General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Eternally Confused and Eager for Love

Eternally Confused and Eager for Love is an Indian comedy series released on Netflix on March 18, 2022, created, written, and directed by Rahul Nair. Its eight episodes, each roughly 20 to 24 minutes long, follow Ray (Vihaan Samat), a socially awkward 24-year-old in Mumbai who navigates dating, work, and adulthood with the help of Wiz, an imaginary wizard voiced by Jim Sarbh who personifies Ray's inner voice.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	March 18, 2022, exclusively on Netflix¹
Format	8-episode limited series, about 20 to 24 minutes per episode, in English³^•⁴
Creator	Rahul Nair, a first-time writer-director who developed the show while working on Excel productions¹^•⁵
Production	The first joint series of Netflix, Tiger Baby, and Excel Entertainment¹
Lead cast	Vihaan Samat (Ray), Jim Sarbh (voice of Wiz), Rahul Bose (Gaurav), Suchitra Pillai (Meena), Ankur Rathee (Varun), Dalai (Riya)²
Reception	63% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 8 reviews and 76% from audiences; 6.7/10 on IMDb from about 2,600 ratings⁴^•⁶
Status	Listed by TVmaze as "To Be Determined," with no second season ordered as of its latest records³

Spoilers

Premise

Ray has what the production company's synopsis calls a steady job, understanding parents, and a privileged home life, but he is ailed by a crisis of confidence. Socially awkward, nearly friendless, and low on self-esteem, he looks for love through setups arranged by his parents and friends and through a dating app, repeatedly sabotaging himself along the way.²^•⁷ Netflix's synopsis frames his quest as an attempt to work out whether he wants sex, love, or a relationship.¹

The series' central device is Wiz, a personification of Ray's inner voice who says what Ray cannot say out loud. Wiz appears physically only as objects: a keychain Ray carries everywhere, an action figure in his bedroom, a pencil sketch in his office cubicle, and a poster in his bathroom.¹^•⁸ Wiz alternates between hyping Ray up and delivering blunt assessments, at one point telling him he must sit with his feelings before he can work on them.⁹

Ray's circle includes his schoolmate Riya (Dalai) and his colleague Varun (Ankur Rathee), who try and fail to set him up; his parents Gaurav (Rahul Bose) and Meena (Suchitra Pillai) play peripheral roles.⁷^•¹⁰ The eight episodes carry titles such as "Origin Story," "Blind Date," and the finale "Ray + Who? = Love," and each runs 20 to 24 minutes.¹¹

Production

Rahul Nair's path to the show ran through assistant work rather than a commission. He moved to Bombay (Mumbai) with his family at age two, studied film at New York University, and returned to India to work on Ki & Ka, Rock On 2, and other Excel Entertainment projects, including Made in Heaven. He wrote the first episode in 2016 and drafted the rest over about two years in his spare time, without expecting it to be produced. Toward the end of Made in Heaven's main shoot, Excel asked if he wanted to make something, and he sent in the finished scripts.⁵

The project became the first joint series of Netflix, Tiger Baby, and Excel Entertainment, with Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Kassim Jagmagia, Angad Dev Singh, and Zoya Parvin credited as executive producers.¹^•² Netflix India's content vice president Monika Shergill described it at announcement as a "complex and hilarious exploration of the dating lives of young adults" from a debutant writer-director.¹

Casting centered on Vihaan Samat, who had previously appeared in the Netflix series Mismatched. He was tested in early 2020 and received a callback only after the first COVID-19 lockdown. Zoya Akhtar said Ray had to be "immensely likable and charming" while carrying "that wicked insecurity and anxiety," and Reema Kagti reported that his audition tapes stood out to everyone.¹²

Reception

Critical response was mixed to favorable. On Rotten Tomatoes the first season holds a 63% Tomatometer from 8 reviews and a 76% audience score from fewer than 50 ratings.⁴ IMDb users gave the series 6.7 out of 10 from about 2,600 ratings, with individual episodes scoring between 7.2 and 7.9.⁶

Reviewers singled out Jim Sarbh's voice work. Rohan Naahar of The Indian Express rated the show 4 out of 5, calling Sarbh's performance the series' MVP and noting that, unlike the visualized Hormone Monsters of Big Mouth, Sarbh had only his voice to rely on.¹³ Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 2.5 out of 5, writing that Sarbh "does not even have to be on the screen to radiate infectious energy" while finding the series flimsy.¹⁰ The Week was more negative, judging that the plot did not hold attention beyond the second episode.⁷ A review in The New Indian Express found the title cumbersome and the chapter-like structure verbose, but allowed that the core story sustained a single-sitting watch.¹⁴

Commentary on the show's themes focused on self-sabotage. Tina Das in The Print argued the series resonates because it depicts self-doubt and self-loathing directly, with Ray talking himself down even when things go well, and because nearly every character messes up without having the answers.⁹ Common Sense Media described the show as a glimpse at one aspect of modern Indian culture through a universal concept.¹⁵

Language and setting

The series is made entirely in English, which The New Indian Express noted restricts its market to a Delhi-Mumbai milieu in which drinking, clubbing, and one-night stands appear as everyday life without justification.¹⁴ Netflix lists audio in English and Hindi with subtitles in Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Polish, and Ukrainian, and categorizes it as an offbeat, raunchy Indian romantic comedy limited series set in Mumbai.¹¹ The show carries a TV-MA rating in the United States.⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026