatre. His breakthrough role was Mikesh Chaudhary in TVF's 2014 web series ''Permanent Roommates''. Vyas has since played supporting roles in Bollywood fil ...
,
Purab Kohli
Purab Kohli is an Indian television and film actor, model and former video jockey.
Career
Television
Kohli started his career as an actor with the 1998 television show '' Hip Hip Hurray'' on Zee TV and earned recognition through video jockey ...
,
Manasi Rachh
Manasi Rachh is an Indian actress and model. She made her debut in 2011 with the film '' Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge'' and was noted for her performance in the Karan Johar movie ''Student of the Year''. She is also noted for her ads as well as he ...
, Neha Chauhan,
Rohan Shah
Rohan Shah is an Indian actor, known for his role as Agham Neil Khanna in '' Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar'' on Sony TV. He played the lead role of Vivek in the 2020 Bollywood film '' Hacked'' along with Hina Khan. He is also a part of the YouTube ...
and Devika Vatsa in the lead roles. It was written by Charudutt Acharya and directed by Danish Aslam. It originally premiered on
Voot
Voot is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Viacom18. Launched in March 2016, it is Viacom18's advertising-led video-on-demand platform that is available as an app for iOS, KaiOS ( JioPhone) an ...
on 21 October 2016.
Swara marked her web series debut with this and received praises for her performance.
Cast
Main
*
Akshay Oberoi
Akshay Oberoi (born 1 January 1985) is an American actor of Indian-Americans, Indian descent, who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. After making his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama ''American Chai'', Oberoi played his first lead ...
*
Vivan Bhatena
Vivan Bhatena (born 28 October 1978) is an Indian model and actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. His notable films include '' Dangal'' (2016), ''Judwaa 2'' (2017) and ''Raja the Great'' (2017). Vivan won Mister India World title in 20 ...
*
Karan Veer Mehra
Karan Veer Mehra is an Indian television actor. He began his career with the show, ''Remix'' in 2005. Currently he is seen in Hott studio's web series ''Couple of Mistakes,'' opposite Barkha SenGupta. He was also seen playing the lead role in ...
*
Swara Bhaskar
Swara Bhasker (also spelled Bhaskar; born 9 April 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Best known for her supporting work in mainstream productions and starring roles in independent films, she has won two Screen Awards and has ...
*
Sumeet Vyas
Sumeet Vyas (born 27 July 1983) is an Indian actor and writer of films, web series and theatre. His breakthrough role was Mikesh Chaudhary in TVF's 2014 web series ''Permanent Roommates''. Vyas has since played supporting roles in Bollywood fil ...
*
Purab Kohli
Purab Kohli is an Indian television and film actor, model and former video jockey.
Career
Television
Kohli started his career as an actor with the 1998 television show '' Hip Hip Hurray'' on Zee TV and earned recognition through video jockey ...
*
Manasi Rachh
Manasi Rachh is an Indian actress and model. She made her debut in 2011 with the film '' Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge'' and was noted for her performance in the Karan Johar movie ''Student of the Year''. She is also noted for her ads as well as he ...
* Neha Chauhan
*
Rohan Shah
Rohan Shah is an Indian actor, known for his role as Agham Neil Khanna in '' Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar'' on Sony TV. He played the lead role of Vivek in the 2020 Bollywood film '' Hacked'' along with Hina Khan. He is also a part of the YouTube ...
* Devika Vatsa
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Release
The series was announced to consist of 7 episodes as part of the first season on 6 October, 2016 and started airing on
Voot
Voot is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Viacom18. Launched in March 2016, it is Viacom18's advertising-led video-on-demand platform that is available as an app for iOS, KaiOS ( JioPhone) an ...
on 21 October, 2016. It was written by Charudutt Acharya. The second season was announced by Voot on 30 August 2018 along with 16 other new original series.
Reception
Season 2 reviews
The series received mixed responses from critics. It was praised for its performances by
Swara Bhaskar
Swara Bhasker (also spelled Bhaskar; born 9 April 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Best known for her supporting work in mainstream productions and starring roles in independent films, she has won two Screen Awards and has ...
and
Sumeet Vyas
Sumeet Vyas (born 27 July 1983) is an Indian actor and writer of films, web series and theatre. His breakthrough role was Mikesh Chaudhary in TVF's 2014 web series ''Permanent Roommates''. Vyas has since played supporting roles in Bollywood fil ...
while it was criticised by some for its story.
Sreehari Nair of ''
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
'' gave 2 stars, criticizing its plot while praising the performance of the cast "What holds the show together is the cast; performers who frequently rise above their stodgy lines to bring something personal to the table." She added "''It's Not That Simple'' is, at its core, a speeded-up, foul-mouthed version of shows like ''Shanti'' and ''
Swabhimaan
''Swaabhimaan'' is an Indian soap opera directed by Mahesh Bhatt and Debaloy Dey and was scripted by Shobha De and Vinod Ranganath.
Plot
Swaabhimaan divulges the story of an attractive woman - Svetlana - who finds herself in a battle where t ...
'' -- those
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
soaps where business magnates had secrets that only their slavish butlers knew about."
Soumya Rao of ''
Scroll.in
''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...
'' mentioned "Strong performances come to the rescue when the dialogue and plot fall flat. The surface-scratching observations about gender bias and stereotypes are complemented by a couple of genuinely strong moments."
A reviewer for ''
Firstpost
''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18.
The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...
'' said "Performance wise, ''It's Not That Simple'' season 2 earns brownie points. Vivan oscillates perfectly between the obsessive friend and repulsed, homophobic lover. Sumeet is unsurprisingly on point. His predatory nature is well-fleshed out, all the while keeping it understated. Swara Bhasker does justice to a role tailor-made for her"
''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'' gave 3 stars, saying "the focus here is on Swara who looks svelte and gives her character a heft and heave that never seem manufactured. Some of the dialogues do sound like bumper sticker wisdom and WhatsApp forwards."
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=6132872
Indian comedy web series
Comedy-drama web series