Zee's 'Aati Rahengi Baharein' high on melodrama

(Posted on14 September 2002)

The first episode of the new Zee soap, which airs Mondays to Fridays in the 8:30 pm slot, was high on melodrama. How the plot unfolds remains to be seen. Zee's latest soap-Aati Rahengi Baharein is old wine in a new bottle. The story of a conservative Gujarati family in the textile business, the narrative begins with the family eagerly awaiting the return of their only son, Amar, who is coming back to India after a study stint abroad. The plotline has the mandatory bad guy in the form of Amar's maternal uncle who has it in for the boy. Throw in a couple of childhood buddies on the other side of the economic divide and the story is all about the hero's dilemma - duty to family or keeping the faith with his friends.

The first episode of Zee's newest offering was overly melodramatic with too many elements all squeezed in simultaneously. While the attempt on the part of the producers (It's a co-production between Cinevistaas and Kaarnik), seems to have been to strike the right balance between the Balaji brand of loud family drama and a fresh youthful feel, the absence of a storyline that would not give the audience a feeling of deja vu serves as a bit of a deterrent.

The strong point of the serial is the competent performances by all its central characters. Direction by Kaushik Ghatak is taut. The screenplay is passable, though (unless making the first episode overly melodramatic was a strategy) a bit over the top.

There is wide speculation on how the story will unfold in the succeeding episodes with strong rumours that the story will follow the film Anand track where the protagonist discovers that he is suffering from a terminal disease. If that happens, it will again be interesting to see how the story holds after this revelation especially, because it's too linear a plot for a daily soap.

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