Life Hill Gayi review: A nonchalant Indian sitcom that's mindlessly entertaining!

Divyenndu Sharma and Kusha Kapila's new show, Life Hill Gayi, is a casual sitcom laced with sweet-simple messages and life on the hills! 

I am one of those people who constantly has a sitcom to binge on in addition to anything else I'm watching, which is why the dearth of it in India has always been felt. While I'm happy about the short and simple TVF and Dice Media shows, it's nice to see shows like Maamla Legal Hai taking a step ahead in exploring this genre. Following a similar route, Life Hill Gayi is too laid-back and underdeveloped in its approach. It offers nothing more than a light-hearted six-episode comedic ride, which is fun but needs more!

Like the title, the show works in allegory, as the lives of two siblings, Dev (Divyenndu Sharma) and Kalki (Kusha Kapila), get completely shaken up by their sudden move to a hill station which was authorized by their grandfather (Kabir Bedi). With their toppled lives and alcoholic father, Captain Himalaya Singh (Vinay Pathak), the siblings compete with each other in a series of events to run the Good Morning Woods Villa to attain the sole inheritance of a 300-million-dollar business. But as they face one problem after the other, the citified high-class folks get schooled by the rural lifestyle of the hills in Panchmoli, Uttrakhand! 

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It's sort of like an Eat the Rich theme-based show but packaged in Schitt's Creek's style, where the fashionable tone-deaf rich are understood as lost souls who turn over a new leaf and become humble, humility-filled humans. While the concept sounds interesting on paper, it hasn't been transformed into its potential onscreen. Hence, every opportunity, from a local wedding or a film shoot in an agrarian village to a serial killer, ghost, and a pack of trekkers at a hill station hotel, seems like a miss. Even the rootedness of life in the mountains draws a lack, which affects the metaphor of the urban-rural difference the show is trying to bring forth. Consequently, nothing fully connects and stays with you, whether it's Dev and Hima (Mukti Mohan)'s sweet banter-filled romance, Kalki's connection with the newly appointed hotel staff, or the dysfunctional family's reconnection. 

However, some things in the show make you see the potential, especially how it captures the feel of the picturesque mountains, the simple life lessons, and its talented ensemble cast. But the show that starts abruptly wanting to slowly build itself is too undercooked to do it effectively. With a half-baked script and characters, it is rather a disservice to Dev, Kalki, and Himalaya's selfish shrewdness compared to naive, kind-spirited villagers. This affects your ability to fully appreciate Prem Mistry's Life Hill Gayi, which aspires to be an Indian version of Schitt's Creek but has miles to go before it reaches its level. Nonetheless, I have hope because even if Schitt's Creek shadow looms large on this carefree Hindi sitcom, it still stands firm on its own with a serious requirement of some thorough development. 

Life Hill Gayi is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar! 

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