Struggles of a Common Man. Review on Office Office

Laughter is good for health and it provides a welcome relief from the tiresome life of everyday. SAB TVs promotional line few years ago of "Only Smiles, No Tears" told a lot about their channel as they never had any saas-bahu type rona-dhona serials. Most of the serials shown on SAB TV are comedy serials like Office Office, Yes Boss, Shrimaan Shrimati, etc. Out of the serials shown on SAB TV, Office Office has been the most popular serial and it has also won many awards.

Office Office, draws its inspiration from RK Laxmans cartoon character of "Common Man" and it talks about the struggles of a common man in facing todays Government office workers. Pankaj Joshi, plays the role of Mussaddi Lal, that of a common man who wants to get his work done in a government office. Office Office, shows life in a goverment office where every worker just has to say "uske paas jao and uske paas jao" meaning "go to that person". The other person, also says the same thing and in the end, the common man does not have his work done and has to start his running all over again and it continues on almost everyday.

The roles of the Government office workers like that of Railway officers, Traffic Police, etc. are played by characters named Bhatia ji, Patel ji, Pandey ji, Shukla ji and Usha ji. Each of these characters have their own style. Batia ji, always asks for chai and samosa whenever Mussaddi Lal comes to him to get his work done. Bhatia ji, just wants an excuse to eat and wants everyone to invite him to their Weddings and Parties. Patel ji, creates binary-trees with his "2 baate ho jayengi". His "Yeh karlo nahi to 2 baate ho jayengi" reminds that of binary-trees and it usually satisfies Mussaddi Lal and Patel ji, succeeds in getting some money from Mussaddi lal. Usha ji, uses Mussaddi Lal to do her household jobs like making achaar. Pandey ji, works in a different way from others and even says to Mussaddi lal that his work has been done, but he will have to pay some money. Shukla ji, is a typical UP-type character speaking in a UP-ish tone and eating paan.

Mussaddi Lal, has to run from 1 person to another and visit these 5 people almost everyday to get his work done. Office Office, succeeds in showing the common mans struggles with Goverment offices and the conditions of a Goverment office in a very funny way that goes ahead and makes people laugh. In the end, although Mussaddi Lal usually has his work done, but still a new and sometimes even bigger problem emerges for Mussaddi Lal and he is told to start his running all over again. As for performances, Pankaj Joshi, delivers an excellent performance as the lead character of Mussaddi Lal in the serial and he has shown that he has been an under-rated actor all these years.

Office Office, provides a relief from the boring saas-bahu and rona-dhona serials and spreads some laughter around. It can still be watched on 8pm IST on SAB TV during Monday-Thursday.