Hello Bacchon first impressions: Vineet Kumar Singh’s show fails to leave a strong impact

TVF, the banner behind Kota Factory and Aspirants, is synonymous with inspiring and relatable tales that touch upon the realities of our times. Hello Bacchon, its latest outing is yet another attempt at coming up with something similar. It, however, misses the bullseye by quite a distance. 

Hello Bacchon is inspired by the life of educator Alakh Pandey (Vineet Kumar Singh) and centres on his desire to make education accessible to all. The first episode starts off on a slow note as the makers take their time to introduce the audience to the main characters. This dilutes the show’s impact right off the bat. 

The pacing remains an issue throughout. In fact, pretty much nothing about the first episode works. The story plays out through two connected tracks. The first one focuses on two underprivileged kids who aspire to become doctors. The second one centres on Alakh and his struggles. On paper, this approach had the potential to work as the makers draw parallels between the two tracks.

Vineet Kumar Singh in Hello Bachhon. | Credit: YouTube/Netflix

However, the narrative falls flat as the action feels sluggish. Moreover, the makers try too hard to convey an inspiring message with every scene. As such, even the inherently inspiring scenes feel forced. This is particularly true for a sequence in which Alakh delivers a speech about education being a right and not a privilege. To make matters worse, even the scene where the unprivileged kids demolish a wall feels too predictable. 

Ideally, the makers should have taken a leaf out of Soorrai Pottru director Sudha Kongra’s playbook and presented Hello Bacchon as a straightforward underdog saga with organic feel-good moments. Sadly, this doesn’t happen. They adopt the Aspirants template by focusing on the bond between the characters in their quest for a common goal. The approach worked in their previous shows but backfires in this case. 

Coming to the performances, Vineet Kumar Singh puts his best foot forward, but is burdened with a caricature of a character. The same applies to Vikram Kochhar of Aashram fame. The supporting cast serves its purpose. 

The editing could have been tighter as the show tends to drag, especially in the opening 10 minutes. The other technical aspects are upto the mark.

To sum up. Hello Bacchon has its heart in the right place, but fails to make a good first impression. The show has a lot of catching up to do in the remaining episodes.