There’s just something about seeing romance through less rose-tinted glasses that makes a love story feel more well-rounded. A few months ago, director Ruchir Arun swept us off our feet as we entered the world of Chander (Vikrant Massey), Sudha (Vedika Pinto) and Preeti (Mahima Makwana).
Set across two timelines in Bhopal and Mussoorie, Musafir Cafe was a beautiful narration of a complex relationship trajectory. This is not about butterflies in your stomach and rainbows and unicorns; this is about the fluttering feeling when a seemingly perfect love story falls through as ambitions and life’s plans come in the way. What it results in is a tale of healing and self-discovery.
And that’s exactly why Vikrant Massey, in a genre that he seems to ace with ease, had his latest outing in Musafir Cafe compared to Ekta Kapoor’s 2018 series Broken But Beautiful, led by Vikrant Massey and Harleen Sethi.
In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Harleen Sethi, who had her breakout moment with Broken But Beautiful, opens up about the comparisons between Musafir Cafe and Broken But Beautiful. She also shares the compliment she gave Vikrant Massey right after Musafir Cafe’s starry premiere.
Harleen Sethi played the role of a heartbroken and fragile young woman, Sameera, in Broken But Beautiful. In a story about getting over heartbreak and starting anew after her boyfriend breaks up with her, Harleen Sethi delivered a brilliant portrayal of a character who felt relatable to scores of young women. The feeling of being stuck in the past and the fallout of vulnerable relationships resonated deeply with viewers.
Just like Musafir Cafe, Vikrant Massey played the central male role in Broken But Beautiful too. It is because of how effortlessly his performances anchor these slow-burn romantic stories that the Musafir Cafe and Broken But Beautiful comparisons, as well as the Sudha-Chander and Sameera-Veer parallels, feel so on point.
Just like Broken But Beautiful, Vikrant Massey’s Musafir Cafe character Chander also finds love for the second time in Preeti, much like Veer did in the former show after his wife died in a tragic accident.
Harleen Sethi tells NDTV, “When I met Vikrant at the premiere of Musafir Cafe and we watched two episodes there, I told him and Sheetal that you just do these romantic parts so well. Because I feel like he’s this boy next door who’s very relatable and who’s also very sincere. Who has a purity to him with which he loves. And that comes across in Broken as well as in Musafir Cafe. I told him you really shine in love stories and you really should do a lot more of them.”
On Team Sudha Vs Team Preeti
There is a debate that exploded right after the massive success of Musafir Cafe: who would you choose, Team Sudha or Team Preeti?
The context was a looming battle in which Vikrant Massey’s character was left at the first season’s cliffhanger, torn between two very different women, his past and his present.
Sudha (Vedika Pinto) was a fiercely independent divorce lawyer who chose her career over settling down with the love of her life. She left Chander shattered, but her parting gift to him was inspiring him to open the mountain cafe; he had always dreamed of.
Then came Preeti (Mahima Makwana), a secure and optimistic travel blogger who lifted Chander during the lowest phase of his life. She loved him unconditionally and helped him build his dream, Musafir Cafe, fully aware that his heart was stuck in the past.
Hence began the war.
Taking her pick, Harleen Sethi says, “I think the good part about that show is that the three of them were right in their own way. But also wrong in their own way. And when you can’t decide whether this character is doing the right thing or the wrong thing, and you’re with them sometimes and you’re not with them sometimes, and you want to make different choices for them, the audience is invested. That’s the beauty of the writing and that’s the beauty of the way they performed it. So I think that was the joy of that show, because I’ve loved all of them.”
On Reuniting With Vikrant Massey For Broken But Beautiful Fans
It’s been a long journey since Harleen Sethi and Vikrant Massey won over an army of fans with their Broken But Beautiful stint. Till today, the love seems uncontainable. But both actors have grown by leaps and bounds since then.
Harleen Sethi has impressed audiences with a varied range of characters, from Kohrra to, most recently, Shaque: Trust No One. Vikrant Massey went on to win the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma in the 2023 biographical drama 12th Fail.
But can fans still hope for a sweeping romance starring the two?
Harleen Sethi reveals, “Ekta Kapoor has been wanting to, to be honest. You know, when she and I had a chat one time, she was like, ‘People want to see both of you together. We should do something.’ And yeah, I don’t know if it’s going to be Broken But Beautiful or another project. But let’s see. I really hope something happens. And I really hope that because it’ll also be very interesting to work with Vikrant again, because I worked with him and Broken released in November 2018.”
Being a hopeless romantic herself, Harleen Sethi quips that ‘romance will always be number one’.
“Maybe a romantic musical love story,” laughs the actor.
And with that, she leaves Broken But Beautiful and Musafir Cafe fans with a lot to cherish, feel nostalgic about, and manifest for another whirlwind romance with Sameera and Veer.
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