Saturday, September 5, 2015

A StarPlus-Kind-Of Misery

A couple nights ago the neighborhood heard an echoing shriek of misery and the shattering sound of my heart as I saw Star Plus (our frequently watched nighttime TV binge) being ruined in front of my eyes. Another drama I had started to like and saw potential in to be a great story came to an abrupt heart-breaking end. What am I going to watch now! All that's left is the crap stuff I used as fillers?!

Some time back Star Plus aired what was possibly its best show to date. Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Everest' was a great story and one that kept us engaged till the very last scene of the very last episode. It was the first time I was watching a drama on such a unique story. Everest combined together the typical Indian emotional ups and downs with a powerful plot to deliver an adventurous dose of entertainment. It was sheer brilliance but sadly one night it came to an end. The drama left me hopeful that soon others of a similar kind will follow.

What began next, in place of Everest, was another story that seemed interesting. The show called 'Tere Sheher Mein' began its ad campaigns that seemed promising. It was supposed to be a story of a girl who is used to the high life until one day her father dies leaving them bankrupt. The drama was about her journey back to Banaras, her parents' hometown, and the struggles of making ends meet.
The ad campaigns were pretty impressive and we began watching Tere Sheher Mein when Everest came to an end. The drama was pretty good; I loved the new faces, the story was pretty awesome, and it was good entertainment. But wait! Gradually, today the drama has turned into a typical Star Plus watch with twisted family issues becoming more and more messed up with each episode. It is still a good one, just not what the initial ads advertised.

Tere Sheher Mein was still fairly new when another new drama started being advertised on Star Plus. This too seemed liked a good one and was titled Manmarzian. The plot involved a girl fighting the Desi shaadi (wedding) stereotypes in hopes of achieving what she wanted in her life. It was about aspirations and careers and the crazy-dream-following thingy. We began watching and I loved it. It came to an unexpected rather abrupt end a couple nights ago and that's when the neighborhood heard my shrieks of misery. A good story had gone down the drains (and not the ones Abbie's favorite ninja turtles live in!).
Whoever wrote this drama must have had a total change of heart and mind. The story started off with this girl living in a village, dreaming to be big in the writing advertising field. After many problems she finally got the chance to go off to the city and join the workplace of her dreams. Tiny little note here, I loved the interior decorations at Bird Song, the workplace. It was the funkiest gorgeous office I've ever seen! Once settled in her dream job and gradually progressing, Radhika finds the best of friends. So far everything goes according to the original story that had been advertised but then somehow the entire plot changes. In a couple of episodes, Radhika shakes off her stereotypical dominating Desi fiance and then the writer randomly introduces this new guy. This new guy, Arjun, is involved in a typical star plus plot where he's taking his foster sister's revenge from a man who left her with broken promises. He's messing around with the guy's daughter, who is obviously Radhika's best friend, and Radhika gets involved. Suddenly the whole follow-my-dreams plot changes to I-will-sacrifice-my-life-for-my-friend plot and the entire drama becomes centered around this story. Oh and of course falling in love with the bad guy is a total classic Bollywood-StarPlus agenda (It always works *laughs*). The last few episodes of the drama had me furious and sad at the same time. The sadness was from the destruction of a good story and the fury was because not only had the story changed, it was also progressing (or I'd say wrapping up like a sore loser) with super duper speed.

This entry belongs to the 'Sara's Reviews' and 'Random Bloggies' labels

Needless to even say it, the drama wrapped up miserably quick which made everything extraordinarily lame. This was seriously such a loss of potential; that story could have been super cool and full of awesome twists and turns. Sadly, now I'm just left with three dramas to watch, two of which are what I called the 'fillers'. Saath Nibhana Saathiya is literally in my list just because we used to watch it years back when it had a story. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is in my list because it's a good time pass, it is so casual though it feels like watching a family living a reality show. I'm still watching Tere Sheher Mein and even though it too has lost its initial story line it's still good entertainment. Let me just conclude stating two of my hopes: 1) I hope Tere Sheher Mein doesn't end soon, and 2) I hope Star Plus comes up with an Everest-like or original-Manmarzian-like drama soon!

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