Critical response The show received mixed reactions from critics. Robyn Bahr of
The Hollywood Reporter stated "The potency of Seth's story remains intact; Davies and Nair's stylization nearly clobbers it." Judy Berman, chief editor of
Time magazine, wrote: "
A Suitable Boy transcends escapism, it’s because she brought the substance along with the sparkle." Jude Dry of
IndieWire wrote: "A Suitable Boy lacks the comedic touch of
Downton Abbey or the critical lens of
The Crown, languishing somewhere in the middle and coming up short. Without a defined perspective on the class and religious conflict it uses as a narrative backdrop, A Suitable Boy feels like frothy fluff — yummy in the moment but easily forgettable and won’t fill you up." Chitra Ramaswamy of
The Guardian stated: "It is beautiful, expensive and groundbreaking in its casting, yet Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Vikram Seth’s tome still feels uncomfortably old-school".
The Independent magazine, chief reporter Ed Cumming wrote "This adaptation of Vikram Seth’s epic, 1300-page novel seemed promising, but we’ll have to keep waiting for an Indian family saga of rugged verisimilitude." Writing for
The Times, Carol Midgley stated "a zesty new drama with a slight hint of cheese". Writing for
Hindustan Times, Rohan Nahhar wrote: "An astonishing cast, led by Ishaan Khatter, Tabu and Tanya Maniktala, struggles to make the most of minimal screentime and a mediocre script in Mira Nair’s unsuitable adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel."
Anupama Chopra, editor-in-chief of
Film Companion wrote: "Mira Nair delivers a visually sumptuous saga which, despite the sizable bumps, is ultimately satisfying." Pankhuri Shukla of
The Quint, praised the cast members for the acting sequences, but opined that "the English dialogues seem to be a deterrent to the actors' performances, with the occasional Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi dialogues sprinkled here and there are the only saving grace." Mimi Anthikkad Chibber of
The Hindu wrote: "There is no dearth of stereotypes in this adaptation of Vikram Seth’s 1993 novel, yet the show moves too briskly and looks too lovely to ignore". Devansh Sharma of
Firstpost wrote "Seth's book was never celebrated for its plot anyway. Its primary claim to excellence was the language. Neatly and inventively crafted, Seth's words were both transportive and evocative. The translation to visuals achieves only half the job."
India Today's Nairita Mukherjee wrote: "A Suitable Boy Review: In 2020, the world is capable of accepting and appreciating non-English content, as long as it has the power of good writing. That's where Mira Nair's adaptation of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy stumbles." In a positive note,
Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV wrote "
A Suitable Boy, does not miss a beat in funnelling a massive novel into an intricately stitched, necessarily pared filmed version. This panoramic portrait of a newly-free nation and fast-changing social segments within it has an easy-flowing quality that belies the sheer magnitude of the exercise." Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express wrote "The book has enough time and more to get into long, languid, eloquent descriptions of locations, characters, situations; in Mira Nair and Andrew Davies hands, the chop-chop eventually overcomes the choppiness, and becomes its own creature."
Controversies The series attracted controversy when
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister
Narottam Mishra objected to a scene in which the characters Lata (
Tanya Maniktala) and Kabir (Danesh Razvi) are shown kissing each other within the premises of a temple. His statement came after a
Bharatiya Janata Party Youth leader, Gaurav Tiwari, filed a complaint against the makers on 22 November 2020 for "allegedly hurting religious sentiments". Tiwari also appealed to people at large on
Twitter to uninstall the platform
Netflix (which bought its global streaming rights) from their phones, as
#BoycottNetflix began to trend on Twitter. It was further criticised for portraying
Love Jihad. On 25 November, an
FIR was filed against two executives from Netflix India, in response to the complaint registered by Tiwari. ==See also==