The premise of the Prime Video series Do You Wanna Partner promises fizz: two women dare to launch a craft beer start-up in Delhi, taking on the boys’ club of the alcobev industry.

Shikha (Tamannaah Bhatia) and Anahita (Diana Penty) are best friends who set out to build their own brewery. Shikha is fuelled by the unrealised dream of her late father, Sunjoy (Indraneil Sengupta). Sunjoy’s beer brand Gondogol was snatched away by businessman Vikram Walia (Neeraj Kabi, sporting a Cruella-inspired hairdo to suggest a villainous streak).

Anahita is the pragmatic financial anchor, Shikha’s often lonely partner-in-entrepreneurship who is overcoming her own issues with being taken seriously at work.

Created by Mithun Gangopadhyay and Nishant Nayak and written by Nandini Gupta, Aarsh Vora, Nidhi Sethia and Gangopadhyay, the show also credits Pratik Kansara as a “beer consultant”. The idea of women championing an alcobev brand, staking their claim in a male-dominated business and challenging gender stereotypes could have been fun if the story and direction by Archit Kumar and Collin D’Cunha had been more imaginative.

The Hindi series rewinds to 1999 Calcutta to anchor Shikha’s motivations, but the flashbacks barely register as an emotional bedrock. We know little about Anahita’s life, besides the fact that she lives with her brother (Sufi Motiwala).

Briefly, we see the steps towards building a craft beer brand. Shikha and Anahita hire Bobby Bagga (Nakuul Mehta in an unrewarding role) as their brewmaster and then travel to Kolkata to hire an actor, which is rather random especially for two cash-strapped women who could surely have found somebody in Delhi itself.

Jaaved Jaaferi plays Dylan Thomas, an ageing actor with memory issues who poses as a sophisticated and successful businessman, sometimes forgetful, sometimes flirty and mostly avuncular. Jaaferi is given one of the more well-rounded characters, which he thoughtfully plays. Shweta Tiwari clearly enjoyed playing Laila, a notorious gangster’s henchwoman, though the role barely goes beyond the page.

The premise could easily have worked in some wit and edge. Instead, it’s flat – eight episodes of half-hearted comedy, formulaic drama and characters that fail to pop. This in spite of a comedy consultant on the team. The beer itself rarely looks appetising.

At its best, Do You Wanna Partner flirts with an interesting idea: investors don’t support businesses founded by women. This glimpse into systemic bias could have been the show’s true emotional and narrative anchor. Instead, it’s treated as a passing gag.

The supporting actors too struggle to find their footing. Rannvijay Singh Singha plays Shikha’s endlessly supportive boyfriend Kabir, stuck in the role of patient cheerleader. Ayesha Raza as Shikha’s mother barely registers. Kabi’s Vikram Walia should be the sharp-tongued villain, but his scenes are so overplayed they become parody.

Diana Penty and Tamannaah Bhatia try valiantly to give Shikha and Anahita chemistry, but the writing leaves them with monotone characters. Instead of sharp business insights or genuine emotional resonance, viewers are left with basic business mantras. Get your priorities straight. Be careful who you partner with. Sometimes a mess teaches you something new.

The pace and friction finally heat up in episode seven. Shikha and Anahita accelerate at different speeds, true colours emerge, and for a brief moment, the story wakes up. But the fizz is soon lost. Do You Wanna Partner serves up more froth than flavour.

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