Indie Series: Adulting
Over nine million people watched the premiere of Dice Media’s new web series, Adulting, on April 18. 2018. Since then, the series has run for two seasons, each with five twenty-five-minute episodes and millions of views. When diving into what the web series is about, the increasing popularity starts to make sense.
Adulting follows two young adults who, switching between English and Hindi, deal with work, living, and relationships in the bustling city of Mumbai, India. In a very Broad City way, the roommates are best friends despite their conflicting personalities and despite the endless complications they encounter in day to day life, they always put each other first.
Ray (Yashaswini Dayama), the Ilana Wexler of the two, is spirited, energetic and passionate. Nikhat (Aisha Ahmed), the Abbi Abrahms type, is more reserved and hesitant. She has a lot of compassion for Ray, who doesn’t always reciprocate. Any attempts usually end with Ray pushing Nikhat’s arms away to avoid a hug. The two characters balance each other immensely. Nikhat makes Ray coffee in the morning and Ray pushes Nikhat to stay true to herself. From the very beginning, their friendship proves to be something to root for in its core exploration of symbiotic female friendship.
The series begins with the two girls singing along to “Baby” by Justin Bieber after Nikhat had convinced Ray to go to the singer’s concert with her, something only a true friend would do for someone else. It becomes clear from the beginning that the girls struggle with money. They live in the same run-down apart and are constantly looking for a nicer and cheaper place to live. Like every renter of a city apartment, they dread the end of every month when rent is due. The first scene sets up the prominent problems for the duo and teases the humor spliced into every scene.
A flashy theme song and sequence encompass the web series perfectly. Laptops, lipstick, facemasks, and smartphones flash across the screen set off by bright backgrounds and upbeat music, either accompanied by the girls or not. Extremely aesthetic, it embodies the modern, exciting and eccentric take on mundane issues the show discusses. The title itself also encapsulates this feeling with the made-up yet completely accurate slang for dealing with adult issues in the present world.
Ray and Nikhat struggle with all the common problems of city living and being a young adult trying to find your place in the world. In one particularly poignant episode, Nikhat falls victim to fitness trends and becomes obsessed with building her following online. Through this, she loses track of herself and lives only to satisfy 4000 people she’s never met. Ray succeeds in reminding her of her own self-worth without dangerous fad diets and Nikhat returns to posting content for herself only. This episode revealed an extremely relevant problem with the insurgence of social media and the desire to appear a certain way online. Nikhat shows how hard it is “to be comfortable in your own skin” when trolls online are telling you not to be. Luckily, she turns to Ray for comfort, showing another instance of how well the two friends impact each other.
The last episode of season one shows the first instance of Ray and Nikhat fighting beyond playful banter. After four episodes of building up this beautiful friendship, this fight comes as a real blow to the faithful viewer. As the two girls battle separated in different rooms, the episodes cuts to flashbacks of the first time Ray and Nikhat left, an instance any viewer would be curious about. The moments of instant connection between two women at a party seem jarring against yelling and berating. Of course, Ray and Nikhat prove yet again they can face anything life throws at them.
Season two begins rather shockingly and the girls begin to talk as if they have separated and explored different life paths and now reconnect with visions of travels and promises of marriage. Love interests take a back seat in season one of this web series allowing it to be solely on two female friends bettering themselves. It puts the protagonists and their relationship to each other first, which is refreshing when compared to overly romantic versions of a similar story. The viewer learns that the girls were simply pretending as they visited other apartments in the prospects of renting, and we are quickly transported back into their dingy home with water leaking from the ceiling.
Season one serves to establish a strong connection between Ray and Nikhat, so that the prospect of love comes up naturally in season two. Another season allows the series to explore more serious topics. Ray explores online dating and deals with catching feelings for someone who may not feel the same. Nikhat faces what to do when a coworker makes her feel uncomfortable. Like always, the two girls lean on each other through these difficult decisions and remain true to the original message of the show.
Season two ends with that essential message in mind: the importance of friendship above all else. Only ending in September, fans look forward to the prospect of a season three of Adulting. The good news is, there will always be an endless number of new struggles to explore and an endless number of fans to relate to.
Adulting succeeds in its discussion of modern in a lighthearted setting with comic relief and pleasing aesthetics. They give another perspective to the tired narrative of friends navigating life in a big city that is not New York. Viewers who know nothing about India get a small taste into what it is like to be a twenty-something professional there and those in Mumbai or surrounding regions relate to Ray and Nikhat’s ridiculously realistic adventures. They prove to be the perfect pair of leads who understand and love each other unconditionally, which leads to the most impressive part of “Adulting:” it never abandons its original intention- to portray a coming of age story where female friendship is at the forefront.