Sony's Kahani Terri Merri which premiered on Monday has little more to offer than previous Balaji soaps, apart from different, lavish sets and a hitherto unexplored Bengali ambience on television.

Similar sets, similar grandeur and matching wardrobes. You could be excused for mistaking the first episode of Kahani Terri Merri (KTM) with the first few scenes from Devdas. But perhaps production house Balaji Telefilms wants to cash in on the hype created around the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film.

Kahaani Terri Merri, tom tommed as Indian television's biggest family blockbuster, is like watching the Bhansali film in slow motion, if the first episode is anything to go by. The usual Balaji suspects are in attendance here, so fans of Kutumb (which KTM replaces) are not likely to miss much by way of familiar faces. Refreshingly, the producers have moved out of home turf (the Balaji Telefilms' building and the Krishna temple in its compound) and into the spacious new studios acquired at Film City, Goregaon in suburban Mumbai. The sets are huge, lavish and plush, successfully creating the ambience of a haveli somewhere in Bengal. The script writers however can't seem to resist the temptation of introducing the consistent use of cell phones in the series, a jarring note in the otherwise traditional mien.

Scale apart, KTM is staple Balaji fare, with a dash of Bengali thrown in. So, instead of the standard Krishna idol in front of which matriarchs sobbed, the KTM viewer is treated to idols of Ma Durga, shot from all possible angles, to the background score of cymbals and conches. Artistes take care to pronounce names with a Bangla accent, and the wardrobes are treated to an aunthentic Bengali touch. Is this the Balaji way of wooing in the eastern part of the country to its programming or is it that the extended Gujarati family, hitherto the pillar of the great Indian soap, no longer makes for compelling viewing?

The story does try a different tack, despite the many similarities with Devdas. Dhruv (or Dhrubo, as the cast calls him) is just back from America to a mother who has been counting the days to his return in a haveli that's just short of a palace. The love angle in the form of Tara (played by Tina Parekh) is yet to enter the storyline, but the first episode proved gripping enough with Dhruv discovering his father's adulterous lifestyle. Enough to hook the viewer and bring him back for the next episode. The acting thus far is humdrum, the dialogues standard fare. So far, it is only the sets that rivet attention.

The Devdas angle returns in later episodes when Dhruv's alcoholism surfaces and plays havoc with his marital life (no third angle to this love story, yet).

For Sony, that desperately needs to get back into the reckoning after the revamped Kutumb failed to hook viewers, and that of a faltering Kkusum, KTM is an experiment worth the risk. For Balaji, that shares the Kutumb and Kkusum fate with Sony, a novel story with a different background is the need of the hour to keep viewer interest alive.

The key to the success of this new mega soap will depend on the innovative twists and turns KTM can drum up, and whether a Bengali plotline appeals to viewers as much as a Gujarati backdrop did for Kyunkii…. and the rest.

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