A man with a baby in his arms is strangely sexy. I’ve read that they get more swipes on dating apps, irrespective of whose baby it is. This aesthetic existed long before older and/or burlier men entered the “Daddy” tribe. The next best thing, I guess, is the visual of a man who cooks. These are territories our fathers and grandfathers rarely ventured into, and when men step into anything non-traditional, the attractiveness meter (sometimes) fires up.
In Single Papa, Kunal Kemmu’s Gaurav Gehlot is anything but a hot daddy. A hopeless manchild, he has just gone through a divorce because his wife did not want a child, while he desperately wants one, like an overpriced toy at Hamleys that your parents simply refuse to buy.
Across six episodes that pack in a lot — single parenting, adoption, conservative families, emotional growth, and general life reprogramming — Single Papa often feels like a series equivalent of parenting itself, feeding, cleaning, calming, and pampering this killer idea from every possible angle. The result is slightly uneven, yes, but genuinely fun.
The show is pure magic whenever Kemmu is either showing off or struggling with his daddy-ing skills. His interactions with Mrs Nehta (Neha Dhupia), bestie Pawan (Suhail Nayyar), ex-wife (Isha Talwar), and a male nanny (Dayanand Shetty) are solid and packed with crackling lines that everyone lands beautifully. Kemmu is such an effortlessly watchable actor that, in his presence, everyone else levels up. Even throwaway moments end up sticking.
Single Papa falters whenever it wanders into side quests. Yes, it’s a series. Yes, we technically have time. But also, no. I was not interested in Gaurav’s mother’s secret meetings with a man. It never quite makes sense. Gaurav’s sister’s never-ending wedding woes (Prajakta Koli) feel like they belong to a different show altogether. And why would Koli play the same role in so many projects? These are dull characterisations, though never dull performances. I did not entirely mind Gaurav becoming an independent working man, but that chapter, beyond its banger opening scene, does not go anywhere.
In short, Single Papa didn’t need so many tracks, or at least not in the way they barge into the story.
The series, armed with good humour, works best when it sticks to Gaurav’s bumpy yet joyful journey to papa-hood. Honestly, if I had the time, I would happily snip Single Papa myself and turn it into a long, rollicking film about just one thing: a divorced man-child who wants to be a father, not somebody’s husband, partner, or whatever constitutes the Indian idea of “ghar grahasthi”.
As a breezy year-end watch, I loved Single Papa’s childlike zest for breaking stereotypes. The conflicts are mostly binary, and even the apparent villain (Dhupia) is irrational more often than not. All that aside, the series is cute. Kemmu and his family are cute. Amul, the baby, is insanely cute. The concept and its light treatment alone might sell fatherhood (or “bapta,” in Gaurav’s words) even to the hardest macho men — not for Tinder alone, but for the real deal.
And really, what more do you want during the holiday season?
You say Dhurandhar, and we’re done, alright?
SERIES CREDITS:
Creators: Ishita Moitra, Neeraj Udhwani
Directors: Shashank Khaitan, Hitesh Kewalya, Neeraj Udhwani
Single Papa is now streaming on Netflix.