The Fall of the mighty Bahoo, ooops...Saas

I have forgotten...Tulsi and Paarvati did begin their lives as perfect bharatiya bahoos, right? But I guess they ended as the Saas, or the saas of the saas...oh whatever! How old were they before Ekta darling finally decided to have mercy on our intelligence? And how can we forget Prerna, and her varying husbands and the horde of legal, illegal and step children- well she had to say goodbye to! Of course, we still do have plenty of the glycerine-dosed Saas-Bahoo shows left, but 2008 saw the fall of the titans. And the rise of new leaders. Ekta had a new show on Star Plus- which of course is very popular, but once again, she can't see any pair of lovers happily married, so I am sick of her, though the show gave us some fresh faces.Talking about fresh faces, the Bidaai team and Kapil Nirmal and Anjali Abrol look promising. The other popular serial- Dulhann is beginning now to look dated and hackneyed(which it was anyway from the beginning- but the lead pair had managed to save the show) and is taking a severe beating from balika vadhu on Colors. In fact, of the three new channels, NDTV Imagine, 9X and Colors, the latter has been the most promising. And 2008 was certainly the year of Avika Gor. A close-to-earth, socially aware storyline, a brilliant cast, a bit of glamour in clothes(but within limits) and a sensitive characterization which gives scope for multiple perspectives in judging event the most hateful characters has made the show a success. Hope it does not go haywire like other shows with good beginnings have done in the past.
Happy New Year, and Happy teleWatching.

Weird Attractions

My earliest experience in Indian serials go back to the days of the old Mahabharata, then there was Sagar's Sri Krishna - the two shows that are being remade right now(no, I never watched the old Ramayana). Then there was something called Junoon- my parents didn't like it after 2 episodes, and that was that. There was another period show with Pallavi Joshi playing a character called Ninni who secretly loved a king, and that is all I remember of it now. There was something against the backdrop of Kashmir- shikaras floating on the Dal Lake- and that was when I first started dreaming of Paradise-Land. And there was Circus, of course, cute young Shahrukh - SRK knew even back then that the world was nothing more than a circus(Remember the title track- "Yeh duniya ek circus hai"?); so no surprises at IPL. I don't know why, but I have always had this attraction for period shows and movies- I remember I used to fight with my parents to let me watch Krishna at 8pm on Sundays while they wanted to finish watching the Sunday movie on DD-Bangla. And for the same reason, 2 back, I started watching the weekend 9pm show on Star Plus with the long-winded name: "Dharti Ke Veer Yoddha: Prithviraj Chauhan". It used to be good at first, a well-paced script, good dialogues, good costumes and sets, but if a show remains and ends the way it began, it is not an Indian serial any more. And so now we have pathetic acting and even worse scripts that never move, recycled costumes that look like clothes discarded from the k-serials' wardrobes and music from anywhere and everywhere to fill in the gaps between ad breaks. Funny thing is, I still watch it, even though I don't like the show one bit any more. Yet few things annoy me more than a powercut at 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. Then there's "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahoo Thi" - the show is hilarious, and I don't regularly watch it, but once in 2/3 months, I try to catch up what's happening, and with sincere interest. "Banoo Main Teri Dulhaan" - admittedly, a very cute lead pair, but that hardly excuses the done-to-death plot. Why are all the tv-shows so obsessed with murder and betrayal? All right, this is the Kal Yug, the world is full of bad people, but does the ordinary brother/sister/next-door neighbour/friend/spouse really turn murderer at the drop of a hat? And the poor Hindu Marriage Act, oh my God! Ganga, bahoo of Tulsi, told ex-hubby Sahil the other day that they were no longer marriageable age and it was time to marry off their children. That was funny, seeing that Karan and Nandini belonging to the same generation of the family got married the other day, and anyway, whoever heard of an upper limit to the marriagable age of Ekta's characters? Ekta's Mahabharat - Draupadi has one saree throughout the show. Ah well, the princess of Panchal and queen of Indraprastha- one saree? And not much jewellary either. Bhishm and Shantanoo all dress like Romans or Greeks- the ancient ones, I mean, Sakshi acts well as Ganga but what should have been the main attraction is a flop. Anita Hansdani as Draupadi only screams and shows her teeth. And Rupa Ganguly is content playing Kasturi's mother all the while.