Chumbak on Netflix: Cast, Episode Guide, Part 2 (Season 2) and Review
Chumbak means "magnet" in Hindi, and that's the whole idea: five families in one Mumbai colony who can't stay out of each other's lives. It's Netflix India's attempt to bring back the family sitcom that used to play on television every evening, made by the people who did it best. Hats Off Productions, the company behind Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Khichdi, has moved to streaming with a 16-episode comedy where every small household problem becomes the whole colony's business.
Critics have been split, but viewers have stuck with it: more than a month after the first episodes landed, it was still the third most-watched show on Netflix in India. Below is the full cast, a spoiler-light episode guide, how the two parts work, the Sarabhai reunion hiding in the credits, and whether it's worth your time.
What is Chumbak about?
Chumbak Colony is a row-house neighbourhood in Mumbai where five families are in and out of each other's homes, and each other's business, all day long. Netflix's tagline sums it up: "Paanch padosi, dus dost aur anginat hungame", five neighbours, ten friends and endless chaos. The spine of the series is an unlikely divorce: Rajni and Kuku Merchant, married for decades, decide to split, and the whole colony gets dragged into it. Around them, a suspected affair, a teenager who serves his own mother a legal notice and a memorial service for a pet python all turn into colony-wide crises.
The story is told as "The Chumbak Chapters", written by Hutoxi Taraporewala, the colony's resident writer, who narrates each episode like a chapter in a book. "Neighbourhoods are like the families you don't choose, and somewhere in the chaos, these people become family too," JD Majethia and Aatish Kapadia said when the show was announced. It's a multi-camera sitcom in the old style: big characters, quick misunderstandings, and a lot of shouting that usually ends in a hug.
Chumbak cast and characters: the five families
| Family | Played by | Their story |
|---|---|---|
| Rajni and Kuku Merchant | Neena Gupta, Deven Bhojani | A long-married couple who bicker all the way to a divorce, and still can't quite let go |
| Mickey and Twinkle Oberoi | Arjun Bijlani, Helly Shah | A romantic young couple; he's a doctor, and the colony comes to suspect he's hiding an affair |
| Aditya, Priyanka, Ruhaan and Vedant Khanna | Sumeet Vyas, Manasi Parekh, Vidhaan Sharma | A seemingly calm couple whose teenage son Ruhaan runs away, then serves his mother a legal notice |
| Gulshan, Freddy and Hutoxi Taraporewala | Delnaaz Irani, Anant V. Joshi, Amyra Dastur | A Parsi household with a forceful mother-in-law; Hutoxi narrates the series |
| Dharmendra, Kiran and Piya Kejriwal | Sumeet Raghavan, Sandeepa Dhar, Bhoomi Ramola | A TV actor known for playing women, his wife Kiran, and a daughter whose school is not amused |
Neena Gupta and Deven Bhojani are the heart of it as Rajni and Kuku, and their bickering drives much of the comedy. Sumeet Raghavan gets some of the broadest scenes as Dharmendra, whose job playing women on television causes trouble at his daughter's school. Atul Kumar plays Nari Ravjiani, Twinkle's protective, wealthy father, and Bhalchandra Kadam and Shruti Bapna turn up in recurring roles.
The most talked-about guest is Rohit Roy as Ronit Roy Chaudhary, a singer who catches Rajni's eye after the divorce. The name is a joke on his real-life brother, the actor Ronit Roy. Elli AvrRam joins the cast for Part 2.
The Sarabhai vs Sarabhai connection
Chumbak is the closest thing to a Sarabhai vs Sarabhai reunion fans have had since the show's 2017 web season. Aatish Kapadia, who created and wrote Sarabhai, writes and directs Chumbak, and JD Majethia, who produced it, is the showrunner. In front of the camera, Deven Bhojani, who directed Sarabhai's first season and played the gadget-obsessed Dushyant, now leads as Kuku, and Sumeet Raghavan, Sarabhai's Sahil, plays Dharmendra.
Netflix leaned into it, too: one of the show's promos paired Neena Gupta with Ratna Pathak Shah, Sarabhai's Maya, for a chat. The family resemblance is obvious in the writing, from the escalating misunderstandings to the way each character has one big, repeatable quirk. Whether that feels like comfort food or a throwback that hasn't aged well is exactly where reviewers have split.
Chumbak episode guide (spoilers)
⚠ Episodes 1 to 16: what happensShow spoilers
| Episode | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Kuku goes missing and Rajni enlists the neighbours to find him, and the search exposes the cracks in their marriage. |
| 2 | Rajni struggles to tell Kuku what she has decided, and the colony's other couples start questioning their own relationships. |
| 3 | Rajni and Kuku, now set on divorce, look for legal advice. Dharmendra's unusual job causes trouble at his daughter's school. |
| 4 | Rajni and Kuku reach an agreement in court. The husbands take stock of their marriages, and a Bollywood-themed girls' night goes badly wrong. |
| 5 | The husbands try to get their wives out of jail while Mickey hides an affair. Kuku mentions a mystery woman, and Rajni is rattled. |
| 6 | The story of Kuku's mystery woman spreads through the colony. Nari holds a memorial for his pet python. |
| 7 | Rajni's interest in the singer Ronit has her friends playing matchmaker. Priyanka and Adi deal with Ruhaan's trouble at school. |
| 8 | The colony hunts for Ruhaan after he runs away. He comes back on his own and hands Priyanka a legal notice: accept his terms or face him in court. Part 1 ends on that cliffhanger. |
| 9 | Ronit tries to help Kuku and Rajni. Kiran and Hutoxi gather evidence against Mickey while the colony stages a mock trial over Ruhaan's notice. |
| 10 | Accusations fly at the mock trial. When Ruhaan belittles his mother's career, Adi stands up for Priyanka. |
| 11 to 16 | The fallout keeps testing friendships across the colony, with Rajni and Kuku trying to pull everyone back together. The finale is about whether the colony can repair what's broken. |
Chumbak Part 2 and season 2: what's out and what's next
Netflix released Chumbak's single season in two halves. The first eight episodes arrived on 10 September 2026, after a planned 28 August launch was pushed back, and the second eight followed on 1 October. Many outlets and viewers call those eight new episodes "season 2", but Netflix counts them as Part 2 of the same season. Either way, all 16 episodes are streaming now.
Part 2 brings a new round of mix-ups that test the friendships in the colony. "There is more madness, more heart, and yes, a lot more of Rajni's journey too," Neena Gupta said ahead of the launch. A genuine second season, with new episodes after these 16, hasn't been announced, though the show's run in Netflix India's top 10 gives it a good case.
Chumbak review: what critics and viewers think
“Chumbak embraces silliness like it's the world's last tree.”
Reviews have been split almost exactly down the middle, with ratings from 2.5 to 4 stars. NDTV was the most enthusiastic, saying it makes you laugh effortlessly, India Today and Times Now both gave it 3.5: Times Now enjoyed its old-school flavour, and India Today noted that, however irritating the characters get, the show never seems to dislike them. Rediff called it "an old style sitcom, which has its own charms".
The sceptics found it dated. The Hollywood Reporter India called the characters "little more than cartoons" who are all "uniformly, democratically slow on the uptake", though it admitted the silliness becomes infectious after a few episodes and credited the makers for working real issues, like helicopter parenting and divorce late in life, into the jokes. The Free Press Journal found moments of amusement but little exceptional.
Viewers have been more generous. Chumbak has been a fixture of Netflix India's top 10, and was at No. 3 among TV shows in the week of 5 October, behind only The Great Indian Kapil Show and the thriller Shaque: Trust No One.
For more Hindi shows worth your time, see our Bollywood series coverage, or try Netflix's true-crime drama Reporting Live for something completely different.
Quick answers
Where can I watch Chumbak?
Only on Netflix, in every country where Netflix operates. It's in Hindi, with English, Tamil and Telugu dubs and English and Hindi subtitles.
How many episodes does Chumbak have?
16, released in two parts of eight. Episodes run about 25 minutes each, so the whole series is roughly seven hours.
Is there a Chumbak season 2?
The eight new episodes many people call season 2 are Part 2, released on 1 October 2026 and streaming now. A further season hasn't been announced.
What does Chumbak mean?
Chumbak is the Hindi word for magnet, a nod to the neighbours who can't stay out of each other's lives.
Is Chumbak made by the Sarabhai vs Sarabhai team?
Yes. It's from Hats Off Productions, written and directed by Sarabhai creator Aatish Kapadia and produced by JD Majethia, and Sarabhai's Deven Bhojani and Sumeet Raghavan are in the cast.
Who plays Ronit in Chumbak?
Rohit Roy, as the singer Ronit Roy Chaudhary. The name is a joke on his real-life brother, Ronit Roy.
Who plays Rajni and Kuku?
Neena Gupta plays Rajni and Deven Bhojani plays Kuku, the long-married couple whose divorce drives the series.
Is Chumbak suitable for kids?
It's rated U/A 13+ in India. It's a family comedy, but storylines include divorce, a suspected affair and jail, so younger children may need a grown-up nearby.
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