The
plot
goes
pretty
much
as
expected
but
the
Hai
Junoon
team
seem
to
have
sat
with
a
check
list
of
issues
that
affect
today’s
teenagers,
and
ticked
the
ones
used
in
the
show,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.
If
Hai
Junoon
and
other
such
shows
aimed
at
the
youth
are
to
be
believed,
then
all
today’s
youngsters
aspire
to
is
taking
part
in
talent
contests
and
reality
shows
and
becoming
famous!
Never
mind
that
nobody
remembers
who
won
the
last
‘talent’
competition.
In
the
age
of
attention
deficit,
the
show
runs
over
20
episodes
and
tells
the
cliche-ridden
story
of
a
bunch
of
students
who
look
upon
winning
Greatest
Of
All
Time
(GOAT)
competition
as
the
pinnacle
of
achievement.
The
college
where
they
do
everything
but
study
is
called
Anderson’s
and
is
supposedly
a
business
and
media
studies
institute.
But
they
rarely
crack
open
a
book
or
attend
class.
A
boy
comes
all
the
way
from
Jalandhar
to
this
Mumbai
college
so
that
he
can
participate
in
GOATs.
After
a
few
weeks
of
temping
as
a
lecturer,
the
teacher
wanders
into
the
library
asking
where
the
history
section
is
located!
Even
Dharma’s
campus
capers
were
not
in
such
a
weird
La
La
Land.
The
man
the
whole
world
idolises
is
Gagan
Ahuja
(Neil
Nitin
Mukesh),
a
Grammy-winning
musician,
who
plays
the
piano,
sings
in
Hindi
in
Budapest
and
is
invited
by
the
crown
prince
to
perform
for
royalty!
But
against
the
wishes
of
his
carping
agent
Goldie
(Elnaaz
Norouzi),
he
returns
to
his
alma
mater
to
celebrate
Founder’s
Day,
to
meet
his
mentor,
Iyer
(Boman
Irani,
in
a
mercifully
brief
role,
which
he
hams
through).
Iyer
is
the
music
coach
behind
Anderson’s
choir,
called
The
Supersonics,
which
has
been
winning
the
GOAT
trophy
for
15
years
because
he
says
things
like
‘music
is
an
emotion’.
Who
knows
what
he
teaches
and
what
they
learn
because
the
‘choir’
does
covers
of
Bollywood
songs,
some
with
lyrics
altered
a
bit,
and
some
with
odd
words
like
‘Basake
Dreamon
Ki
Duniya‘.
The
GOAT
bar
is
set
very
low.
Subhash
aka
Sebi
(Sumedh
Mudgalkar),
the
slum
boy
from
Koliwada,
who
has
got
into
Anderson’s
on
a
‘cultural
quota’
wants
to
form
a
dance
troupe
and
represent
the
college
at
the
GOATs
contest
but
is
turned
down
by
the
dean
(Sharon
Prabhakar
credited
as
Padamsee).
He
wants
dance
to
be
supported
by
the
college,
like
music
is,
though
it
is
debatable
whether
the
energetic
jumping
about
and
twerking
that
they
do
can
be
classified
as
the
kind
of
dance
that
wins
trophies
for
excellence.
The
college
may
or
may
not
offer
an
education
but
they
have
an
endless
list
of
events
at
which
the
students
can
perform.
Sebi
decides
to
put
together
his
own
team,
his
buddy
Rohit
(Kunwar
Amar)
offers
them
a
rehearsal
space
and
his
services
as
a
choreographer.
They
call
themselves
The
Misfits
and
pit
themselves
against
the
elite
Supersonics.
On
his
side
is
his
rich
girlfriend
Shona
(Santana
Roach),
a
visually-challenged
dancer,
Tuhin
(Sanchit
Kundra),
his
best
friend
Tahira
(Devangshi
Sen),
an
out-of-the-closet
gay
Kushal
(Priyank
Sharma),
a
poor
girl
pretending
to
be
trendy
Moonmoon
(Elisha
Mayor)
and
the
quiet
supporter
Jazz
(Mohan
Pandey).
When
they
need
a
staff
member
to
support
them,
they
zero
in
on
Pearl
(Jacqueline
Fernandez),
whose
anger
management
issues
led
her
from
dancing
atop
a
bar
counter
in
Goa
to
teaching
history
in
the
college
because
her
aunt
is
the
dean!
Later,
she
is
sent
to
a
healing
centre,
has
a
nervous
breakdown
and
is
told
by
a
guru
type
to
hammer
nails
in
the
wall
and
then
pull
them
out,
as
part
of
her
therapy.
(As
funny
as
her
non-Goan
accent
and
inappropriate
dance
moves.)
Gagan
takes
over
the
coaching
of
the
Supersonics
himself,
with
some
help
from
Iyer’s
daughter
Charu
(Anusha
Mani),
and
cracks
the
whip
on
the
singers
that
include
Bikram
(Siddarth
Nigam),
who
impressed
him
by
singing
a
bhajan
on
a
guitar,
the
prima
donna
influencer,
Swati
(Yukti
Thareja),
Adah
(Saachi
Bindra),
the
daughter
of
a
popular
music
composer,
an
in-the-closet
gay
SRK
(Aryan
Katoch)
and
a
rebellious
type
(Arnav
Maggo).
He
also
has
a
brief
romance
with
a
divorcee
(Shazahn
Padamsee)
with
a
small
daughter.
He
ruins
it
all
by
his
destructive
competitive
edge
that
intimidates
his
students
and
affects
his
own
career.
The
plot
goes
pretty
much
as
expected
but
Director
Abhishek
Sharma,
Creator
Aditya
Bhat
and
their
team
of
writers
sat
with
a
check
list
of
issues
that
affect
today’s
teenagers,
and
ticked
the
ones
used
in
the
show.
Underage
drinking
and
sex
are
not
even
considered
worth
bothering
about.
So,
sure,
there’s
the
LGBT
matter,
depression
and
mental
health,
body
shaming,
risky
sexual
behaviour,
student
politics
and
so
on.
Solution?
Not
professional
counselling,
but
a
confessional
podcast
by
Kushal.
To
its
credit,
Hai
Junoon
also
talks
about
ethics,
principles
and
fairness.
When
some
of
them
do
something
wrong
to
get
ahead,
the
others
vehemently
oppose
it.
The
young
cast
look
enthusiastic
and
eager
to
please.
They
parade
around
in
the
latest
fashion,
though
expressing
genuine
emotion
is
still
beyond
their
skill
set.
As
far
as
performances
go,
Sumedh
Mudgalkar
is
head
and
shoulders
above
the
rest.
Among
the
grown-ups,
Neil
Nitin
Mukesh
does
the
best
he
can
with
the
role
given
to
him.
With
its
music
made
for
dancing,
Hai
Junoon
is
aimed
at
a
Gen
Z
audience.
If
this
mindless
fluff
is
what
works
with
them,
so
be
it;
their
parents
can
worry.
After
they
have
recovered
from
hitting
the
wall
of
deja
vu
head
on!
Hai
Junoon
streams
on
JioHotstar.
Hai
Junoon Review
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