Hindi TV Serial - Diya Aur Bati Hum - Marriage rituals for Mohit and Emily

The marriage of Mohit and Emily was finally on. After a lot of struggle for acceptance of this marriage, finally everybody had accepted. Due to the struggle in the village (which would have refused to accept a marriage between different castes), Sandhya finally managed to get everybody to agree to the wedding even though there was a lot of drama, and even their life was threatened. Eventually, Maasa was convinced and over-rode any objections Bhabho may have had about this, telling Sandhya that she was to be the one responsible for ensuring that the marriage would happen, and to organize the marriage events.
On the other hand, Meena gave birth to a child, which was a girl, but she managed to swap places with the child born in Daisa's house, which was a boy. This swap happened in a hospital where there was a lot of confusion going on since there were a number of deliveries happening at the same time and the hospital was under-staffed. Ever since then, Meena had been under a lot of pressure, since she feared that her truth would get exposed one time or the other. Even the fact that the child had a much darker complexion that her or her husband was an item of concern for her since others had already pointed this out - however Bhabhasa had managed this by pointing out that his complexion was darker, and hence it could be that the child had got the dark complexion from him.
Now, when people from 2 different regions or castes get married, there is often confusion about the marriage functions, since there could be difference in the customs of the marriage festivities. And when the marriage is between people of different religions, there would be a lot more differences, including the fact that a function would also need to happen in church. Bhabho was in her heart not very happy about this, and Meena was doing her best to stoke the fears of Bhabho in this respect by pointing out that eventually Sandhya would become all powerful, and would actually become a police officer. As a result, Bhabho repeated her internal vow that she would not let Sandhya join the police, and become an officer.
There were a lot of compromises that were happening in the marriage festivities, and the 2 different sets of festivities were very different from each other, but if something failed, then it would be repeated and eventually the festivities were proceeding. A problem for Meena was that one of the nurses from the hospital was also there, and her fear about getting exposed was there; and then she would also see her husband getting friendly with the nurse, which also brought about her jealousy.
Bhabho on the other hand had heard about some liquour chocolates that were there as part of the festivities, and she managed to feed some of them to Sandhya, and Sandhya was starting to feel dizzy because of these.

Hindi TV Serial - Qubool Hain - Zoya finally reverses her plan to leave, after she hears Asad

The serial is going through a lot of complications, with multiple stories ongoing. There is still some tension between Asad and Ayyan, ever since Ayyan used money to Rashid out of prison and free of the charges against him. What caused further problems was the statement by the police inspector that the charges were made on the basis of bias, and done by the first son (Asad) who was left by Rashid after the fire in the doll factory; Razia using that incident to apply pressure on Rashid to do what she wanted.
There is a blossoming love story between Zoya and Asad, although both are apprehensive about this, since they are very different from each other. They have a love hate relation with each other, with Asad adopting a stance of coldness and rigidity, and also blaming her when a number of things have gone wrong (with many of them later turning out to show that Zoya was not wrong, or did not do so deliberately). However, he felt a great sense of shame when he learnt that Zoya's parents are dead and she was originally in an orphanage from where a family adopted her (he remembers the time when he told her in anger that her parents had not brought her up properly, and that her values were very different from those of a normal family). Every time he had told her like this, her tears had come out, but he would have been angry and not cared.
Now, her visa time has run out. For her, her mission was a failure, since she had come to find her natural father, and this in turns out to be Siddique, but Razia detects who the illegitimate daughter of her husband is, and manages to manipulates in such a way that both Zoya and Siddique believe that the other one is dead and do not know the actual identities (in Zoya's case, she is shown the grave where her father is supposed to be lying). This brings further pain to Zoya, and she decides to leave; this causes great happiness to Tanveer since she wants to become rich by marrying Asad.
But, at the last minute, Zoya is shocked when she hears the voice of Asad asking her not to go (the voice coming out through a recording on her laptop); till now she had believed that Asad was interesting in her leaving and was in fact helping this out by getting her early tickets. So, when she says that she will not go, everybody is happy, except for Tanveer.
On the other hand, Ayyan has finally agreed to marry Humaira after Razia tells him that she will get Rashid sent back to jail on the same charge; she further pressures him to tell his family early, which he finally does. Rashid suspects that there is some pressure on him to take this decision, and Ayyan is forced to defend his decision; although there is a cute scene where Zoya tells him about some signs to detect whether Humaira is in love with him (and those signs certainly point to this).

Hindi TV Serial - Ballika Vadhu - Shiv gets a transfer to Udaipur, Anandi furious at Shiv

Even a new marriage can still lead to tension. In this case, the serial is showing that Shiv has got a transfer to Udaipur, and away from Jetsar. Now, a government job is transferable, and in fact, for somebody starting a new government job, especially for a position like a collector or a district magistrate, the job can entail moving from position to position, with the placement at a particular position not being for more than 2-3 years at the most.
Here, Shiv has got a new transfer, to Udaipur and is now wondering as how to tell this to Anandi. Anandi had just recently shared to him about how she wanted to re-start a project that she had which involved earlier, the project of wanting to educate the illiterate elders in the village. Seeing her enthusiasm, and knowing the ties that still bound her to Jetsar and to her earlier family, Shiv was very worried about how to tell her, and kept on delaying the decision.
Unfortunately for him, Anandi learnt about this transfer when Daddu told the rest of the family in a congratulatory way that Shiv had got a transfer to Udaipur (for them, it was a very happy news since they could move back to Udaipur, and away from Jetsar). This was a time when Shiv saw the anger that Anandi could have, since she did remonstrate with him for not telling her, and accusing him of not having faith in her.
Finally Shiv asked Anandi whether she would move with him, or would she want to stay in Jetsar only. This was going to be a tough decision, since for her, it would be a very painful decision. It would mean leaving the family behind and moving to a new place, but at the same time, moving with your husband is a given thing, and it happens all the time. The option of not moving would seem strange, since it would mean almost giving a hard time to the marriage, and nobody would be able to understand this.
They did make up, but the bigger problem was about how to tell this to Jagya's family. There was a different problem over there, trying to fit Ganga somewhere in the family, with Jagya deciding to get training for being a nurse to Ganga, and her child having been given back to her. Her kid was the pleasure of the family now, since there was no other kid in the family (Nandu was a much older kid now), and Dadi Sa was very happy playing with the infant.
Now, Shiv and Anandi with the rest of his family decide to go to Dadi Sa's house and are wondering how to tell her, since for her it will be a painful decision, and from some of the language she speaks, they realize that it will be tough to give her this news, but it will still need to be done.

Hindi TV Serial - Diya Aur Bati Hum - More twists in the serial with Mohit and Emily

The serial is planning to take its viewers through more twists and turns; now, even though they do show most of the conservative elements of Indian society in some way, the serial does show changes brought forward in this society due to education, and due to sheer persistence. The serial has been criticized in some aspects because of the sheer conservatism of the family and the reluctance of the educated daughter-in-law of the family to significantly object to some of these customs - instead she does oppose them but not in a direct way; instead the show shows her trying to use slow processes, but based on logic and reasoning to make these changes, backed solidly by her husband (one wonders how this would have turned out if the husband, Suraj, had not been supportive of these changes but had instead been as conservative as anybody else).
After the expose of the Swami, Sandhya gains more respect due to the logic and reasoning she used to expose the Swami and his plans of usurping land by building a mall in the region. The expose of the miracles done by the Swami meant that people understood how those miracles were happening and also ensured that the trouble that her family was going through finally disappeared, and that her family was able to hold up its head in society again (there was a time when the efforts by the Swami meant that her family was being exposed to actual physical harm).
Now, one of the byproducts of the effort done by Sandhya was that Bhabho ensured that she would be able to go to college in the day instead of in the evening / night (the family was surprised when a letter announcing her admission in the college came, and even more when it was revealed that it was Bhabho who had caused this to happen). Meenakshi was very surprised since this meant that there was more affection between Bhabho and Sandhya, and the possibility of Bhabho getting angry and kicking Sandhya out of the house had reduced for now (till the time that the serial wants more masala in the serial).
The next major problem in the serial will come to challenge Bhabho's belief in no cross-caste or cross-religion marriage, since she will find that her own son is involved in a relationship with a Christian girl, a shocker for sure. Meenakshi will discover that Mohit is in a relation with Emily, and her nosy nature will lead her to learn that Emily is actually pregnant with Mohit's child, which will be a shocker for Bhabho in more than one way. What will Bhabho do now ? Or will Mohit actually get married to Emily and then present Bhabho with a decision already taken.

Hindi TV Serial - Diya Aur Bati Hum - Sandhya reveals the truth behind the Swami

The serial keeps on showing the evolution in the life of an educated girl with values who is living in a more conservative household in a conservative society. The pressures in her life, the struggle to try and increase the level of education, to become more progressive is shown in the serial. Sometimes the serial seems to descend to a level where the girl is shown as being down-trodden most of the times, but the character is shown as trying her best to do what she thinks is best, to improve her conditions, and to also ensure that people think in a logical and right way. One of the best examples is when the household of the lady is put under pressure by a religious swami, who accuses the family of stealing the jewels of the goddess and claims that the family will suffer for what they have done, and keeps on applying pressure for the same.
So, the Swami applies pressure on the family, and given that this is a conservative family, everybody immediately comes under pressure. Except for Sandhya, the rest of the family is shocked, and whenever something bad happens (which can happen even in a normal course of events), the incident is blamed on the curse given by the swami. And the Swami gives them very little time for recovering the jewels of the goddess and asks them to return the jewels or face a punishment, and even the neighbors believe all this, and see the miracles brought forward by the Swami, and blame the family.
Sandhya, with the help of Suraj, Chotu, and Chaturi cannot accept that things such as miracles can happen, and decides to investigate as to what has happened, and there is an urgency since there is the potential of very serious trouble hanging on top of their head if the jewels are not recovered. The problem is that the Swami has indeed buried the jewels in their house and they will get in serious trouble.
So Sandhya decides to pay back the Swami in his coin, using science in the guise of faith and miracles, and starts to twist the Swami around. She does some miracles of her own, including getting a coconut to break only when the Swami is holding it in his hand, putting water on the ground for some hours till the jewels automatically rise out of the ground (as if the goddess has produced the jewels in response to her prayers).
She then reveals the truth behind these miracles, that the earth splitting and jewels coming out was because of watering of grain till they absorbed water and arose pushing up the jewels which were on top. Similarly, the crying of the statue of the goddess when Bhabho offered prayers was because of a chemical that was activated by extra heat, and so on.
She also reveals that the Swmi was just a person called Govind who was trying to get a mall constructed, and the reason that he was after their family was because they had got a stay order filed against him in court and this was a way to get them to back down.

Hindi TV Serial - Diya Aur Bati Hum - Bhabho concerned over praise to Sandhya

The serial continues to show the social situation in small town India, which is conservative and where woman have to face the brunt of not being treated equally. Woman are supposed to be eventually married off and sent off to their husband's house to live, and take care of his family members. This had led to a condition where they are not treated equally, not provided the same amount of education and other such benefits as the male members of the family. While this may seem unfair and something that the Government and society needs to continue to do to make fair, this is a reality that is depicted in a number of serials that are now showing up more and more in current serials.
In the current case, there is an unstated fear that Sandhya, even though she was married and had not mentioned her education again, would again want to move ahead with her education. Bhabho has a big fear that Sandhya will get awakened again some time about her ambitions, and with suraj also supporting her, she will want to start working again towards her education as well as joining the IPS. With the actions taken by Sandhya to prevent a terrorist attack in the city, there is a lot of recognition and commendations coming her way, which makes the family happen; but Bhabho is concerned. She also tells Sandhya that she wanted Lakshmi, not Durga or Kali in her home. Which means that she wanted a home maker in her family, not somebody who will play a public profile.
So, there is some amount of tension in the house, with Bhabho not comfortable with the public functions that are being organized in favor of Sandhya, although Bhabhasa and Suraj are very comfortable with this. Also, Sandhya gets some very good news in terms of her brother and sister-in-law having a daughter (something which Bhabho mentions as not being as good as having a son), and leaves for sometime to take care of them.

Hindi TV Serial - Phir Subah Hogi - A girl trying to break free from a repressive tradition

For the past few years now, there have been some shows coming up on television that are breaking the traditional saas-bahu or reality series model on TV and highlighting some of the problems that are there in the country. For example, Balika Vadhu, even with all the dramatics still portrayed the problem of child marriage and other ills that are present in our society and also show from time to time, some actions that can break these customs.
Phir Subah Hogi is another such serial that showcases the problematic customs of some regions, such as in the Bundelkhand region of central India, where the original dance form of 'Raai dance' was meant to be for the gods, but over a period of time and due to the acute poverty, this got converted into a tradition meant for the rich people and then into the flesh trade, where a rich guy could do a custom called 'Sardhakai', meant to showcase the entry of the girl into the trade under the control of a rich thakur. It has been accepted for many many years now, but there are girls from time to time who want to break free and lead a normal life, have a normal marriage rather than be doing this trade.
So, Sugni (played by Gulki Joshi), is more educated than others from her community and cannot stand this custom. She is struggling against the customs, and is also attracted to the Thakur Vikram Singh (Varun Badola) who supports her and her family on many occasions, and then expresses his love for her. It is more difficult for her to express her love, but she does so, and now they have to face the expressions of many others in the community. Further, as per the show, eventually the Thakur Vikram Singh will turn negative, and will cause her more problems.

Hindi TV Serial - Ballika Vadhu - Gauri creates a huge scene, Badi Masi faints and Jagat gets angry

Things are getting more complicated in the serial, and there are questions of morality that cannot be easily answered; yet the serial does not seem to handle them with the complexity that these situations require. Jagat got married in his childhood, and he was fairly happy with the marriage. As he became an adult, both he and Anandi had the option to get the marriage annulled, since this was a child marriage and the law allows the option of stating that this is an illegal marriage. He did not do this, and was happy. Later on, he was given the chance to get higher education, and he decided to take the chance, and so he went off for medical studies. There, not only did he get a higher education, but he also picked up a love interest, which led to his losing interest in Anandi.
When this fact finally came out, he stated that the child marriage was illegal, and that he wanted to get married to Gauri, and not Anandi, and that Anandi was a rustic village girl, and not upto his standards. His family could not tolerate this, and decided to send him away and not support him. Soon, Gauri was pregnant, and he was living his own life in the city, while Anandi was living with his family in the village.
And then the complications started. His Badi Masi, was diagnosed as being critically ill, she had no idea of all this happening, and it was difficult to tell her that Jagat was no longer living with Anandi. So, Jagya came to the village, with a pretence that that everything was fine between him and Anandi; and while Gauri needed his support, she was faced with the fact that she did not know what was happening, and he was back with his family and his first wife. All this, combined with her insecurities, led her to reveal the truth in front of Badi Masi, something which shocked her to the core, and also shocked Jagya a lot. But, this is a very complex situation, and blaming Gauri for everything is not the right way to present such a situation.

Hindi TV Serial - Diya Aur Bati Hum - Necklace lost, Bhabho blames Sandhya and Ankur for this one

As usual, the serial keeps on showing one drama after another. When the serial started, there was a feeling that it would be different, however, it is settling into the usual sort of drama, with the setting being changed. There is the suffering bahu, the silent men who do not interfere, and there is the saas who runs the house (and then there is the person who in the house is the source of most of the wrong that happens). There is one episode after another, but yet the bahu continues to suffer and be tormented.
After the episode in the village, where after some initial condemnation by maasa, Sandhya manages to save the marriage through some education of those involved (with of course support from the brother-in-law of the groom); she gets the full support of maasa who tells Bhabho that Sandhya has her full support and Bhabho has got the right bahu.
Bhabho of course continues to be against Sandhya to a large degree, and with Suraj providing support, but mostly of a silent nature (except when Bhabho wanted to turn out Sandhya and Suraj refused to let that happen). In the current episode, Sandhya had jewellery out of which one of them goes missing after she had given them to Bhabho for keeping. Bhabho is very angry over the loss of the jewellery, and in the beginning believes that Sandhya has the jewellery set; and then actually believes that Ankur (Sandhya's brother) was needing a loan and then suddenly did not want a loan (and this would be because Sandhya would have given him the necklace for money purposes). She calls Ankur to the house.
Sandhya is totally aghast at this allegation, and does not let Ankur enter the house since she says that discussions related to the house should remain the house rather than being discussed outside the house. And then Suraj seems some photos in the camera that show Meena with the necklace; but will he expose everything ?

Hindi TV Serial - Pratigya - Krishna being framed for beating a waiter, so that Shakti can get all the money

The serial is finally showing the major split between Krishna and Shakti; both of them have a high ego, but Krishna has been turned towards the good side by Pratigya, while there is nothing that seems to have done that for Shakti. Further, his new wife, who is actually also cheating on the family by selling her jewellery on the side, influences him to turn even more negative.
In the recent episodes, Krishna knew for some time that Pratigya was hiding the fact about him being unable to have children, and so decided to do a drama so that she revealed the truth. However, when he got the truth revealed, even though things got better for Pratigya, the truth coming out and the taunts by Shakti did not do any good for Krishna, and he went into a sort of mini depression; exhibited in terms of fickle behavior, including beating up a waiter when he got angry over something.
It was at this time that Sajjan Singh decided to will his property to Krishna, and hand over some other parts to Shakti; Shakti's wife heard this and went to Shakti, telling him that his father was going to give over everything to Krishna and leave Shakti with nothing. Shakti then created a plan where he would defeat this plan of Sajjan Singh, and got a drama around a waiter of Krishna's dhaba; on Holi day, the waiter turned up with the police and claimed that Krishna had beaten him up badly and Krishna was taken to jail. The police also told his family that they could not step in since the employees union was involved in the issue and was applying pressure.
The plan of Shakti was to use the bail papers as a fraud, instead they would get signatures on the property transfer papers and file them in court.

Hindi TV Serial - Kuch To Log Kahenge - The accident of Dr.Ashutosh and Nidhi trying to find him

The serial is proving popular with the character of Dr. Ashutosh, a leading doctor of the city, being played by Mohnish Behl, proving to be very popular. However, in recent times, Mohnish Behl needed to take a medical break from the serial, and thus they needed to remove him from the serial and replace him with a new person (Sharad Kelkar). So, the most common method is to do some kind of accident where there is a need for plastic surgery. The serial moved on this side, taking the doctor on a car accident where he was found missing, apparently fallen into a river and presumed dead. The police did an investigation and could not find his body and everybody assumed that he was dead, including his close friend Armaan.
However, it was Nidhi who did not believe that Dr. Ashutosh was dead. By this time, her family members knew that she was in love with Dr. Ashutosh and were not comfortable with this, although her father really did not push his views. And Nidhi really did not care for objections. So now, when everybody believed that Dr. Ashutosh was dead, Nidhi refused to believe it, and started on a search for Dr. Ashutosh.
She set out, hunting for possible spots where he could have emerged from the river in an injured state, reaching villages on the way. At a particular village, she went into the hospital, and talked to the doctor, but the doctor told her that there were no persons fitting that description. However, her heart did not accept this, and she decided to turn back to the village over the objections of her friends, at the same time that a barely living person was pulled from the river and taken to hospital. He barely had a heart beat.

Hindi TV Serial - Maryada Lekin Kab Tak - Devyani finally launched divorce proceedings

The show has shown the distances between Brahmanand and his wife Devyani growing over a period of time. This increased when Devyani got to know about the relationship that her husband has formed with her own sister Uttara. She is also very angry at Uttara over what has happened, and cannot understand how Uttara would have formed a relationship with her own brother-in-law, that too when her own sister is there in the household.
Priya is fully supportive of her mother-in-law and so is Brahmanand's father who is also aware of the fact that his son is an evil man, who has betrayed his own wife many times, and who is guilty of numerous other crimes. However, Brahmanand's younger son, Aditya does not know the reality of his father, and so is unable to understand what his mother is doing, and how his own wife Priya is also going against his own father (he still does not know that the attempted molestation of his own wife Priya was also done by his own father).
So now the case is in court, with Brahmanand doing his own case, and he is trying to ensure that he uses all the tactics he knows to twist the facts, to portray himself as the wronged one, the one on whose character there is a taint; and he manages to deny all the accusations so far. This is putting Devyani in a twist, since she wants to avoid calling Uttara, and she has a lot of doubts about calling her own sister on the stage and accuse her of having an affair with her own brother-in-law, but this has now happened and the fact about Uttara has also been put on the stage.
There are a lot of doubts about whether Uttara will indeed admit to the affair in court, and Brahmanand has also threatened her not to do something like this. In addition, Brahmanand seeks to turn the tables on Devyani by accusing her of having an affair with her lawyer.

Hindi TV Serial - Saubhagyavati Bhava - The story of an abusive husband, who seems ideal outside

Abuse in a marriage is something that happens much more frequently in conservative societies, such as India or in Islamic countries of the Middle east. In such countries, the amount of freedom available to women or ladies is much lower and the husband feels that the woman is more under his control. And as a result, there is a feeling to some degree that the husband is in a superior position and can do what he wants. And when you combine this with the overall position in society such that women not working, having an overall lower stats, it can set the ground very clearly for those men who feel over-jealous of their wife.
This is such a story, and one would have seen some traces of this in a 2007 movie called 'Provoked', starring Aishwarya Rai, based on the story of an Indian lady in the United Kingdom called ' Kiranjit Ahluwalia' who was abused by her husband on a regular basis and got no support from her own family, and who finally burnt her husband to death and went through a long court case to get her freedom from the court case against her.
The story of the serial, 'Dil Se Di Dua - Saubhagyavati Bhava' is on similar lines, with a new marriage. This is supposedly an ideal marriage, with the marriage between Viraj and Jhahnvi. Viraj is seen as a polite and nice man, and thus the marriage is seen as a good marriage. However, unknown to others, and much known to Jhahnvi, Viraj is highly possessive and had a bad childhood; as a result of which, from time to time, he ill-treats Jhanvi, including physically abusing her. She is tremendous shock because of this ill-treatment and is now trying to find a way to escape.

Hindi TV Serial - Balika Vadhu - Gauri getting a few setbacks, with eviction from her apartment and money cut off

The last few episodes have seen a major set of problems for Gauri and Jagya. Their landlord, who was very supportive of them, found out that Gauri was in fact the second woman when the first wife was still alive and there was no divorce, and she was shocked since she never knew about all of this. She decides to turn them out of the house, and as she explained, she was in a similar position where her husband had left her for another woman and she could never accept that somebody who put another lady in a bad position was occupying her apartment. In addition, she also learnt that they were married only for 1 year, while they were staying in her apartment pretending to be married for 2 years. Now, they had to find a new house which would cost more and which was also located some more distance away from the hospital.
They are also running out of money, and Gauri used to be getting money on a monthly basis for her education from her Bade Papa, but suddenly found that the money that was coming in was not there this month. After some amount of delay, she got in touch with her Bade Papa was in for a severe shock. He severely scolded her for the way that she was marrying somebody who was already married and who had left his earlier wife and not got divorced. And then he told her that the person who was actually supplying the money for education on a regular basis was actually Bhairon Singh, from the time when she was married off to Jagat in her childhood and then the marriage was broken.
Now, since her education is over, and she is also in such a condition, the money has been stopped; at this news that the money was coming in from Bhairon Singh, she wants to go to Jetsar.
In the haveli, there is a small amount of tension since Nandu is not listening to his mother, but instead is listening to Anandi more, and this makes Gehna uncomfortable.

Hindi TV Serial - Balika Vadhu - Exploring a new social evil where wife is used for producing a baby

The serial is now showcasing another social evil that can be like torture for the people who get caught up in it, and with little support from society for those who are afflicted by it. This is the 'nata pratha'; as a result of which Phooli is now suffering. She was apparently married with the sole reason of giving birth to a baby, after which the baby would be taken from her and the person to whom she was married also refused to support her.
Soon after she gave birth to a baby boy, she started seeing some strange customs where she was not allowed to go anywhere with her baby (even when she suggested that she go with her baby to her parents house for some time); and her mother in law refused all such suggestions. And then worse things were to happen.
She was told that now she now no longer had a claim to the baby, and it belonged to her husband and his first wife, and she was turned out from the house. When she pleaded to atleast provide her milk to the baby, even that was refused. Frustrated, she tried to take the baby away, but was detected and badly beaten and then turned away.
When she was wandering around in a shocked state, she was seen by Shivani, who supported her and took her to Anandi's house since Phooli was mentioning the name of Anandi. There, the story of Phooli was revealed to all, and Anandi was badly shocked, promising that she would get Phooli the justice due to her. And since Anandi was now the sarpanch of the village, one would assume that it would be easier for her to get justice, but for now, it does not seem like that the village people would support her.

Hindi TV Serial - Maryada Lekin Kab Tak - Vidya in hospital after being shot by Brahmanand

The serial is turning to be full of confrontation nowadays. And it has taken on something that is pretty controversial in the Indian context, the concept of a homosexual relationship. For a movie like Dostana to show a homosexual relationship is something else, especially when it gets shown in multiplexes and is set in the US, but for a serial such as Maryada, which is set in the Indian small town context, in a conservative society, is something else altogether.
The minister RD has yet to get over the shock of what she had learnt. She was inquisitive, and wanted to find out what was going on in the marriage of the son of the police officer Brahmanand, and slowly finds out more. She learns that there is no close relationship in the marriage between Vidya and Gaurav, and then learns that Gaurav is actually interested in men, not in his wife. She of course wants to use this a power over the police officer, and tells him about this. Brahmanand is very angry over this and comes into confront his son, and in the battle Vidya gets shot and is taken to the hospital. However, RD has to also suffer since on the other side of the homosexual relationship is her own son, Karan. Karan gets very angry with her and tells her that she has to correct items, and needs to tell Brahma that what she told him was not true. She is still shocked at what her son is upto.
On the other hand, Bramha is facing more issues. His wife knows that Brahma has started having an affair with her own sister Uttara, and the relationship between them has deteriorated. She has also learnt that Brahma had made an attempt on the modesty of his own future daughter-in-law.

Hindi TV Serial - Ballika Vadhu - the conflict between Jagya, and his parents, since he has left Anandi and is now staying with Gauri

Things are coming to a confrontation point on the serial, with a major confrontation brewing between Jagdish and his parents over his choice of behavior. The serial is also finally raising a few questions on child marriage, and how this decision of a child marriage can impact the later life of the ones who get married.
So, Jagya and Gauri have completed their initial set of medical studies, and after his time in the big city, Jagya no longer can stand his home village (seeing the city as much more glamorous, as the place to be) and now also considers Anandi to be very rustic, plain and no longer feels attracted to her. He has fallen in love with Gauri, and she with him, although she does not know the truth about him. Jagya has also lost his friendship with his friends since they do not understand his decision to break off with Anandi.
Anandi has understood that Jagya has broken off with her, and is very sad about this, although this was clear to her over a period of time. However, when his family gets to know about the entire situation, they are very very disappointed. His father, Bhairon, has a heated argument with Jagya, and slaps him when he sees that Jagya is adamant. Further, Jagya blames his child marriage for whatever is happening, and says that his family did the child marriage which causes problems. Bhairon then disowns Jagya.
And then Jagya's mother, Sumitra gets involved. She decides to go to Mumbai on her own, without even telling anybody and just leaves a letter. Everybody is worried about how she will managed in a big city, but after being tricked by a taxi driver, she finally makes it to meet Jagya, who listens to her but does not agree. Finally, she slaps Jagya, and leaves, but is not to be found now.
Next, we will see a scene where Gauri finally learns about Jagya's family and his marriage, and then the main question will be about what to do ?

Hindi TV Serial - Pratigya - Arushi wants to leave Shakti, Pratigya supports her in this

The serial was showing a conflict between Arushi and Pratigya for some time now. When Pratigya found out the truth of Aman, that he was two-timing Arushi, she warned Arushi. However, Arushi could not understand this warning, and got real angry at Pratigya. In this anger, when Pratigya created a scene in the marriage between Arushi and Aman, Arushi took the extreme step of marrying Shakti as his second wife so that she could enter the same house as Pratigya and take her revenge.
And she does enter the house of Shakti Singh, and takes real pleasure in tormenting Pratigya, telling her various items, and so on. Further, since she is the wife of the elder brother, she scolds Pratigya at several intervals, and Pratigya takes all those insults. The others in the house are pretty happy at this distance between the 2 sisters, since they never really liked Pratigya. In all this, Krishna is still uncomfortable, but continues to support whatever Pratigya does (however, he does tell her off at many intervals, being angry with her at many occasions).
However, in the end, Arushi comes to know the reality of Aman, seeing him with his wife (the same person who tied a rakhi on Aman to prove that she was like a sister to Aman). Realizing that Pratigya was only trying to be helpful to Arushi, Arushi comes to Pratigya and Krishna and wants to apologize for everything that she has done, and also wants to reconcile with her parents (who have disowned her for whatever she did and said against them). And then there is Shakti, who is itching to establish physical relations with Arushi, and the only thing saving Arushi was the message of the baba who came to the house (although the baba was sent by Pratigya), who states that there needs to be a period of going to the temple for some days of prayer before the marriage can be taken to the intimate level.

Hindi TV Serial - Na Aana Is Des Ladoo - The elections are near, and Sia is also expecting a baby

The scene is cast in Na Aana Is Des Ladoo. After a long period where it seemed that Sia had given up the fight, she is back in the bitter fight against Ammaji and is standing up against her in the local elections. Something that is troubling Ammaji to a large extent, since she believes that the women of the village would vote for Sia and make things difficult for her.
Raghav is providing full support to Sia in this, and standing up to his mother, something for which she blames Sia, believing that Sia has taken her son away from her. Further, Raghav was a strong person she had, and so this is causing her more problems. Attempts were made to get Raghav away from the campaign, including by attacking him and causing injuries that would prevent him for supporting Sia. However, all this does not deter Raghav and he decides to continue to stand by the side of Sia, including when aspersions were cast on her.
Sia is trying to empower the women of the village, so that they can fight the injustices being done on them, and some of this message is starting to get through to the women, in a couple of cases, women are shown as standing up to their husbands.
Further, the police presence in the village is troubling Ammaji, since the police is preventing injustice being done, and preventing people such as Joginder from causing problems and doing vote fraud. However, Ammaji has one last card up her sleeve. She goes out and claims that she would want people to vote for Sia, especially since Sia is expecting Raghav's child, and she hopes that his action will make sure that all the menfolk will vote for Ammaji, and make them also prevent their wives from going out to vote.

Hindi TV Serial - Maan Rahe Tera Pitaah - New Serial on Sony TV - focusing on the plight of a girl trying to save her father

Maan Rahe Tera Pitah is part of the new set of serials that have been launched by Sony TV in an effort to catch up with the rest of the channels in the Hindi serial space, promising to be a heavy emotional drama. The serial is about the love between a father and daughter, especially when the daughter has to hold up the pride and image of her father, and protect him from the people all around him. The serial started on June 1, 2010 and was written by Anand Vardhan & Siddharth Tewary, with direction by Rajesh Ram Singh. The serial stars the following:
Archana Taide ... Anmol (the main protagonist), the daughter who struggles to maintain the pride of her father
Pramod Moutho ... Durgaprasad (who lost his wife in a mining accident and is now treated as a mad man)
Varun Badola ... Kaliprasad (Anmol's chacha who is a MLA), the all powerful local MLA
The serial is set in a coal mining region of Brahmapur (Chattisgarh), where the local population depends on the coal mines, the main character of Durgaprasad lost his wife many years back in an accident at the coal mines and ever since then, the local people assume that he has lost his senses and is now mad. His daughter Anmol was very young when she lost her mother, and now that she is older, she wants to ensure that her father continues to be treated with respect, even though his family members also consider him mad. Durgaprasad wants to shut down the coal mines since they are a danger to the locals, but it is considered that he is doing so out of revenge.
Further, Anmol's uncle and Durgaprasad's brother Kaliprasad is the local MLA, all powerful, and who pretends to sympathize with Durgaprasad, but in reality, Kaliprasad is a hard core politician, capable of playing all the political games that they want to play.