Early evening drama works...

The show is the story of a family that loses a son to the reservation system and the system’s after-effects on commoners.

Armaanon KaBalidaan—Aarakshan
Station: Imagine
Time: 8 pm, weekdays
Cast: Aarya Kumar, Pariva Pranati
Rating: **

HT Image

The show is the story of a family that loses a son to the reservation system and the system’s after-effects on commoners. The central character is a principled guy, belonging to a lower caste, who believes in equality, and fair distribution of jobs, disregarding one’s social background. He’s the said family’s servant’s son who falls in love with ‘parivaar ki beti’, and fights the system for its unjust practices.

The casting is okay. The show has a definite storyline and it sticks to it. That the actors are putting in evident efforts. But a lot needs to be done because the show fails to hold one’s attention. The drama is not good enough to keep the audience going. Also, like most shows that have plots hailing from small-town India, here too you’d spot those loud saris, jewellery and a palatial home, even if a family were going through serious financial crunches. Buck up guys…

Bhaagonwaali
Station: Zee TV
Time: 6 pm
Cast: Nivedita Tiwari and others
Rating: ***

Clearly, with this one, the channel has got its brief, and hence, the treatment, the casting and every other thing look right. Well almost. Bhaagonwali is a sort of a Cinderella story of a girl who’s super-fortunate for everyone around her, but doesn’t know that about herself.

Her maternal aunts, uncles and cousins treat her like dirt. Her ‘naani’ is her saviour. Her paternal uncle and aunt intend to take her to their home to treat her like a doormat and use her luck to their advantage, but their efforts always go in vain. The show hasn’t been treated in a pseudo-intelligent manner. It’s like a Manmohan Desai film — full of masala, drama and dialogue that doesn’t really require high concentration.

The show’s target audience has been made very clear: the average housewife in the interiors. The loopholes appear in the way the women dress up in this show. It’s too tacky for a woman in the interiors to dress up like that. Also, the over-the-top acting in several places needs to be done away with because that irritates a viewer, regardless of who it is. The lead actor, Nivedita Tiwari, is a first timer but is in complete control of her character and can go a long way with that skill in place.

So, it’s worth a watch, but only if you’re at home at 6 pm.