The Vibrant Years

Dev (The Bollywood Affair; The Emma Project) creates a sprawling intergenerational story of love. The three Desai women—glamorous Bindu, her daughter-in-law Aly, and her granddaughter Cullie—are in a bit of a professional and romantic rough patch. When Cullie has to deliver a creative new dating app in record time to save her job, they all commit to a series of increasingly ill-fated dates as product testing. When a mysterious figure from Bindu’s past reappears, it may jeopardize everything she’s worked for. Deepti Gupta’s portrayal of Bindu as a woman of a certain age with plenty of buried regrets has the most emotional resonance. Gupta’s audacious style drives the twisty narrative forward. Soneela Nankani’s Aly is gentler and more cautious but provides a solid background to the wilder actions of her daughter and mother-in-law. Anita Kalathara brings out both Cullie’s deep anxieties and her unspoken longing for romance. The three voices interact well, creating a vibrant tapestry. However, the production is somewhat marred by a prominent proper name that is pronounced two different ways throughout the audio.