Hindi Serial - Na Aana Is Des Ladoo - Ammaji comes up with a horrid scheme to get a heir

The serial on Colors is plumbing new depths, showing the extent to which Ammaji will go to; the show also depicts problems in the relationships between different family members, including between a husband and wife. In Ammaji's household, the relation between Joginder and his wife Santosh is very fragile, especially since Jogi is unable to give a child to Santosh. However, it is Santosh who has to bear the blame for everything, for being unable to have a child. In the society depicted in the serial, being blamed as barren is very painful for a married lady; and she faces that both inside and outside the house. One day, when taunted by one of her sister-in-laws, she cannot bear the frustration anymore, and claims in front of other people that she is not the one to blame, it is her husband. For this, she is beaten badly by Ammaji, and Jogi also does not support her (he is very angry at her for revealing the truth about him).
And then since Ammaji has started realizing that the village knows the truth and that the respect for the household will be gone, she has to figure out a solution. And then she comes up with a truly horrible (and yet seemingly practical) solution. She tells Santosh that she will have to sleep with a stranger so that she can get pregnant, and then she can then claim before the villagers that there was some treatment given to Jogi, and as a result, Santosh is pregnant, and will give birth to a heir.
Santosh refuses, but to refuse Ammaji something is not a very practical point, and Santosh is told that she will have to do this. Jogi is also persuaded by Ammaji on this. And then Ammaji throws another bombshell, claiming that this will not be a stranger, instead Raghav will have to do this. Raghav refuses, and Ammaji tries all sort of blackmail, including emotional blackmail. Finally, Sia and the others hide Santosh, with Raghav proposing that they will send her away to her brothers house.

Hindi Serial - Crime Patrol - A depiction of crimes in society along with the police-work and motives behind the crime

TV news channels have specialized in taking any bit of news and making it into a full fledged drama, such that when any crime happens, it is instantly popularized as breaking news; further, the makers of such news reports are competing with each other to sensationalize these crimes. You will not get to hear an even-handed portrayal of the motives behind such crimes, and very rarely do you get to know more details of how such crimes were solved (or as in the case of kidnappings, what were the procedures adopted by the police to stop such crimes).
Sony has started a serial called 'Crime Patrol' (actually it was first introduced in 2003, and then restarted in 2010 - the current year). The purpose of the serial is to get two anchors (the popular television stars Sakshi Tanwar and Anoop Soni) to present how the police investigates and prevents crime; it also shows the method of police investigations. The show started on January 26, 2010, and appears at 8:30 PM everyday.
The serial continues to promise that it will not sensationalize crime, instead presenting the crime as it was, in a simple format that will enable the viewers to understand the actual facts of the crime. The serial is not attempting to create fictional stories, and will instead get the anchors to go to the actual scene of the crime, see the real people involved. The show will not only look at the police force, but even try to determine cases where the BSF, CRPF, ITBP, and other such security organizations are involved. The show attempts to look at domestic crimes rather than terrorist crimes, looking at cases such as kidnapping, theft, robbery, murder, etc.

Music reality program - Star Plus - Amul Music Ka Maha Muqqabla, a music contest between teams

This was a reality contest, of the music genre, with 6 teams. Typical reality contests are between individuals striving to become an overall champion (like the Indian Idol), so this type of contest is more interesting. The show appeared on Star Plus, starting on December 13, 2009, with a total of 13 weeks, lasting till March 2010.
The show was compered by Ayushmann Khurrana, with the teams fighting it out bitterly. In the case of people such as Himesh Reshammiya, the contest could really become bitter, with him being sarcastic or taunting on many occasions. The teams had some well known singers (with many of them having come from some of the music programs). Within each round, there are 5 contests (what this means is, every episode would have 5 contests), with all members of the team (including the leaders) having to sing.
The teams were led by the following well known personalities (and their team members):
Shaan - Debojit Saha, Anwesha, Harshit Saxena, Shadab Faridi
Shreya Ghoshal - Abhas Joshi, Ujjaini, Aneek Dhar, Rehman Ali
Mohit Chauhan - Amey Date, Hemachandra Vedalal, Ravi Shukla, nikitha Nigam
Mika - Lakhwinder Wadali, Toshi Sabri, Himani Kapoor, Tajinder Singh Ahuja
Shankar - Rahul Vaidya, Sharib Sabri, Sanjeev Kumar, Neeti Mohan
Himesh Reshammiya - Raja Hasan, Vinit Singh, Munawwar Ali, Ashwariya

Each contested with each other in different combinations, with points being given by the audience as well as by the judges (the 4 other teams that were bystanders).
In the end, the program was won by Shankar Rockstars on 20th March 2010.

Videos of the final on Youtube:

Amul Music ka Mahamuqabla Grand Finale Part 1



Amul Music ka Mahamuqabla Grand Finale Part 2



Amul Music ka Mahamuqabla Grand Finale Part 3

Hindi Serial - 12/24 Karol Bagh - Simi finally exposes the story of Anuj and how Rajeev Bhalla was also involved

The serial on Zee TV, 12/24 Karol Bagh is starting to move in Simi's favor. Till just a couple of episodes back, she was in severe trouble. Her marriage with Abhi (who is 8 years her junior) caused a huge amount of shock in all her relations. Except for one of her sisters (Mili) and her father, everybody else was against her. Her mother had publicly disassociated herself from Simi, and her brother Anuj always felt that their father always favored Simi, and that now he would look after himself. Her sister Neetu felt that Simi was behind the capture of her lover, and hence she hated Simi. Her mother felt very strongly that Simi had caused her an incredible amount of public embarassment, and did not want to talk to her anymore. And on the other side, Abhi's father had also broken off relations and turned out Abhi.
But Simi persisted in trying to do good for her family, and this now came to exposing the wrong-doings of Anuj and Anita. Anuj had started to associate with Rajeev Bhalla and go against his family, including getting the house transferred in his name. Their mother Manju refused to believe that her son Anuj could be causing any of this problem, believing that Simi was trying to defame Anuj. Still, Abhi and Mili went to the bank and tried to find out what Anuj was upto, and also why was there apparently a false notice served to get some fees on the family shop.
And then there was a 1 hour episode of the serial on Saturday (27 March 2010) where it finally became clear to everybody that Anuj was the one who was doing the change in trying to get the house transferred to his name. Bhalla was also pushing him by threatening to reveal that Anuj was the one who pushed his father down the stairs. Finally their mother Manju realized the truth, and has now pushed Anuj out of the house, and out of her life, and to jail.

Hindi Serial - Uttaran - the strange happenings in the life of Ichcha, and how she lets everyone walk over her

How can they make such a character such as Ichcha ? They show a person who is totally in favor of her friend Tapasya, even though she has known in many occasions that Tapasya was the one who was against Ichcha, and who had even conspired to attempt to get her killed. The same with her parents, who also knew this behavior of Tapasya, but attempted to take it lightly. The same with her nani (actually her mother's aunt), who was a very bad influence on Tapasya, forever poisoning her mind against Ichcha. And then Ichcha was willing to sacrifice the love of Veer, who loved her devotedly, and who was totally unhappy with Ichcha, so that Vansh could marry her.
And this is where it gets complicated. Vansh is the elder brother of Veer, and was a drug addict who started recovering to some extent based on the efforts of Ichcha, who was trying to help a younger drug addict (and it was then she came into contact with Vansh). Vansh tells his parents, who would do anything to help him get free of the drug habit, that Ichcha is the one person who can totally help him by getting married to him. This pushes his mother into a huge problem since she knows that her younger son Veer also loves Ichcha madly. But for her, the issue of being able to help Vansh is a very strong influence, and Veer would also do anything to help Vansh. Ichcha also agrees to help in this matter by marrying Vansh since she reasons out that by helping somebody like this, this will be something very big that she does.
However, nobody had yet told Vansh about the love between Veer and Ichcha; and Ichcha tries to tell Vansh about this in a letter, but the totally villainous Tapasya manages to intercept the letter and change the contents. Her idea is that this will be told to Vansh just after marriage so that he is very shocked and this will be bad for Ichcha.

Hindi Serial - Pratigya on Star Plus - Pratigya fighting Krishna even though she agreed to get married

Pratigya is a disappointment of sorts in terms of depicting how a girl withstands harassment. Here you have a spirited girl in a conservative city, fighting off the advances of a person, whom she does not like. You would normally expect the boy to get the message, but in this case Krishna is so madly in love with Pratigya that he does not care for her wishes, and loves her very passionately. As a result, he is willing to apply any amount of force to obtain her, and finally applies so much pressure on her and her family that they finally got married. However, Pratigya still hates Krishna, something that he cannot understand. For him, whatever he wants, he gets; and this is also supported by his father and family who also believe in the rights of the man to whatever he wants.
Finally, when she is married to Krishna, she makes her hatred clear to him and does not let him touch her, starting from the wedding night. However, at the same time, Krishna slowly starts to feel compassion for her, enough though he cannot understand this hatred and repulsion that Pratigya feels for him. And then the overall situation in his house is also something that she is not comfortable with, since she is from a house where daughters have all the rights of education freedom, etc; something that is certainly not the case in Krishna's house.
And then another major confrontation with his family starts. Krishna's father proposes that Pratigya adopt a new name, something that she refuses point blank. This shocks him, since the assumption is that anything he says is a command that needs to be obeyed, and how the new bahu of the house can refuse is a huge shock. However, Krishna supports her and says that if she does not want a new name, then the discussion is over.
What is disappointing in the serial is how it depicts the case of harassment, where a girl in modern India is forced to buckle down and marry the person who is harassing her; and instead of being able to stand up for her rights, she marries him, something that could be the end of her freedom and right to live as she likes.

Hindi Serial - Rishta.com on Sony - the story of people behind a marriage agency

Sony recently came out with a line-up of new serials, such as Powder, Seven, Crime Patrol, etc. One of the new serials in this line-up is called Rishta.com, and it is a humorous look at a marriage agency. The serial started on Sony on January 3, 2010, and is produced by the movie producer Yash Raj Films. The serial is directed by Rishab Seth and produced by Aditya Chopra.
The serial is about the marriage agency called Rishta.com, run by 2 very different individuals. The lady who is the main worker of the agency, Isha Mirchandani (played by Shruti Seth) is a dedicated lady who believes firmly in the institution of marriage. She believes that she is playing an important part of society by bringing people together. On the other hand, the other partner running the agency, Rohan (played by Kavi Shastri) is more of a lazy person, less interested in running the agency as a way of helping society (and hence with a different view-point than Isha). In the first episode, you get an idea of how Rohan is, when he starts to ignore his girl-friend for no reason, and she finds out about this, and leaves him.
The serial deals with the different types of people who come to the agency and how this challenges the workers in the agency (such as a 65 year old man who recently lost his wife and is now looking for a companion; another man came in and spun a story about his grand-father dying in 3 weeks and hence needing to get a new wife, somebody who will agree to marry him within a period of 3 weeks. Then there is another lady who sees her friend marrying a nice catch, and wants to get married to an even more eligible bachelor to show up her friend).
The serial, through the different characters who come to the agency for getting marriage partners, show the different type of people who live in the society, and the impact of all these people on the people in the agency.

Hindi Serial - Bidaai - Alekh gets to know the truth about Sadhana and leaves his mother

Things finally seem to be looking up for Alekh and Sadhana. Vasu had tried her best to ensure that Sadhana was out of the life of Alekh, by giving her Rs. 5 lakh to sign the divorce papers for her divorce from Alekh, along with the condition that Sadhana would not talk about this to anyone. And since Sadhana then refused to tell Alekh about this, Alekh in turn was angry with Sadhana, angry enough that he was ready to get divorced and marry Mallika (who Vasu wanted to get married to Alekh). In the midst of all this, Ragini got the shock of her life when she got to hear of everything that Sadhana had done, and she went ahead and told her own family all about this. And so there was a plan made to get Vasu to reveal all this to Alekh so that he would finally believe that Sadhana was the correct one, and that Vasu was the one who was driving everything.
So, in the engagement party of Alekh and Mallika, before the actual engagement could happen, Sadhana's mamiji, who had resolved to do everything to ensure that Sadhana and Alekh get back together, goes to the party, and after first starting off things on a very polite and friendly note, confronts Vasu about her role in the divorce. Finally, they are able to provoke Vasu to the extent that she reveals all about her role in ensuring that Sadhana was forced to sign the divorce papers. When Alekh hears this, he is upset, and wants to go and get his wife, Sadhana back (he was always in love with her, but was angry about why she was willing to divorce him, and not tell him the actual reasons). Vasu states that she will not let Sadhana get back into the house, at which Alekh says that he will not let anything come between him and Sadhana. Finally Sadhana seems to be heading for happiness.

Comedy - Sab TV - Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo - the make believe family to satisfy father-in-law

Sab TV has positioned itself as a channel that serves light entertainment, and not the drama that one sees on regular entertainment channels, typically serials that involve conniving family members, or conflict between different members of a family, and so on. Instead, the channel has an active comedy lineup of serials, along with other light serials, which are meant for the entire family to watch and enjoy.
One of the serials is called 'Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo', which is about the relation between a loving husband and wife. The serial appears from Monday to Thursday at 9 PM and is for 30 minutes. The serial is about a man called Apurva, who is the lead character of the serial. He is in love with Aarti, the niece of his boss, Dhirubhai. Apurva does not have any family members, but is otherwise a very nice person. Dhirubhai, before he lets his niece Aarti marry Apruva, wants to meet the family members of Apurva (does not know that Apurva does not have any family members), and to ensure that Dhirubhai can get his solution, Apurva manufacturers an entire family.
His friend acts as his father, a drama artiste plays the role of his mother, and other friends play other roles. There are always challenges that happen in such situations, such as when Aarti tries to make tea, and fails. At that time, the make-believe mother is told to teach Aarti how to cook, but she does not know either, and gets in a soup.

Hindi Serial - 12/24 Karol Bagh - Unexpected turn of events, with Anuj starting to turn bad

12/24 Karol Bagh (on Zee TV) is a serial about love and relationships, and the disputes between the family members. Simi has been getting into more trouble ever since it became clear that she was interested in a relation with Abhi, who is 8 years younger to her. Eventually the relationship caused the break of a relation with her mother, since Simi did not raise the issue when her marriage to Nakul was being finalized. The biggest problem has been the attitude of her brother, Anuj, who has been behaving like a confused person to some extent, while acting like a villain in other cases.
In recent time, inspired by his wife, Anuj is now turning out to be a proper villain. Ever since he lost his job, he was not sure what to do, and then he got into the worst sort of company, becoming closer to Rajiv Bhalla (the ultimate villain of the serial); this was something that his father and sister would have strongly objected to. However, Anuj is now without a job (he got fired from his previous job) and is getting estranged from his father since he believes that his father does not trust him, and favors his sister Simi. And then his mother is still behaving very strongly, since she still is acting against Simi.
Now, Anuj has done the unmentionable, since he pushed his father down the stairs, which resulted in his father getting paralyzed, unable to speak or make many movements. He now wants to indicate to Simi about what happened, and Anuj does not want this to happen; to the extent that he is now threatening his father now to mention the reason why he fell down the stair, while Simi wants to know what really happened.

Hindi Serial - Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - Finally Akshara and Naitik make up

The change in the serial was very abrupt, since for many viewers, the concept of Naitik was a person acutely aware of his status and position; one who even though loves his wife, was able to see mistakes in her even more easily. At a time when the entire family was angry with Akshara, she needed support from Naitik the most, and it was then that he deserted her. He even told her that she was causing too much problems and tension in the house, and that she could leave if she wanted, and so Akshara did (and this was the event that shocked everybody into understanding that things were out of control). His own family had started realizing that he was getting too much into his ego, and too arrogant.
And then came the episode of Holi, where he suddenly made his way to Akshara's house, supposedly drunk on Bhang, and then made Akshara also high on Bhangra. And then they had a frank discussion where she told him about everything that he had done that had shocked her, especially the fact that he had not supported her. Based on this entire discussion, Naitik then dragged her downstairs, where everybody assumed that things between them were still not normal. And it was then that Naitik gave the biggest surprise, telling everyone that he agreed that he was the one who was wrong, and apologizing to Akshara in front of everyone. This made Akshara feel much better, now that she realized that the love from Naitik was strong enough, and this also shocked both set of families. However, Naitik had still not helped his sister, and the question is whether he can make up with Mohit and get the happinness to his sister, Nandini by uniting her with Mohit ?

Dill Mil Gaye - the re-entry of Dr. Armaan in the show (when Dr. Riddhima and Dr. Siddhant are now married to each other)

Dil Mil Gaye, which started out as a serial depicting the struggles and efforts of people involved in the medical profession, is now turning out to be another Hindi serial in terms of twists and turns. So, a long time back, there was the perfect romantic couple of Dr. Armaan and Dr. Riddhima, but they had to break up, and the characters left the show, with a new set of characters in the show. One of the most prominent one was Dr. Siddhant (played by Karan Wahi); the serial makers must have figured that the ones whom the viewers voted as the most popular ones were Dr. Riddhima and Dr. Armaan, so first they brought in Dr. Riddhima. In true filmy style, Dr. Riddhima did not like Dr. Siddhant, but he liked her. And then came the time when he had to save her from dying of cold, and the way he did this was something that she detested. However, they got married because of family pressure and honor, and then she tried suicide. This caused Dr. Siddhant to get very negative about her, and finally tell her that he detested her. All these were incidents that made the serial become a very dramatic type of Hindi Serial.
And now for something that is even more dramatic, the re-entry of Dr. Armaan into the serial. He does not know about the marriage between Dr. Sid and Dr. Riddhima, and seems to think that Dr. Riddhima is still his love, and waiting for him. Dr. Siddhant knows about the earlier love between Dr. Armaan and Dr. Riddhima, and does not tell him about the marriage, although the other interns at the hospital feel that he should know the truth.

Hindi Serial - Sasural Genda Phool - an unusual marriage between 2 people of different backgrounds

Nowadays, many Hindi serials are adopting names derived from Hindi Films. If you a remember a movie starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor, set in Delhi, and called Delhi 6, there was a song in the movie called 'Sasural Genda Phool'. The serial is set about a marriage between 2 very different people, and different settings. So far the serial has remained light, and is a comedy.
The serial appears on Star Plus, and started on March 1, 2010, and so far is relatively new.
The serial has 2 main characters (along with their family members and and friends).
Suhana (Ragini Khanna)
IShaan (Jai Soni)
Suhana is a more carefree and spirited girl, who has rejected people who have come for her marriage, to the dismay of her parents. Her family is modern, and can easily suffer her tantrums. They live in a large house, and have a lot of servants to take care of any of their needs.
Ishaan, on the other hand, is from a normal middle class family with some conservative feelings, living as part of a joint family, and working in an IT company. They meet a couple of time in different situations, with Ishaan ending up helping her, but Ishaan is one of the last people who Suhana would ever think that she would be associated with.
Ishaan starts liking Suhaana ever since he comes in contact with her, even though it would seem apparent that they have nothing in common, whether it be their different interests, or different class backgrounds. What happens next ?

Older Hindi TV serials - Sanjivani on Star Plus - an older medical serial

At any point of time, there can be one or more serials showing on TV that are based on the medical fraternity (with the serials being set on hospitals, on the life of doctors, and on the love life and relationships between them). One of the serials that used to come earlier was known as Sanjivani, coming on Star Plus, in the years 2002-2005. It was a precursor of the later serial, 'Dil Mil Gaye' (that is now coming on Star One). The full name of the serial is Sanjivani - A Medical Boon.
The serial was based on 4 main characters, Juhi, Rahul, Simran and Omi, who are interns in the beginning, having joined the hospital. The medical profession is a demanding profession, with all sorts of people in it, and the serial shows the pressures and demands that the medical profession puts on these 4 characters and the people around them, and how they deal with it and mature (including adding their own context to the people around them). The link of the serial on the Star Utsav site is this link.
The cast of the serial is:
Dr. Juhi Singh/Mehra (played by Gurdeep Kohli) - wife of Dr. Rahul Mehra
Dr. Rahul Mehra (played by Gaurav Chanana / Mihir Mishra) - husband of Dr. Juhi Singh
Dr. Umesh 'Omi' Joshi (played by Sanjeet Bedi) - in love with Chitra
Dr. Simran Chopra/ Mehra (played by Shilpa Kadam / Rupali Ganguly) - first wife of Dr. Rahul Mehra

Hindi Serial - Dance India Dance - Getting Arshad Warsi and Dia Mirza on the show (promoting their movies)

Come Saturday night and Zee TV’s Lux Dance India Dance raises a toast to the most popular Bollywood jodis of all times! Masters Terence, Geeta & Remo are all set to have their participants pair up on stage to bring alive the magic of iconic twosomes like Anil-Madhuri, Rishi Kapoor-Dimple Kapadia and even Munnabhai-Circuit!
In an episode that has hottie Dia Mirza and everybody’s favorite Arshad Warsi in the audience, the masters are said to have left no stone unturned in ensuring that every act is a gorgeous Bollywood extravaganza!

While on the sets of Lux Dance India Dance to promote her upcoming film Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Dia revealed, “Master Remo was my first choreographer. This is way back when I’d bagged a video to be shot for Sonu Nigam’s album. Back in those days, I’d designated Remo as my official dance partner at all parties and we’d just dance till we dropped.” Going “Awwwww!” In unison, both Geeta Kapoor and Mithun Da ribbed Remo’s wife saying she ought to keep a watch on her man! Making matters worse for the poor lady, Remo asked Dia Mirza for a dance … and they waltzed away gloriously amidst much fanfare. Not a lesser dancer by any means, Arshad Warsi revealed that he’d represented India at a World Dance Championship, bagging an impressive runner-up trophy. Dia and Arshad were mighty impressed with Amar & Shakti from Terence Ki Toli who steamed up the stage with Anil Madhuri’s Dhak Dhak Karne Laga. Binny & Dharmesh from Geeta ki Gang wowed the duo with a very stylish waltz to the golden oldie Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam Nadi Ka Kinara. As an exciting climax to a splendid evening, Arshad took to the stage and jived to his hit Ibn-e-Batuta. To catch the dance magic of Bollywood hottest pairs, tune into Lux Dance India Dance on Zee TV at 9:30 PM tonight!

Hindi Serials - Dance India Dance - Jeetendra on the sets of the dance show

The latest superstar to shake a leg with the finalists of Zee TV’s Lux Dance India Dance is “Jumping Jack” Jeetu! The evergreen heartthrob who made the ladies swoon in the 70’s and 80’s had all the girls on the sets of India’s biggest dance reality show raving about how young he still looks. When quizzed about his trademark “White shirt, white pants n white shoes” look, the actor said, “Dark clothes make me look short!” Heard this one before, guys? Quite an original perspective, Jeetu ji! As he stepped up on stage, Jeetendra said, “Let me first admit … I am deeply intimidated by all the dancers who’ve performed on this platform. Over the years, fans have loved me for my dance style. But these guys are just something else. They’re rockstars. I doubt if anybody can match steps with them!” Turning to Grand Master Mithun Da, he said, “Dada’s been a great friend and a source of inspiration in so many little ways.” Overwhelmed by the praise, Mithun Da interrupted him saying, “Please, Jeetu ji! It’s completely the other way around. I have always taken your guidance and followed your footsteps in the industry. You have been my idol for a very long time!”

In a bid to dazzle Jeetendra, the 3 masters and their teams are said to have presented acts depicting the famous dance styles of all their favorite Bollywood stars. Watching Shakti from Terence ki Toli bring alive the magic of Madhubala with Aaiye Meherebaan from Howrah Bridge, a floored Jeetu asked her who taught her all those lovely expressions. Playfully, Shakti pointed at her guru Terence Lewis who went red in the face! Jeetuji insisted, at this point, that Terence show them a glimpse of Madhubala and the ace choreographer had no choice but to oblige! Everybody’s favorite Dharmesh “sir” from Geeta Ki Gang brought the house down with a medley of dance hits from Jeetendra’s films and the superstar had tears in his eyes! All eyes were glued to the floor when Jeetu took to the dance floor with Mithun Da and Master Terence Lewis. To catch all this excitement and more, tune into Lux Dance India Dance on Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 PM on Zee TV!

Hindi Serial - Bandini - Santu on a more aggressive nature, but her own sister gets caught

Santu returned to the home after spending her 10 years in jail (the 10 years in jail for a murder that she did not commit), and realized that the house had been divided in her absence, with a line drawn through the center. At the time of her trial, her sister Khemi was totally against her because she was convicted of the murder of Khemi's husband Arjan, and she also set a condition with DM that if DM wanted her to not abort Arjan's baby, he would not take any steps towards fighting Santu's case. Based on this request, and shocked by it, Dharamraj cut off all links with his family and business, staying in the house but no longer involved in any decisions (this was a very strange decision, and given that he is a moral decision maker, this was not something that he should have done).
Now that Santu is back, she wanted the divisions in the house to get over, and one way was to get all the house people against her and with each other; she seems to be succeeding in that. The other quest that she had was to get DM back involved in the family, and also protect the family against their own internal divisions. Part of that was to ensure that people accounted for their misdeeds and accounted for all the money that they took from the treasury, and for that, she took control of the house safe by claiming that DM had once given her a Power of Attorney. This was a side of Santu that nobody had ever seen, and they were very confused; even more so since she made it seem that she was after the money.
One of the quests for her was to find out who was trying to get rid of Toral's unborn baby by poisoning her, and it was very shocking for her when her own sister, Monghi was accused of the crime. Santu laid a trap and found out that it was Khemi (again her own sister) who was accused of the crime, and Khemi was doing it to ensure the complete rights of her own son, Krishna.

Sabki Laadli Bebo - the confrontation between the real Bebo and the false Bebo (Raano) - expected in the next couple of episodes

In Sabki Laadli Bebo, Bebo had just a few weeks back come through a major problem, when she had saved her family from being implicated in charges of demanding dowry and conspiring to burn their daughter-in-law; this had even divided their family with their own son and another daughter-in-law being implicated. It was only Bebo who along with her husband Amrit managed to save them from this trouble and bring out the false case in court.
As soon as that specific time ended, the show makers decided to start another major complication, this time in terms of a life-threatening complication for Bebo. They brought in a double (somebody looking exactly like Bebo), who saw the comfortable and lovely life for Bebo and wanted it all, and since she looked exactly like Bebo, you could imagine what would happen. And so it happened, this lady (called Raano - very original names !) duped Bebo, took her near a cliff, and pushed her over. After some initial uncomfortable questions by the police, she feigned confusion and got herself out of the situation and accepted by the family.
In the meantime, the real Bebo was still alive, but you would have guessed it, she had lost her memory and was unable to remember who she was and why some things seemed familiar to her. Through a series of events, she came back to the house, scaring the fake Bebo (the real Raano) tremendously. Now, the serial is showing how Raano is trying to get Bebo out of the picture; bebo in the meantime is struggling to understand some of the recollection that she gets when she some photos, some people, and so on. I am pretty sure that in some time, she will be able to recollect more of her memory and remember what happened; and in the meantime, the people around her will start to realize something is wrong since she would recognize some things that only Bebo could know.

Hindi Serial - Bidaai - Finally Ragini gets to learn more about all the efforts and sacrifices by Sadhana

For some time now, it seemed clear that the role of Sadhana was only to be good, sacrifice her life and efforts, and yet be blamed for a lot of things that can go wrong in the family. In fact, Ragini, to whom she was very close, also started moving away from her once it turned out that Sadhana had to give testimony in court against Ranveer (even though she was just speaking the truth); it became so bad that Ragini refused to speak properly to Sadhana and started believing all the words of Vasu as well as her mother against Sadhana. In the end, it was only her mama who continued to believe in her, as well as Ranveer.
But things started to move in her favor due to none other than Vasu. After Vasu gave money to Sadhana for signing the divorce papers, everybody started criticizing Sadhana for trying to get divorced from Alekh, even Ragini. But Sadhana refused to state the reason. For Vasu, she started getting into some problem when her elder daughter-in-law learnt that Vasu had given money to Sadhana for the divorce and effectively blackmailed Vasu into giving her Rs. 1 lakh to keep her mouth quiet. This was seen by Inderjeet who suspected that something was going wrong and confronted Vasu.
Ragini had already learnt that Sadhana deliberately lost the dance contest, and also learnt that Sadhana was looking to get a lot of money for the treatment, and then also learnt that Sadhana did arrange to get the money. And then she heard the discussion between Vasu and Inderjeet where she learned that Sadhana had agreed to get married to a then-mentally unstable Alekh for getting their house out of debt, and also for a promise to get Ragini married to Ranveer; and then even recently, she got the money for her mamiji's operation only by agreeing to sign the divorce papers.
This really shook up Ragini, since it became clear to her that everything was done by Sadhana, that she had sacrificed herself for her family and for Ragini, and yet everybody including Ragini was blaming her for many things.

Hindi Serial Written Update - Bairi Piya - Amoli escapes the Thakur, but will she managed to hide

This show depicts the otherwise amiable and likable Sharad as the worst form of villain, a villain who uses his power in the poor rural sections of India to exploit their workers, women and get whatever they want. They are the local power, there is no such thing as the local police, law and justice, since all these are dependent on the power of the Thakur. He can do what he wants, kill somebody without any problem and without anybody interfering with his wished.
So what happens when a poor girl from a poor family becomes his fancy ? He will do whatever is needed to claim her, pressurizing her family, forcing her parents to bend to his will. And it does not matter if he already has a wife; whatever his wife wants does not matter. It does not even matter if his entire family is unhappy with his quest, even if his mother opposes it. He is the local Thakur, and for him, his wish is law.
So, when Amoli is married off to a worker of the Thakur called Radhe, it would seem very easy for the Thakur to get what he wants. In fact, he is so surprised that Amoli has had the temerity to oppose him for so long. Even this dedication to her husband Radhe surprised the Thakur, even more so since Radhe is the servant of the Thakur. And then the Thakur decides to take matters further, by forcefully marrying Amoli to make her his second wife. For this, he decides that Radhe is only a interference, and finally kills off Radhe. But Amoli manages to escape the Thakur, aided by the Thakur's wife who refuses to support the Thakur in this quest, even though he is very very angry at her.

Hindi Serial - Ballika Vadhu - Anandi gets shot when trying to save Jagdish in the town

Ballika Vadhu is taking a very dramatic turn, from being full of festivity to a scene of total downturn in the matter of a few episodes. Jagdish, fresh from his school exams declared that he had topped in the examinations. This was a matter of great celebrations in the house, since Jagdish had not been so good before, and everybody including his grandmother joined in the celebrations, with a party, with dance, and so on. Even a treasure hunt was organized where Jagdish had to guess a few clues, which eventually led him to a mobile phone as a prize. Anandhi, who also studied for the exam at home, however, got only 55%. But she forgot her unhappiness at these marks by joining in the celebration of Jagdish's marks. At the peak of the celebrations, it was all revealed to be false by Jagdish's teacher who declared that Jagdish had just passed.
Bhairon was very angry at this deception, and slapped Jagdish and scolded him very badly, and everybody was very angry at him. Not able to take this, he ran away from home and reached the town. However, a town is not a very good place for a young sheltered boy such as Jagdish, and he came into the eyes of a gang who exploits young boys.
In the meantime, the family found that Jagdish was in the town, and Anandi along with Bhairon came to the town to locate Jagdish. They eventually found Jagdish when he was trying to run away from the people who were trying to cut his legs off; eventually Jagdish managed to run away and straight into the arms of Anandi. However, a tragedy was in place, since a bullet was fired on Jagdish and Anandi took this bullet (with the background information being that Anandi will go into a coma so that she can take time off for her studies in real life).

Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hain - Naitik makes up, and is apparently high on bhang

Ever since Naitik and Akshara separated, it became clear that Naitik was on a high horse, not wanting to forgive any slight mistake on Akshara's part; even when their elders had conspired to get them together, even a small slight was enough to get him angry again. At this, his parents and his grandparents were not exactly very happy with him, especially when he went home angry from Akshara's house, the evening before Holi.
The next day, on Holi, they were surprised since they expected that Naitik would still be angry, but it turned out that he was full of the Holi spirit, willing to apply color on everyone and had got all his friends over (except for his former best friend Mohit, who he started avoiding ever since he got to know that Mohit and Nandini were in love with each other).
Then he vanishes suddenly, and his family is very surprised and puzzled as to where he has gone (although most viewers would have realized that he would have gone to Akshara's house), and that is indeed where he goes. Akshara's family is very surprised to see him there, but they treat him like the respected son-in-law he is; and the makers of the serial have tried to show him as a person who has taken bhang, and is now somewhat high. His inlaws see him in this strange behavior, but they cannot say much to him; although they do let his parents know that Naitik is over there. This causes his family to suffer some surprise, since they did not expect him to go there, and also because they have to get ready to go to the other house and for that they need to take sweets and other stuff. By the time they get there, Naitik has asked them to get Bhang, something that they are surprised about, but still get for him. Akshara is very surprised at all this. And then his family gets there, and they are surprised at seeing him in this state, although Naitik tries to control himself.

Bidaai - Sadhana facing a lot of questions about the divorce, and Vasu arranging for marriage with Mallika

One wonders about these serials, how they show people stretching to breaking point, and how good is almost never rewarded, and if it is rewarded, then only for a short while, and then everything becomes bad again. Here, Sadhana is the perfect daughter, bahu (too perfect, since she keeps on taking everything - in the Gita, it says that you should always speak up for the truth, and she keeps on hiding it one way or the other).
So, here Sadhana had signed the divorce papers since she needed the money from Vasu, and Vasu wanted to see the end of the Sadhana - Alekh relationship so that she could get Alekh married to Mallika (did she never think that Mallika is a much more strong willed girl, and would not be so easily pushed like Vasu keeps on pushing Sadhana). Here Sadhana is not willing to reveal where she got the money from, and even told Alekh that she had signed the divorce papers since they did not have much of a relationship; as a result, Alekh is torn between moving away and his love for Sadhana. Only Ranveer is the one who continues to believe in this relationship and is shocked when Vasu tries to get Alekh and Mallika to get engaged fast, it is only Alekh who refuses to get engaged immediately, although Vasu is confident that she will get him engaged to Mallika within 2 days.
In the meantime, Ragini comes to the house and declares that she is shocked by Sadhana's decision to divorce Alekh, something that the others in the house don't know; they are equally shocked. They all apply pressure to Sadhana, but she refuses to reveal the reason for why she took this decision, and though her Mamaji is clearly disappointed, he does not try to force her. Vinu also tries, but is unable to get her to reveal the reasons why he did so.

Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayenge - Rahul finally decides on Dimpy as his bride, leaving Nikunj and Harpreet in the lurch

So finally the waiting is over. On a long program shown on Saturday, Rahul has finally made his choice, selecting Dimpy Ganguly over the final 3 contestants, with Nikunj Malik and Harpreet Chhabra, who made the final, not being selected. The show also put at rest all the talk after Rakhi Sawant's swayamwar, who had got engaged and then broke the engagement, since it is quite clear that Rahul and Dimpy are going to get married on the show. They have already exchanged garlands, exchanged rings, and taken the blessings of the parents present on the show. Rahul also finally said "I love you" to one of the contestants, and it was Dimpy. It must have been that he made his choice much early.
For the last couple of days, the show has been highlighting the various functions that relate to marriage, such as dance and singing shows, bringing in many other stars (but not major film stars), going through many of the rituals such as the haldi. Before this, all the meetings with the different set of parents had happened. Of course, one wonders for Harpreet and Nikunj, since they have gone through all the rituals and even done a haldi ceremony for somebody whom they are not going to marry (although they would already know this before they joined the show).
The show did try to prolong things a bit, such as by asking all the parents, the girls, and Rahul to say whether they did want to say anything to any of the others, and this got a bit boring. However, now that NDTV Imagine has managed to get a swayamwar to end with a marriage, their credibility level must have gone up.

Sony - Powder - The story of the fight against a drug lord and story of people leading the fight

Powder is a relatively new serial on Sony, the story of the fight against drugs. The fight against terrorism and the underworld is now mixed with the story of how they control the entire drugs scene, especially the scenario of recreational abuse of drugs by a young fast generation (who are not addicts in the classical sense but more active users). To cater to this generation, there are a new series of people trying to make their riches, and being much smarter about how to stay one step ahead of the police.
In this fight, there is also the depiction of jealousy and fighting between the various Government agencies, with the pivotal fight against drugs being led by the Narcotics Control Bureau. They have a honest team led by Usmaan Malik; and they are after drug lord Naved Ansari.
The current episode of the serial focuses on a lady Binata from Kohima, who is otherwise well educated and accomplished, and who needs to be admitted in a drug rehabilitation center. She also accuses the people over there of not knowing anything about the North East states. In a different situation, Naved wants to go to Dubai, but the don over there, Musa, refuses to let him come over there.
The show shows a lot of the actual goings on in the narcotics scene, including places where foreigners come for drugs (including places in Himachal Pradesh); it also shows the interactions between lawyers and the drug control officials via the legal system.

Na Aana Is Des Ladoo - Ammaji trying other tactics to put a lot of load on Sia after Raghav accepted her

It was a very surprising scene, and not what a lot of fans of Sia would have thought. After all, she had sworn to take revenge against everybody who had mis-treated her and her father, and for that, she had taken up position in Ammaji's house as a servant. And for that, Ammaji, who never trusted her, first made sure that she knew her position very clearly in the house, and treated her exactly like a servant, and not like a daughter-in-law; to the extent that when the DM came to their house for taking one of the ladies for the night, Ammaji put Sia also on display.
And yet, the makers of the serial have shown some stuff that is certainly not part of revenge. Even though Ammaji showed no signs of changing any of her behavior, and remained as evil as ever, Sia saved her life when she was shot by a bullet. And for that, Ammaji had not the slightest amount of gratitude. In fact, Ammaji was planning to get a new daughter-in-law for Raghav, something that he was going through. But it seemed like the ploy that Sia had was to get Raghav won over and respect her as a wife, and he finally accepted her (hardly a mark of revenge, given that Raghav was complicit in many of Ammaji's crimes). It was only when Raghav has accepted her that her status has changed in the household; but even then, Ammaji has not left any chance to still try and get Sia away from Raghav. She managed to persuade Sia not to have a physical relationship with Raghav for 3 months since this has been recommended by the family priest, and then is subjecting Sia to a lot of pressure in the kitchen, making her cook the food for the entire family.

Rehna Hai Teri Palkon ki Chaaon Mein - The truth is out about Nandini and her being the entire attempt

Palkon Ki Chaaon mein has had a somewhat change in the way that Suman is being treated. Earlier, she was treated with hatred and derision, because she was a widow, and was blamed in some way for the death of her husband, Karan in an accident on their honeymoon. She faced a lot of problems, given that she was also grieving for Karan, but continued to have the strong support of the elder son of the family, Karthik (whose mother had initially selected Suman for Karthik). However, now Nandini was slated to marry Karthik, and this was agreed to by everyone in the house; although Karthik continued to have a soft corner for Suman.
However, thing started getting problematic for Suman when she moved away and started living with her uncle (chacha) and Prabhu Dayal, who was a widower and had 2 sons. He soon told Suman that he liked her and wanted her to become his wife, something she was not comfortable with. At the same time, Nandini was also not comfortable with the idea of Karthick and Suman, she found Suman, and convinced her to fake a marriage with Prabhu Dayal so that Nandini's marriage with Karthik would become easier.
However, with this fake marriage, Prabhu Dayal told Suman that she cannot leave now, and was holding her. Karthik rescued her then, and then when PD told everybody that Nandini was behind it, no one believed it. It is only now that Karthik learns that Nandini was constantly on the phone with PD when Suman was held, and accuses her of being behind everything, something she accepts. Now what ?

Aap Antara - the show ended on Feb 18, 2010 with Abhi finally realizing his mistakes

Aap Ki Anatra was a great show, since this was the first show on autism (something not normally covered on Indian television), and even though they went through a lot of drama (including adding a lot of non-autism related events such as a child born out of marriage, involvement with a criminal, deadly cancer, and so on), the show still tried its best to show what a patient suffering from autism (or what their family members have to undergo).
The show had reached an age where Antara had reached adulthood, with her autism levels at the same high. Vidya was able to control her (although both of them kept on really missing Aditya, who had died 10 years back in his battle against cancer). In this whole incident, Abhi, the son of the family had got turned off since he felt that because of Anatara, attention was never focused on him.
In the end, Abhi had come to get both Antara and Vidya out of the house, and he seemed pretty clear about this objective. Antara however kept on calling Abhi as papa, since he has exactly the same face as Aditya, and after a lot of words from different people in terms of shaming him, Abhi finally realized that he was making a mistake and finally decided that they will all live in the same house. There was an expectation that there would be something romantic happening between Antara and Billu, but that was not to be.

Bidaai - Sadhana finally gets the money required for the operation of her maamiji

Sadhana is facing a very difficult task; her maamiji needs a medical operation that will cost atleast Rs. 4-5 lakhs, and there is an urgent need to get the money required. There does not seem any easy way to get the money required, so it is upto Sadhana to get the money required, and then Sadhana finds out about this dance competition where the final prize will get the required some of money. So even though she does not know dancing, she gets to know of an instructor who will be able to teach all this in the few days remaining. Sadhana manages to convince the teacher to come out of retirement and train her.
And then the surprise, her mother-in-law has found out that Sadhana is looking for money and persuades Ragini to also enter the show, so that Sadhana will face problems in getting the required money. Sadhana will face problems in facing off with Ragini since it would always be difficult for to compete with her own sister. And so it happens, Ragini wins since Sadhana lets her win.
However, Sadhana still got money for the operation, and this money was given to her by Vasu, on a condition that Sadhana signs the divorce documents that Vasu got with her, and Sadhana had to do this for the operation for her maamiji. But, and this is something that is not clear, she wants her family to think that her brother had arranged for the money.

Jyoti on NDTV Imagine - finally standing tall and refusing to bend down any more

For some time now, the show called Jyoti has been showing Jyoti as bending in front of different pressures, although she stands up for what she believes is right (so she stands up for her sister Sushma against Sushma's husband Brij, even though Brij has been ill-treating Sushma). She takes a lot of pressure in her inlaws family for this, especially for the Choti Ma (called CM) of the household, who believes that Jyoti has been neglecting her husband (who is visually handicapped). Things reach a point of no turn when Brij convinces Jyoti's husband that Jyoti had been seeing Brij on the sly, and he should not depend on Jyoti. This is enough to convince all that the relationship with Jyoti needs to be ended, even though Jyoti is now pregnant.
For some time more, Jyoti takes all this with pain, not really fighting back; but now they are showing her to be fighting back much more vehemently - she for example stands up for her rights at the time of the marriage of her brother even though CM, who is going to be at the wedding, asks Jyoti not to come. She replies back strongly to CM, tells her that she is not going to take any more shit from her, and even gets the support of Uday (who is from her inlaws family, and is also her brother-in-law (sister's husband)).
And then when the time comes for her to sign the divorce papers, she refuses since she states that she will now only support the truth, and the truth is that the divorce affidavit has a wrong statement, and she will not support that wrong statement.