For a seventeen-year-old Dimple Ahuja (Prajakta Koli), growing up a tomboyish, gamer chick in Ambala meant years of feuds with the parents. After all, living in the conservative backdrop of a close-knit community meant only one thing for her mother -- marriage. Dimple, however, had other plans. Laser-focussed at learning Java, Dimple's life in Ambala mostly revolves around live-stream videos of her favourite gamers and shunning makeup (much to the horror of her mother!).
Rishi Singh Shekhawat (Rohit Saraf), on the other hand, is shown engaging in polite, coy conversations with his grandmother about how he is not ashamed to find a nice girl and settle down. Growing up in a well-to-do, refined (yet dysfunctional) family in Jaipur, Rishi's only aim in life is to not end up like his parents (and to that we say, take note, Bollywood!).
And while it almost seems impossible at the start to see the two ever colliding, a PAN India Matchmaking group seemingly brings them together.
Under the pretext of getting to know Rishi, Dimple is finally allowed to go to Jaipur for an exorbitant computer programming and animation course at Aravalli Institute, where the two were being 'set up'. And while Rishi appears to be dying to meet his 'future wife', Dimple has no idea whatsoever about the scam her parents have unleashed onto her.
The coveted Aravalli Institute is, of course, a palace! Drone shots of carefully pruned lawns on the sprawling premises of the institute will most definitely ignite your deep-seated rom-com sentiments. Almost makes you question your parents on why you were never 'set up' with a handsome stranger in a faraway boarding school, but we'll keep the logic aside for later.
The app-designing class led by Professor Siddharth (Ranvijay Singh) -- or 'Sid sir' -- comprises of all kinds of brats, handpicked from across the country. Whether it Dimple's purple-haired roommate-et-classmate Celina Matthews (Muskkaan Jaferi), the heavily accented porn addict Harsh Agarwal (Vihaan Samat) or the only out of place elder in the team Zeenat Karim (Vidya Malavade) -- each of their distinct personalities are a delight to watch alongside our two protagonists. Like every desi love story, there are hurdles to when a boy-meets-girl, but in Mismatched, there are more than just a couple. To begin with, Dimple shows no interest in our mushy, chocolate-boy lover who joined the course only to meet his 'future wife' (yes, that will stay with us for a while).
And then, of course, there are the bad guys. Those familiar with Mean Girls already know the divide in the high-school hierarchy, and we have the self-proclaimed crème de la crème of the batch. Enter: Anmol Malhotra (Taaruk Raina), who is a differently-abled, bad-boy (with a back story) who hurls abuses and (impressively!) makes you loathe his screen presence, and his sister Simran Malhotra (Kritika Bharadwaj), a new-age Instagram influencer whose 'perfect' life revolves around her public image. The duo, accompanied with Krish Katyal (Abhinav Sharma), Simran's boyfriend, have sworn to make Dimple's life hell.
After getting off to a rough start, Dimple and Rishi start afresh -- as friends -- and instantly get along in their own, quirky way. Like any love story, we see the awkwardness, jealousy and misunderstandings. Rishi's best friend Namrata (Devyani Shorey), shown to be interested in women, perplexes Dimple at first, but he clumsily lets out her secret to the girl he met a week ago. After a strange, albeit funny, photography assignment, the class is divided into groups of two. And much to our confusion, Rishi and Dimple are (gasp!) not paired together. Instead, Rishi and his best friend, Namrata, are paired for the project. Furthermore, Dimple ends up with Harsh -- who despite his limited screentime is one of the most enjoyable characters to watch.
Trouble begins to unfold from the third episode, with each of the characters shown struggling to cope with their dark secrets and insecurities. While they seem like petty teenage issues, there are some (read: Celina's struggle to provide for herself financially, or Namrata hiding her orientation) which hit home.
The series, being tech-driven leads us to a random League of Legends tournament between Dimple and Anmol towards the end. However, it does not pass out as a great 'culmination' moment for the series. In fact, the pace at which it treads, there's an obvious indication that the makers have envisioned a season two for Dimple and Rishi's story. The mantra to a successful first season is a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, and Mismatched makes sure to give you that by the end of the sixth episode. Despite that, we can't say we were surprised, as the second episode was a dead giveaway to how it will end!
Mismatched lives up to the cliches it promises. The 'will-they-won't-they' moments in this story will leave you pining for more, whether it is for the protagonists or the supporting couples on the show. Saraf and Koli steal the show, quite unmistakably. Their warm, on-screen chemistry is a joy to watch and needless to say we absolutely cannot get enough of it! Dimple's wide-eyed nerd gamer-chick is unflinching, and watchers can barely notice it as her debut performance. And no matter how cynical, cold-hearted you may be, Rishi's cutesy, good boy demeanour will restore your faith in the portrayal of men on screen.
For an app-designing course, the tech-enthusiastic team does present some lackadaisical, lousy ideas, but we're willing to let go of those for the entertainment they provide as a class. There are no half-baked stories on Mismatched, and you're bound to find yourself as invested in the supporting characters' lives as you will be in Dimple and Rishi's.
Nonetheless, the makers' attempt to drag a three-month-long app-making course into a 3.6-hour-long series is clearly visible. Despite that, we're anticipating with bated breath to see how the story unfolds in season two, but the makers might need to present a convincing plot twist for the interim they are putting us through!
TBC Rating: 3.5/5
Where to watch: Netflix
