Gullak has become the first Hindi-language OTT original to run for five consecutive seasons, a milestone that says as much about the economics of Indian streaming as it does about the Mishra family’s hold on audiences who grew up recognising themselves in every cracked wall and borrowed sugar bowl. Season 5, which premiered on SonyLIV on June 5, delivers seven episodes of the middle-class family drama that has defined TVF’s brand beyond comedy sketches and startup satire.
The season picks up with the Mishra household navigating the small upheavals that arrive disguised as progress. A freshly painted house and a new Wi-Fi connection signal a family inching toward modernity, but the emotional architecture remains unchanged: Santosh Mishra (Jameel Khan) still anchors the household with quiet authority, Shanti Mishra (Geetanjali Kulkarni) still holds together what the budget cannot, and younger son Aman (Harsh Mayar) continues to chart his uncertain path between ambition and the gravitational pull of home. Reviews have been largely warm, with critics awarding scores between 3 and 5 out of 5 and praising the series for retaining its signature relatability through a fifth outing.
The season’s most discussed change, however, is not a plot development but a casting one. Vaibhav Raj Gupta, who played elder son Annu across the first four seasons, has been replaced by Anant V Joshi. The makers positioned the change as showing “a more mature version” of the character but offered no public explanation for the swap. Fan reactions on social media have been divided, with some viewers struggling to accept a new face in a role they had grown attached to over four years, while others have praised Joshi’s interpretation as fresh. The recasting has become the season’s biggest talking point, a rare instance where a Hindi OTT series faced the kind of cast-change scrutiny usually reserved for long-running American television.
Created by Shreyansh Pandey and produced by The Viral Fever, Gullak launched in 2019 as a modest experiment in slice-of-life storytelling at a time when Indian streaming was dominated by crime thrillers and political dramas. Its survival through five seasons speaks to a viewer base that values quiet domestic observation over high-concept plotting, a demographic that Indian streaming platforms have increasingly recognised as commercially viable. SonyLIV’s investment in the franchise reflects a broader shift in which Hindi-language streamers are learning that retention, not just acquisition, drives subscriber value.
Jameel Khan and Geetanjali Kulkarni remain the load-bearing pillars of the series. Khan’s Santosh Mishra has evolved from a quietly frustrated patriarch into a man beginning to reckon with the gap between what he planned for his family and what time has delivered. Kulkarni’s Shanti continues to be the most underrated performance in Hindi streaming, a portrayal of middle-class motherhood that avoids both sentimentality and caricature. Sunita Rajwar’s Shalini also gets a more compelling arc this season, expanding beyond the supporting role she occupied in earlier outings.
The show’s longevity also raises a question that Indian OTT has been slow to confront: how do you evolve a series built on stasis? Gullak’s appeal has always been rooted in the Mishras staying roughly where they are, their struggles familiar rather than dramatic, their victories measured in increments rather than transformations. Five seasons in, the tension between giving audiences what they love and pushing the Mishras somewhere new is visible in the seams. Some reviewers have noted that the nostalgia now risks becoming the product rather than the by-product.
All seven episodes are available on SonyLIV. For a streaming landscape that routinely cancels shows after two seasons and measures success in opening-weekend metrics, Gullak’s five-season run is itself the story: proof that in Indian entertainment, the quietest voices sometimes last the longest.
