Serious About Serials

I could talk about how Sapno Ke Bhanwar Mein (2011-2012) did all sorts of interesting things. Like ending all their initial promos with a cliffhanger, where a woman begging for her life gets fatally shot and falls through a glass table. A very effective hook, especially since it followed warm filters, beautiful backdrops and touching … Continue reading »

Set in the world of reality television, Aasman Se Aage (2012) explored the “Entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment” industry through the twin eyes of young dreamer, Meenakshi, and shrewd industry insider, Dev Chopra. Meenakshi was a girl with a small dream and a big heart: she grew up in the slums of Mumbai, lost her father at … Continue reading »

There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. For Indians, this belief pervades so much of what we do and how we think. From “sat sri akaal” to “khuda hafiz“, our greetings and partings invoke our gods. We utter phrases like “लिखा हुआ होगा”; “बाकी ऊपरवाले की मर्ज़ी”; “किस्मत की बात … Continue reading »

Crime reporter Mohan Bhatnagar found himself consoling a crying girl in the lifts one day. Both this girl and Mohan being the thoda hatke types meant that deviating from the standard saccharine template of interactions usually reserved for scenes between adults and children was to be expected. His idea of consoling involved partaking of her … Continue reading »

After running for a year and a bit Sapno Se Bhare Naina (2010-2012) finally concluded on 3 Feb 2012. Sapno Se Bhare Naina was never a high-profile show – it had an afternoon slot, no known faces, and not much promotion from the channel either, so it isn’t surprising that it wasn’t a strong TRP-generator. … Continue reading »

Let’s face it, being mind-blowingly original has seldom been a desi serial’s prerogative; for the most part serials rely on standard plot devices for their content. …how many times has that been written and said? And yet serials continue to thrive in India. Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of Ormax Media Pvt. Ltd., “India’s only specialist consumer … Continue reading »

Around mid-September Manish Raisinghani entered Sasural Simar Ka (2011-) as the estranged son of the Bharadwaj family, who was back on a mission of revenge. The track was introduced to salvage the show’s falling ratings, a show that had started out with a bang with a Shahrukh Khan appearance no less. Apparently Prem (Shoaib Ibrahim) … Continue reading »