| Director | Aditi Roy |
| Screenwriter | Samragnee Bandyopadhyay |
| Cast | Priyanka Sarkar, Anujoy Chattopadhyay, Indrasish Roy, Saoli Chattopadhyay, Kheyali Dastidar, Sneha Chatterjee, Koneenica Banerjee |
| Episodes | 6 |
| Genre | Social Drama |
– No Spoilers –
Hoichoi’s social dramas always follow a set pattern – woman in seemingly happy marriage, but surprise woman is not actually happy, woman decides to get out of said unhappy marriage, woman fights in court, we wait for the next season to find out what happens in court. Every drama that the platform releases is similar and follows the same set of circumstances but with different topics. This time, it’s verbal abuse in a marriage. Jaya, a pushover but kind-hearted woman, gets tired of being put down by her abusive husband every day and decides to fight for her self-respect. That’s the story this season that leaves us dissatisfied because it ends on another cliffhanger, as per usual.
Director Aditi Roy and writer Samragnee Bandyopadhyay are a woman-led team who know exactly how to catch viewers’ attention. Thus, you won’t find any subtlety in this series and things are mostly black and white. Anujoy Chattopadhyay’s Partha is just a bad person – no nuance, no grey area. Just bad. He abuses Jaya in front of people, in public, in private – you name it, he does it. He also isn’t a believer that women should have a voice either and looks down on them as well, constantly talking over women (except for his daughter and mother) and insulting them. Not as overtly as he does with his wife but it’s there.
On the other hand, Jaya is meek and shy, which she also mentions multiple times throughout the runtime. She’s mostly a pushover, so much so that her own daughter behaves badly with her, as well as her own family. I didn’t understand the apathy that her mother and her sister felt against her because it felt extremely over-the-top and came out of left field. They call her “nyaka” a lot, which, sure, maybe. But to taunt your own sister when you see her going through something distressing screams emotional immaturity.
Either way, it’s a horrible situation in the making. And boy, oh boy, does Lojja make sure to let you know how bad Jaya has it at her husband’s hands. The problem isn’t the situation or that millions of women are at this exact juncture and are sadly facing this reality even in the 21st century. The problem is the fact that the creators of this series made a series that is extremely in-your-face and works hard to make a spectacle of Jaya’s woes, so much so that it feels gimmicky.
The behaviour that almost everyone in Jaya’s life displays is a cartoonish level of evil that feels forced after a while. There’s a scene that just pushes the limits so much that you incredulously look at the screen wondering why there is no finesse. And although your heart breaks for Jaya, it’s just not a memorable experience because first, there is no end and second, we are not given any time to mull anything over because things escalate at break-neck speeds. Now, the latter would’ve made sense had the story come to fruition and Jaya got some sort of justice. However, as with every other Hoichoi show out there, it ends in court and gives us nothing to hold on to.
I realise at this point that we henceforth will never get a proper ending from any series on Hoichoi, regardless of the genre. It’s dissatisfying and annoying and does nothing to make us root for anyone or anything because we know we aren’t getting what we want this time. But maybe the next season, who knows? There’s also the fact that the social dramas on Hoichoi are slowly starting to mush together into one giant blob. I can’t even begin to rant about the mess of a second season that was Sampurna.
Priyanka Sarkar and Anujoy Chattopadhyay play Jaya and Partha well. You hate Chattopadhyay’s Partha with a burning passion and he’s written in a way that there is no other feeling for him. His entire personality is sexist as*hole – there is nothing else to be said here and Chattopadhyay plays him well. On the other hand, Sarkar plays Jaya and plays the meek pushover great. You do root for her and feel for her plight as Sarkar feels vulnerable and is a warm person with a lot of light to give.
Lojja Review: Final Thoughts
Personally, there needs to be nuance in social dramas because real life is hardly ever black and white. Sure, there are horrible people out there but if the entire point of a show is to teach the masses right and wrong, then it leaves much to be desired in many ways. Either way, Jaya and the handful of people in her corner are nice and break down Partha’s toxic and grating character well. But, it leaves much to be desired, especially with a sad ending that doesn’t answer any questions that it starts off with.
Lojja is streaming on Hoichoi.
Also Read: Lootere Review (2024): Hansal Mehta’s Hotstar Series is a Thrilling But Familiar Watch
