Miss Perfect review: Lavanya Tripathi and Abhijeet Duddala’s rom-com series lacks novelty

Miss Perfect review: Lavanya Tripathi and Abhijeet Duddala’s web series could’ve been a film. It starts out well. But fizzles out soon after.

Miss Perfect review: Director Vishwak Kanderao’s Miss Perfect streaming on Disney+ Hotstar – starring Lavanya Tripathi, Abhijeet Duddala and Abhignya Vuthaluru – is a rom-com that is breezy, yet cliche. After watching eight episodes that are 20-26 minutes long each, it makes one wonder if the story couldn’t have been condensed into a film. (Also Read: Miss Perfect teaser: Lavanya Tripathi plays a woman obsessed with perfection in this rom-com)

Abhijeet, Lavanya and Abhignya in Miss Perfect

Miss Perfect's plot

Lavanya Rao (Lavanya) has an obsession with cleaning. Despite what people around her think, she doesn’t think it’s a problem, because it’s her ‘passion’ to have clean surroundings. She’d rather fish trash out of the pool or clean out an office than focus on what’s unfolding. She also doesn’t mind telling white lies. So in the thick of the Covid-19 lockdown, when her domestic worker Jyothi (Abhignya) asks her to inform Rohit (Abhijeet), who also lives in her building, that she can’t come into work, it leads to a comedy of errors.

Miss Perfect is pretty predictable

When you watch the promotional material of Miss Perfect, it plays out like the story of a woman with borderline OCD and how this obsession lands her in unpredictable situations. Unfortunately, Vishwak seems to focus more on the lying part of her personality, which makes the outcome pretty predictable. There is a lot in this story that could’ve added to the humour, but the director doesn’t shine at that. Instead, we get a watchable tale that lacks novelty and is neither high on romance, nor comedy.

The characters

Despite being called Miss Perfect, the series has quite a few sidetracks. Jyothi’s brother (Harsh Roshan) is a budding influencer who is always armed with his camera. Jyothi herself is a budding singer, with big dreams in her eyes but has debts to pay. Lavanya’s father Gokul (Harshavardhan) and the building secretary Rajalakshmi (Jhansi) might have a secret to hide. The security guard (Mahesh Vitta) is just there for the chaos. Not all of these work, but some of these tracks allow the series to shine.

The performances

Despite the ludicrous plot, Lavanya manages to make her character vulnerable and relatable in its flaws. It’s also charming how she perseveres even as her loved ones constantly dismiss her quirks. Lavanya and Abhijeet both play their characters well even if you wonder if their love story should’ve gotten more time. But the shining star of this series has to be Abhignya, who’s seamless as Jyothi. Initially, you wonder why the series take a detour to tell her story and while you can predict how her story ends, Abhignya manages to make it work. The rest of the cast do a decent job of what they’re given.

A safe offering

Given how filled with expletives most recent Telugu web series are, Miss Perfect takes you back to the era of Okka Chinna Family Story and even Muddapappu Avakai - essentially something you can binge-watch with your family. Sure, Vishwak should’ve utilised his lead character’s quirks better and generated more laughs but it’s still worth a watch.

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