Permanent Roommates is an Indian romantic comedyweb series produced by The Viral Fever Media Labs.[1][2] It was created by Arunabh Kumar, the founder of TVF, who also worked as the executive producer of the series. Written and developed by Biswapati Sarkar along with Sameer Saxena, the series is directed by Saxena and Deepak Kumar Mishra. Starring Sumeet Vyas and Nidhi Singh, this series revolves around a young couple, Tanya and Mikesh, who after being in a long distance relationship for three years, face the prospect of marriage.[3]
Permanent Roommates marked India's first web series to be released. The first season consisting of five episodes, had its premiere on YouTube on 31 October 2014 and ended on 12 December 2014.[4] After the reception of the first season, the makers renewed a second season for the series, which eventually was broadcast on The Viral Fever's premium online video streaming medium, TVF Play, on 14 February 2016 and ended on 24 June 2016.[5] A third season was released on 18 October 2023, on Amazon Prime Video.
Permanent Roommates follows the story of commitment-wary Tanya, and Mikesh, her overeager long-distance boyfriend who returns to India from the US to surprise Tanya and to ask her to marry him. Acting upon the advice of her roommate and her own reluctance to marry someone who barely knows her, Tanya refuses, but gives in to Mikesh's persistence. The two eventually strike a compromise, opting to move in together first. The subsequent events- a fallout, followed by a conciliation, and Tanya's premarital pregnancy end in the two of them planning their wedding, with unforeseen consequences.[6]
Mikesh returns to India from United States of America and puts across a marriage proposal towards Tanya, with whom he's had a long distance relationship for the last three years, but Tanya is still in two minds about accepting or rejecting his proposal.
Mikesh wants to marry Tanya, but Tanya believes he is rushing things. So both of them try to reach a conclusion by having a discussion with Brijmohan, Tanya's father.
Ritu and Tanya's landlord doesn't approve of boys visiting and staying in their flat, so Laxman takes Mikesh to a new place to live, a house which is already being shared by eight men.
While house-hunting Mikesh and Tanya come across Pathik who turns out to be Mikesh's childhood friend. Pathik is marrying his girlfriend Rashmi but both of them are developing cold feet as the marriage approaches. Mikesh and Tanya try to resolve the conflict between Pathik and Rashmi but end up creating a conflict in their mind about the future of their own relationship.
Tanya comes to the conclusion that since Mikesh and herself are never on the same page, it's better to move away from each other than leading a life filled with arguments and suffering.
Tanya is apprehensive about meeting the parents of Mikesh, but before that happens Tanya receives a surprising news that ends up adding to her anxiousness.
Mikesh's parents want Tanya and Mikesh to marry as early as possible but Mikesh refuses to do so. What follows is a night of confusion and confessions where more secrets are revealed.
After returning from a business trip Tanya learns that Mikesh is planning an extremely expensive wedding for the two of them. Tanya refuses to wed in such a lavish manner but finds herself dumbstruck when she comes across Seema Khatri, the event manager of the wedding ceremony. While Tanya and Mikesh attempt to stop the marriage that has turned into a huge event, their parents end up creating a new problem for them to deal with.
While returning home from the hospital Tanya and Mikesh end up losing their bag which contained the first ultrasound image of their unborn child. Tanya, Mikesh and their driver Purshottam narrate the entire incident from their own point of view to Dr. Mudhit, so as to solve the mystery of the missing bag.
When the entire family is busy preparing for the wedding, Mikesh and Tanya get a first hand experience of parenting as Purshottam leaves his younger brothers, who are twins, at their house for a few hours.
In order to come out of the sad phase that has engulfed their life, Mikesh and Tanya decide to revisit their happy memories and search for answers about their future.
When all of Mikesh's antics on their anniversary fail to cheer her up, Tanya decides on a life-changing career move. Mikesh, in his usual style, learns how to be "The Man".
When Tanya realises Mikesh is going to be of no help in their plans to move abroad, she takes matters into her own hands, leaving Mikesh very little to do.
Lata leaves telling Mikesh and Tanya to confront what ails them. Mikesh rights all his wrongs till there is one last wrong to be righted.
Soundtrack
The series' original soundtrack album is composed, written and performed by Vaibhav Bundhoo, which marked their first collaboration with The Viral Fever.[22] Followed by the success of the Permanent Roommates, Bundhoo who worked as the composer and cinematographer of the series was also hired for other projects of TVF,[23] as well as the second season of the series.[24]
Permanent Roommates has been well received by the audience. The first episode, which premiered on 31 October 2014, has more than 4.5 million views.[4] The series hosted on TVF's official YouTube channel, has since gathered over 1 million views for each episode.[citation needed] After the reception of the series, the makers unveiled the second season of the series through TVF's newly launched online platform TVF Play on 14 February 2016, which ended on 24 June 2016.[25] On 6 October 2017, the series' dubbed Tamil version was released through TVF Machi, the media's first regional platform, with the first season being released.[26]
Spin-offs
Permanent Roommates: He Said, She Said
In March 2020, a 20-episode audio-book series titled Permanent Roommates: He Said, She Said was made available on Audible Suno (Indian version of the Amazon-owned Audible), with the original lead cast Sumeet Vyas and Nidhi Singh returning to voice their characters.[27] The episodes bridge the story between the two seasons focusing on the lives of Mikesh and Tanya when they moved in together.[27]
A second season was released on Audible (moved from Audible Suno) in October 2021,[28] followed by a third season in February 2022.[29]
Tankesh Diaries
In March 2023, a 3-episode mini-series titled Tankesh Diaries was released on TVF's YouTube channel,[30] with Sumeet Vyas and Nidhi Singh reprising their roles as Mikesh and Tanya from the original series.[citation needed]
Remake
In 2019, The Viral Fever (TVF) announced their foray into Telugu market, with the remake of this series in the language.[31] It further announced that they will produce the remake along with Aha by naming the web series as CommitMental.[32][33] Popular YouTuber Udhbav Raghunanda and film actress Punarnavi Bhupalam[34] were taken as lead actors and the series is directed by Sadineni Pavan. It was released on 13 November 2020.[35]
