Balika Vadhu on Colors - the entry of Farida Jalal

So far, Balika Vadhu on Colors was showing the extremely bad side of female repression, where in a twist, women in the household are in fact suppressed by the matriarch of the house herself. It is the grand-mother Kalyani who sets the agenda for everybody in the house, who decides on the limited freedom that women of the house have, and so on.
So, you have a household where widows are seen as people who have a bad fate, who are to be avoided, and who have a dark life without color. The same fate befalls Sugna, even though her grandmother deeply loves her, and ensures that Sugna does not go to her in-laws house where she would be blamed for the death of her husband. Similarly, Gehna, the new daughter-in-law should not have any independent feelings, and be totally subservient to her husband and family.
In the midst of all these backward customs and rituals, comes in Farida Jalal as the elder sister of Kalyani, who tries to make sure that things change for the better. So, Farida Jalaal learns about the customs and problems in the house and tries to make the required changes, once intervening in a dispute with a neighbor that she resolves without any force, just through persuasion. She tries to get Anandi more rights, and seems to be succeeding to some degree. In the same way, she is trying to get more rights for Gehna and Sugna, so that they do not feel stifled in the house, but she is running into a now rebellious Kalyani, who tells her a few things. As a result, Farida Jalal has now seemingly left the house.

Bidaai on Star Plus - starting to reveal why Alekh is like this

Till now, Bidaai has focused on the condition of Sadhana, and then the romance between Ranveer and Ragini. It is only when the marriage has happened, that the story again focuses back on sadhana, and Alekh. Alekh's mom, Vasu is arrogant as usual, ready to scream at Sadhana if she sees anything happening to Alekh. Sadhana sheds a lot of tears everytime this happens, but is unable to say anything much to Vasu. Alekh however is not happy whenever this happened, and screams at Vasu whenever she is rude to Sadhana.
At the same time, there is an increased focus on trying to figure out what was it caused Alekh to turn this way, what was the events that caused his mind to become retarded. Slowly, you start to get some indications, with rose smell and the photo of his grandfather causing him to have violent reactions. Both Mamaji and Ranveer want to figure out what happened.
Further, Alekh's childhood friend, Shlok is also present in the Sharma house, and both in the Rajvansh house and in the Sharma house, there is an attempt to remember the happenings of the time when Dadaji died due to a heart attack and Alekh turned mad. As yet, there is no connection as to how roses came into the picture, and why Alekh turns violent whenever roses are there in the picture. Mamaji fights with Vasu over getting Shlok to help in the treatment of Alekh, since Vasu has assigned another doctor to help Alekh, and does not want Shlok to be in the picture.

Raja ki Aayegi Barat - the truth comes out now

It was an interesting time on Raka ki Aayegi Barat on Star Plus. The serial, set in an heritage mansion, deals with a family who were the earlier rulers of the region, and still command a lot of wealth and respect. There was a lot of tension about the elder son, Yudhisthir marrying a common girl, Rani. Compounded by the fact his step-mother, the Choti Rani, wanted her son, Rudra (not as capable as the elder son) to become the king.
And then entered a new actor into the scene, with the entry of the niece, Princess Nandini. She is in the palace with evil intentions, but as usual, nobody suspects her of thinking of doing anything wrong. She is upto all sorts of deeds, with trying to kidnap Prince Yudhisthir on his coronation day, and continually poisoning the Raja (Pankaj Dheer). The Raja eventually dies, and Rani finds poison. The post-mortem also reveals that the Raja was murdered, and Yudhisthir is furious.
Rudra is suspected, and he reveals the hand of Choti Rani in the conspiracy behind the kidnapping of Yudhisthir so that Rudra could become the kind. Yudhisthir furious, and threatens to shoot Choti Rani, and is about to do so, when Rani comes in the way and saves Choti Rani. In the trial of Rudra and Choti Rani for the murder of Raja, they are saved at the last minute when Rani finds evidence that it was actually Nandini who was behind the whole effort and the murder. Now things are settling back in the palace, with Rudra and Choti Rani absolved of the murder.