Indian OTT is crowded with crime sagas, revenge stories, and thrillers that try very hard to look stylish. Quiet family stories are much harder to find. That is why Matargashti, a new Hindi series on Netflix, feels like a pleasant surprise. It is short, gentle, and built around one simple question: how does a father talk to his daughter when he never learned how?
The series is directed by Siddharth Chavan and stars Adrija Sinha, Rajesh Kumar and Saumya Uniyal. It has five episodes of about 20 minutes each, and our rating is 3 out of 5.
Dhara is a bright, bookish girl who lost her mother when she was young. Her father was grieving and did not know how to raise a growing daughter, so he sent her to live with her Nani. Dhara grew up feeling he had pushed her away, and she is still angry about it.
Years later, he brings her back home, and the two try to live as a family. It is awkward because they barely know each other. At college, Dhara also faces teasing from classmates because she does not have a boyfriend. Along with her best friend Charu, she starts hunting for one. When her father finds out, he spends most of the series following, blocking, and quietly sabotaging her plans.
The best thing about Matargashti is its tone. Everything feels real, from the Lucknow household to the college crowd and the conversations. Even the humour comes from simple embarrassment, like a worried dad spying on two girls rushing through college fests and dating apps.
The writing also treats Dhara as a teenager first, not as a trendy rebel. She is curious, pressured by friends, and hurt by her father. The father is not painted as a villain either. He is a man who depended on his wife to handle closeness, and now he has no idea how to do it alone. His strictness is the only parenting method he knows.
According to the review we read, the show was written entirely by women, and it handles topics like teenage curiosity and dating apps without judgment. A breezy soundtrack keeps things light.
Adrija Sinha plays Dhara without trying to make her likeable, and much of her acting happens on her face. Rajesh Kumar is a gentle, nervous dad, and you laugh at him one moment and feel for him the next. Saumya Uniyal plays Charu, the kind of best friend who feels like the sister Dhara never had.
The show sometimes picks light comedy over the hard, honest conversations that father and daughter really need. Some of the spying scenes start to feel repetitive. The teenage romance track also falls into familiar, cringy territory.
Because the runtime is so short, a few side stories are rushed or left unexplored. That includes the woman who is trying to win over Dhara’s father.
If you enjoy shows about complicated families and the people we love, there are other recent reviews worth your time. Our review of Nobody Wants This Season 3 looks at how Noah and Joanne settle down while Morgan and Sasha steal the spotlight.
And if you are curious about a remake on another platform, you might like our take on Varam, which asks whether JioHotstar’s Telugu remake is worth your time.
Matargashti does not try to start a big debate. It simply shows how hard it can be for a father and daughter to talk, and it does that with warmth and humour. The review we read compares its theme to the famous line from Jab We Met about girls being like an open treasure chest, which this show gently pushes back against. It is a quick, easy watch with a good heart.