PAVITRA RISHTA - The Individual or the Family?

Will they or won’t they? In case you are confused, the topic for discussion here is the impending divorce of Archana and Manav of Zee Tv’s Pavitra Rishta. Trust Ekta Kapoor and Balaji Telefilms to stretch out what must be one page of writing into seven days worth of prime time television. So while the main players just want to get on with their respective lives (at least that is what they would like to believe) by signing on the dotted line; those around them are trying their level best to stop the duo and make them see sense. This brings us to a very interesting point-the role of family in India in the very private affair called marriage. And especially so in today’s transient times where live in relationships seem to be what young couples would be most comfortable with. Serials like Pavitra Rishta go a long way in enforcing and re-establishing the role of family in the institution of marriage.

Unlike the West, where marriage is most often looked upon to be a relationship between two consenting individuals, marriage in India has been very much a ‘family’ affair. It is the family which decides who gets to marry whom; like it was Archana’s Aai who handpicks her suitors and finally her husband. Similarly, it is her mother who is eager to get her divorced from her husband, Manav, because it is her view that he is not ‘good enough for her beloved Archana’. Here Archana’s feelings and views are of secondary importance. Archana and Manav too, are considered to be ‘good and dutiful’ since they follow and agree to whatever their elders and the larger family unit has to say.

On the other hand, Archana’s sister-in-law who is keen on setting up a nuclear family unit is cast as the trouble-maker. Similarly, Archana’s younger sister Varsha, had to undergo the heartbreak of a bad relationship in order to understand that her individualistic take on life and relationship is all wrong. Her being dumped by her lover (a much married man) is seen as her just punishment for daring to stray from the notions enforced by her Aai. She is now back in the family fold as the dutiful daughter who realises that the family is always right.

Wouldn’t it be lovely for once to watch characters that are not cast as black and white based purely on their views on individuality? The family has to give space to its constituent element-the single person-so that he/she can grow and realise their full potential. Otherwise the degeneration of the larger whole into fragments is inevitable. For how long can you stretch the elasticity of the bond (?) without it snapping into pieces? Serials too need to mirror this reality of society-that of families where the individual is not lost in a crowd, for in a crowd even your shadow is lost to you.

HERE’s TO NEW BEGINNINGS-ON NDTV IMAGINE

The birth of a new serial is always reason for great excitement for the channel, the Production Company and viewers. NDTV Imagine has double celebration on its hands as not one but two new serials begin their journey on the 18th of January- one titled Do Hanso Ka Joda and the other eponymously titled Devi. The teasers for these two serials have been on air for some time now and have created the required amount of buzz. However the problem with television is that there are these certain basic premises upon which stories are built around and makers tend to work within these given permutations and combinations. And these two upcoming serials seem to be based upon two popular trends.

Do Hanso Ka Joda starring, Shubhangi Atre (she shot to fame as Kasturi ) and Shaleen Bhanot ( of Nach Baliye 4 fame) seem to follow the recent trend of being an inspired take of the film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. One look at Shaleen’s get up and you will immediately be struck by the similarity between him and Shah Rukh’s character from the film, Surinder Sahni. Like the movie, this serial too promises to delve into the question of “Prince Charming”. Atre’s character is shown to be romanticizing about her future husband whom she has cast according to her favourite film hero- Shahid from Vivaah, Salman from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and others. But the person she actually ends up marrying is a far cry from the man of her dreams. Gawky, geeky and a far cry from the dashing debonair hero of her dreams, her man in no way resemble her dreams. Whether she is able to discover the true meaning of the word ‘Mr. Right’ will be the journey that both she and the audience will have to take together. Star One had started a serial on similar lines last year, titled Hum Dono Hain Alag Alag. That serial unfortunately failed to strike the right chords and had to be pulled out. We will have to wait and see how this serial (based upon the same premise of a woman redefining her definition of Prince Charming) is able to sustain viewers interest or not.

The other new offering from NDTV Imagine is that of a serial titled Devi. The teasers have been showing us images of a rain-starved village, poor parents abandoning a little baby girl due to their impoverished state and the same infant then being hailed as reincarnation of a Goddess as she brings in rain. Spirituality and mythology has always been a big draw for television audiences. We love to see stories centred on Gods and Goddesses. Of late most major channels have been focusing on the power of the female deities-be it Maati Ki Chowki ( Sahara One) or Maa Durga (Star Plus). In a country that ritually and customarily render its female population powerless, it is indeed heartening to see serials where there is an attempt to restore power to women, albeit by divine intervention. Adding Devi to this trend is indeed very encouraging not only for viewers at large but for women too.

Bandini - weird stuff starting to happen; Arjan killed and DM in a coma like situation

Bandini, which was moving as an interesting story, seems to be getting inspired by all the earlier brand of Hindi Serials where anything could happen and where all sorts of coincidences could happen anytime. And so it is happening in Bandini.
First it turned out that Khemi could not marry Hiten since her sister was married to Hiten's father, seems fine enough; then Khemi gets married to another man called Arjan with no connection; and then it turns out that Arjan was also DM's son (wonder how many more sons DM had wandering around the region). And so the same problem occurs; and it was earlier shown that Arjan was a decent sort of person, and then the serial shows him slowly becoming a source of all problems.
So, Dharamraj leaves the decision about Khemi-Arjan to Santu, who finally decides that they need to separate; and while nobody likes the decision, it was becoming clear that DM is appreciating what all she has done for the family. But then Khemi faints and you know that she will be pregnant.
But then Arjan is getting instigated by Moullick, who keeps on urging him against Hiten and against DM, and Arjan finally attacks DM (his own father). In this incident, the details of what actually happened is not clear, but DM became unconscious, Arjan died, and Santu became splattered with blood, claiming that she had killed Arjan because he had attached DM.
And now, the serial is claimed to be going towards a generation change, which will change everything, and the separation between DM and Santu will remain.

Pavitra Rishta - the truth finally comes out

On Pavitra Rishta, the misunderstanding between Archana and Manav kept on increasing. Archana believed (on the basis of a set of circumstances created by Ajit) that Manav was responsible for a lot of the things that had gone wrong in her life; and then Manav's father finally managed to get evidence from Ajit that he was responsible for everything. However, before they could resolve their matters and get Archana to listen to this evidence, Manjusha filed a false complaint before the police that Manan's family used to torture Archana, and the police arrested them all and beat them in prison.
Because of this arrest, Sachin's plan of going to the US got canceled since his visa got rejected. He was very upset because of all this, and due to this, he got into an accident and lost his life. This very badly shook up the entire family, and they all blamed Archana for this, and Archana was not able to even protest much about Manjusha's false complaint. In the meantime, it was revealed that Saanvi, Sachin's fiancee was pregnant with Sachin's child, and was determined to have the baby. Manav did the right thing by offering to marry her so that she could have the baby, given that his divorce to Archana was due.
However, finally the taped evidence about Ajit's guilt was heard by Archana's family, and they all realized that Manav was innocent, and Ajit was guilty, and are no longer able to believe Manjusha when she kept on stating that her brother was innocent. In the meantime, the relation between Sathish and Varsha was slowly starting to grow.