Archive for the ‘Drama’ Category
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi - betrayal by the new bahu
On August 20, 2008 in Saas-Bahu, Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Values, Character, Society, TV, Popular, Family, Hindi Serial
A battle royal between Tulsi and Tripti is ongoing, with Tulsi fighting a proxy battle with Vaidehi (her bahu, but one who also totally believes in Tripti and is fighting to destroy the Viranis even though she is married to Laksh and is now in love with him). One wonders as to how Tripti is wandering around free and out of jail, given that she had been sentenced by a court to a jail term, but she is wandering freely without any constraint; but she must have proved a popular villain, and hence they brought her back into the serial in a confrontational mode with the Viranis without worrying about a jail sentence.
So Vaidehi sets out on her task. It can be a good role for any actress, showing her to be a dutiful daughter-in-law while also seeking to destroy the family in which she lives. In this case however, by getting her to confront Tulsi at every opportunity, to laugh like a maniac many times, and to try to look evil a lot, somehow is ruining the whole effect. It looks out of place, and seems like over-acting. At the same time, they show her to be capable of any kind of wrong deed, including adding stuff in juice and putting oil on steps to make people fall.
Sarkar Raj - Taut, but does not rise to be a great movie
On August 19, 2008 in Drama, Crime, Politics, Bollywood, Movie
Sarkar Raj was a move that was awaited for quite some time; it came after a few clunkers for The Factory of Ram Gopal Verma such as ‘Aag’, ‘Darling’, etc. Memories of his earlier movies such as Satya, Company, Rangeela, and Sarkar (for which Sarkar Raj is the sequel) were fading out due to these recent disastrous movies that he made. All his admissions that the movies were bad, mistakes were made, etc, don’t really help in lifting his reputation. So, this movie was awaited for multiple reasons:
- This movie showcased the Bachchan clan; Amitabh, Abhishek, and Aishwarya (not Jaya though)
- It was supposed to have the same kind of suspense, the taut and slick making that was there in the original movie Sarkar (made in 2005)
Kasam Seh - strange happenings
On August 12, 2008 in Values, Drama, Zee, Family, TV, Crime, Hindi Serial
Most Hindi serials use 2-3 tactics to get rid of their top stars, or to spice up the show. So, the serial could either get characters to do a plastic surgery so that their face is completely changed (helpful when you want to get a new actor in), or they get a good person to suddenly become bad (helpful to give a twist to the story), or they make time fly past and bring in a change of 15-20 years (people change, but otherwise, the house, the cars, everything else looks exactly the same). All of these strategies have been employed in this popular serial from Zee.
Appearing weekdays at 9 PM, the serial tells the story of 3 sisters, Bani, Piya, and Rano; The story though primarily is that of Bani and her life. After the departure of Prachi from the lead role, the serial had to bring in a new face for the lead role of Bani. And so they bring in the plastic surgery for the new face, and give her the name of Pronita. She is out to take revenge against Meera (initially shown to be good, then turned into evil). Meera has ruined the lives of all of Bani’s children, and Pronita has to also try and help them out.
So, Pronita gets married to Mr. Walia (why he divorces Meera was not clear), and then has to face a lot of resistance from the other family members including her own kids. And who supports her ? Her old enemy - Jigyasa (very surprising). Right now Meera has got Krishan arrested for drugs smuggling, and Pronita was unable to prevent it.
Banoo Main Teri Dulhann - Getting boring
On August 06, 2008 in Zee, Drama, Power, Family, TV, Hindi Serial
What happened in the previous incarnation of Divya and Amar ? As Vidya and Sagar, they were massively manipulated by Sindoora, who played one against the other and used all the weapons that she had. So, even though Divya knew by that time what Sindoora was upto, she was unable to do anything, and in the end, both Vidya and Sagar lost their lives to Sindoora (she shot both of them).
And then they came back in a rebirth, met again and even got married inspite of the best efforts of Sindoora to stop them. However, their remembrances of their previous life has been sketchy, and they remember things in part. However, if people expected the makers of the serial to bring some relief, then it is difficult. After all, if Sindoora goes, then maybe the whole drama of the serial goes, so the serial stretches on and on. Right now it seems that the serial is exactly doing what was happening earlier. Divya knows the truth, knows the evil nature of Sindoora. However, they have shown Amar to be now totally believing Sindoora, unwilling to listen to any ill spoken of her. He is even willing to believe that Divya may have got married earlier, and is ready to leave Divya because of this.
For many watchers of the serial, it seems like that the same stuff is getting repeated, and that the serial is now getting boring. It’s the same shrewdness and evil shown by Sindoora, with Divya trying to fight it, but not fully able to.
Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki on 9X
On July 28, 2008 in Drama, Video, 9X, Mythology, Values, TV, Classic, Character, Hindi Serial
When it became known that Ekta Kapoor was going to be making her own version of the Mahabharat on 9X, there was a lot of fear that with her concept of entertainment, TRP’s, and popularity being pegged to things such as the drama of saas-bahu serials, abrupt screen transitions, plastic surgery, and so on, this will be a Mahabharat that will remove the positive memories of the BR Chopra version. And now the serial is on air, having been launched on July 7, 2008, and appearing on 9X at 9 PM on weekdays.
The serial started out with depicting the episode of ‘Draupadi Vastraharan’, and this one did not go down too well. There was a lot of screaming by Anita Hassandani (playing the role of Draupadi), and one could actually see her using the full level of her voice while exhorting the Pandavas to take action to save her, while also screaming at the Kauravas. Over a period of time, the serial has started to reveal its cast, and the cast is essentially all the regulars of her serial (so far, no major new faces).
More drama in Ghar Ki Laxmi Betiyaan
On July 16, 2008 in Saas-Bahu, Drama, Revenge, Values, Zee, TV, Family, Hindi Serial
Today was a strange episode of this serial. So soon after Pavitraa was literally made an outcast, she is again brought back into the mainstream of the serial. Yuvraj had met this pretty girl called Niyati, and married her. She settled very fast into the family, and started getting along very well with the others (and this was inspite of Pavitraa trying to kidnap her to keep her away from the marriage). Soon after, Niyati declared that she was pregnant, and lo and behold, everybody started to anticipate the heir to the household. Pavitraa could not stand any of this and she started plotting how to get rid of Niyati. And she finally managed to get Niyati out of the house and into the open, and of course an accident was bound to happen.
The accident killed Niyati’s child and also left her unable to conceive again; and this was a killer for the household - where would the heir come from ? And of course, Pavitraa has a baby growing in her from the time when she was with Yuvraj, and she is ready to become the heir generating mother for the household. Except for Menaka and Niyati (why does the daughter in law always out of guilt agree to such things ? There are so many other options available nowadays as IVF, surrogate mothership and so on), everybody else is against this. However, you know what will happen. Kavitraa comes back to the household, all ready to do her manipulation again.
Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki - the murder mystery
On July 16, 2008 in Values, Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Character, Family, TV, Detective, Crime, Hindi Serial
Balaji serials have the unique ability to spin a murder mystery into a long and complicated hunt with one common characteristic - at one point, all the characters have become suspected of the murder before they are one after the other proved innocent. And so it is starting to happen in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki. Consider the scenario.
The wayward daughter of the house, Tanu, becomes more and more rebellious, and soon after the real life case of the Arushi murder case, the serial starts advertising her death in a similar manner. After much public criticism, the serial denied that it wanted to cash in on the Arushi murder case.
However, soon after, Tanu starts becoming even more confrontational, not caring about whom she is speaking to. She even starts learning secrets of the others in the family and threatening them with their secrets. Soon after that, she is found murdered, poisoned by a chemical. Her friend was suspected of the murder, but soon after that, her friend is also found murdered. And Om Agarwal is suspected of the murder on the basis of some evidence (the evidence seems to be incredibly light, and seemingly with no actual proof).
Tripti is back in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
On July 08, 2008 in Saas-Bahu, Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Values, Character, TV, Legal, Family, Hindi Serial
After Tripti faced a court case and was shown to have become crazy, it would seem that she had exited from the serial. However, she is probably the one to have made the quickest re-entry. Hardly had the entire issue about Mandira and Juhi Thakral died down that the serial brought forward the old issue of KT, Ansh’s son Eklavya and the return of Lakshya from his forced trip abroad (when KY got married to Eklavya).
Anyhow, Lakshya is back, and one was never sure about what KY wanted. She was not exactly very enthused about having Eklavya as her husband, and he is insanely jealous; but she is traditional and Eklavya is after all her husband; so she counsels Lakshya that there is no point cribbing about the past. Lakshya must move on, and he does in a very quick way.
Lakshya had gone for a wedding along with Joydeep (one no longer knows what the relationship of Joydeep with Bhumi is, they don’t focus on that anymore), and there he encounters his friend getting fresh with the to-be-bride Vaidelhi and she does not appreciate even her would-be husband trying this with her before marriage. So she fights back, and Lakshya helps her. When faced with the issue about who will marry her now, Lakshya steps forward and marries her, and then returns to ShantiNiketan.
Teen Bahuraniyan - moving into the ghost zone
On July 06, 2008 in Saas-Bahu, Drama, Revenge, Zee, Character, TV, Family, Hindi Serial
This typically has not been seen before. There are not that many prime time serials in the past that have brought in a ghost / spirit into a hindi serial that appears on real time, but Teen Bahuraniyan on Zee TV has done that now (maybe their TRP’s were going down). Other serials in the past have used the concept of a ghost, but have later explained this as the tactic of someone to scare another person, or to get them to reveal the truth.
In Teen Bahuraniyan, the spirit is of Kaajal, and she appears to possess Bindiya (who has otherwise been shown to be a very sweet but also the least intelligent among the bahus of the house). So, Kaajal suddenly would take over Bindiya, with the objective of defeating her own sister, Payal, who has just entered the house as a new bahu. Of course, in the serial, the expectation is that everybody in the house will believe Bindiya when she makes all sort of allegations against Payal (maybe because she has been a member of the household for a long time).
The only time when you can be sure about Bindiya still surviving her independent spirit is when a mandir or some puja is involved, in which case Kaajal has to leave Bindiya, and then the Bindiya who comes back cannot understand what all is happening. And of course, other people in the house are not able to understand either.
Kasturi - the amnesia plot
On June 30, 2008 in Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Video, Values, Character, TV, Romance, Family, Hindi Serial
When a serial lands in problems or the story needs to be elongated, there are some traditional measures that can be adopted such as amnesia, plastic surgery, etc. All of them are great for changing not only the person playing the character, but also help in adding a few weeks to the serial. And so it proved in Kasturi; just when the confrontation between Kasturi and Raunaq seemed to reaching a peak and Robbie would become totally aware of the truth of Raunaq, things changed. So what did happen ?
Well, Kasturi decided that she needed to strike back, so she pretended to behave madly. In the midst of this, Raunaq and Anita decided that they really do need to end the life of Kasturi, and they can drop her off a cliff after drugging her; she however is prepared and tries to turn the tables on them. However, in the end, she is the one who gets shot and falls off the cliff, and her mother blames Robbie for this happening.
