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BFF Review: This remake of 'Adulting' just can't outgrow its YouTube-heavy attributes
'BFF' is a must-watch for those in their 40s, 50s and beyond. The millennials go through tremendous tribulations in life.
Title: BFF (Telugu)
Cast: Siri Hanumanth and Ramya Pasupaleti
Director: Bhargav Macharla
Episodes: 5
Season: 1
Streaming on: AHA
It is a new year and the Telugu-only OTT platform AHA is back with yet another remake. After 'CommitMental' (which was a remake of 'Permanent Roommates') and 'Tharagathi Gadhi Daati' (which was a remake of 'FLAMES'), AHA has now brought out 'BFF', which is a remake of 'Adulting'. All three shows have been remade from Hindi-language offerings. The streaming platform's attempts to familiarize the Telugu viewer with millennial/urbane sensibilities are unmistakable. But the attempts have been riddled with fundamental issues.
Nithya Kothari (Siri Hanmanth) and Tara Yadav (Ramya Pasupleti) live in an upscale flat in Hyderabad. They are working women in their early 20s. The former is a new migrant to the city with near-zero adjustment issues. The latter is city-bred and is slightly goofy probably because she wants to look pampered in the presence of a semi-urban roomie.
The conflict plot point (if the web series has any conflict in the first place) is rooted in the mildly divergent personality types. Nithya is more responsible and less carefree in life. But she is as fun-loving as Tara, who comes across as more indisciplined than her roomie. 
After five episodes and nearly two hours of run-time, 'BFF' feels more YouTube-ish than all the Telugu-language YouTube content out there. OTT is supposed to offer the kind of profundity and script intensity that YouTubers are incapable of. For the unversed, Siri Hanmanth has been imported from, well, YouTube. Ramya Pasupaleti's belabored performance doesn't make her look like she is facing even mild discomfort in life.
The landlord (played by Praneetha Patnaik of 'C/o Kancharapalem') looks more like your slightly dominating yet friendly classmate than a woman who is culturally shocked at the 'vices' of her tenants. Anjali (she is more popular for being an interviewer, again, on YouTube) plays Nithya's mother and it's like she wants the audience to feel her daughter is going through penury in one of the scenes.
'BFF' is a must-watch for those in their 40s, 50s, and beyond. The millennials go through tremendous tribulations in life. They tend to forget about workplace deadlines when they get busy partying. They vomit after getting drunk. Their hangover issues can really make them behave like goofballs with friends. Their heart breaks when they encounter fakery on Instagram. They land decent, well-paying jobs but frustrations don't desert them. Attending an expensive concert, partying, and eating at costly restaurants leaves them broke by the end of the month. On top of that, they have to meet deadlines at the office, where colleagues can make your life worse by planning a team outing when you are on diet.
Director Bhargav Macherla and the writing department don't show even a trace of willingness to make the conversations between the two roommates engaging for two minutes at a stretch. In 'Adulting', the performances looked original. Here, they look affected, especially Ramya's. There is hardly any difference between how Nithya and Tara talk in an informal set-up and in a formal set-up. The web series' itch to serve up light-touch drama at every turn tests your patience after a point.
Check out the trailer below:
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