Manav Kaul’s latest release, Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper, has finally been released on Netflix. The trailer of this Puneet Krishna show promised chaos, fun and action. Frankly, the series delivers on the chaos, it is mostly fun, and the action is as good as a series about middle-class people who do a 9-5 can be. Unfortunately, though, Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper tends to lag a bit, the comedy starts feeling unfunny, and the fun parts quickly get tiresome. Despite that, the series soldiers on due to the remarkable performances. Here’s our full review of Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper.

From balance sheets to rocking the sheets

Tribhuvan Mishra (Manav Kaul) is a middle-class man working a government job with a cake-making wife and two kids. While it’s an open secret that others at his workplace take bribes, Tribhuvan is an honest man. His honesty does cause a little trouble, especially with his in-laws and even parents, as Tribhuvan’s family is often in a hand-to-mouth situation. Despite the challenges, Tribhuvan leads a happy life with his wife Ashoklata (Naina Sareen) and their two kids.

In an unfortunate banking scam, Tribhuvan loses his hard-earned savings, leading to financial troubles. In a bid to stay afloat, he turns to sex work to pay the bills. He is a generous lover, as attested by his wife and later his clients, which makes him the man to turn to. Soon, he builds a solid clientele, due to which he can pay off his loans and treat his family.

One of Tribhuvan’s repeat clients is Bindi (Tillotama Shome), the wife of the contract kidnapper and halwaai, Raja Bhaiya (Shubhrajyoti Barat). Unhappy in her marriage, Bindi is only looking for someone willing to listen to her, spend time with her, and please her. To make herself attractive to her husband, she tries to dress up, switch up her hairstyle, and go on date nights with him, but he just mocks her. Seeking love and companionship, Bindi reaches out to Tribhuvan for his services. 

Tribhuvan’s services don’t just include sex. He is willing to be whatever his clients want — someone to lie around with, seek solace in, someone who would dance to old Bollywood songs or someone to cuddle with. It also helps that he knows how to rock the women’s worlds in the bedroom.

Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper does not try to stigmatise or even trivialise sex. It focuses on female desires and pleasures and how it is a crucial part of life. Women enjoy sex, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Tribhuvan never shames his clients for their desires and attempts to make the experience enjoyable and pleasurable for them, even if it means going out of his comfort zone. 

The actors shine but the plot doesn’t

Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper deserves applause for normalising pleasure. It doesn’t go out of the way to treat sex as a grand, once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. It treats it as a part of everyday life, as normal as walking into a medical store. While that is done remarkably well, the series has a lot of different plots running. There’s Raja Bhaiya’s crime ring and his war with a rival gang, there’s Tribhuvan’s brother-in-law, Shambhu (Sumit Gulati), an insurance salesman, and his seemingly demure wife Shobha (Shweta Basu Prasad), who are trying their own underhanded ways of fulfilling their dreams. All of this is in just three episodes. 

While the actors do a fine job, the plot is all over the place. The series could have easily been six episodes instead of the nine. There are attempts at humour which don’t always hit the mark. Manav Kaul, Tillotama Shome and Shubhrajyoti Barat deliver amazing performances, and the show is worthwhile primarily for them.

This review of Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper is based on the first three episodes of the show.

Can you watch it with your family?: Sex is the name of the game in this show, lovelies. And they don’t pull back on slinging desi gaalis either. I’d suggest you skip watching it with the fam.

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