Desh ki Beti Nandini fails to make an impression!

Based in Delhi, the story revolves around Nandini (Keerti Nagpure) who comes from a middle class background and is working with a decorating company. She is shown to be a fighter against all wrongs and someone who helps anyone in need. Staying with her parents and younger brother and sister, Nandini is much adored by all, even her employer who thinks she is a good performer and thus asks her to manage the decorations at the office of the Progressive Republican Party (PRP), the leader of which is Gayatri devi Raghuvanshi (Sujata Segal), who is waiting for her son Rajveer (Rafi Malik) to come from abroad after his studies and take over the party. 

Gayatridevi has even appointed a political advisor, Abhay (Manoj Chandila) who will guide them into grooming Rajveer and reaching out to people to garner more votes. However, the foreign returned Rajveer is used to a sanitized environment and has other plans in place. He wants to go back abroad to chart a career in music. He has started hating his homeland due to the crowd, pollution, etc., and has a concert planned abroad and has already made plans and booked tickets for the entire family to fly back in a month's time. He has the support of his Dadisa (Suhasini Mulay) while his own mother alongwith Abhay has plans to stop him from going back. 

Nandini on the other hand is shown to be someone who fights for her rights. She gets a glimpse of Gayatridevi while she is working on the decorations at the party office and is duly impressed by her. When Nandini's neighborhood uncle tired of waiting for his pension dues and depressed due to his son's indifferent attitude tries to commit suicide, Nandini and her family are in a hurry to reach the hospital but get delayed due to the cavalcade which is carrying Rajveer from the airport to his home holds up the traffic. During the fracas, Nandini is almost pushed by the police force under the wheels of Rajveer's car but is saved in the nick of time. Abhay handles the situation and allows them to pass. 

At the hospital, when the nurse refuses to treat the patient since it is a suicide case which has to be reported to the police first, Nandini takes it upon herself to approach the dean and get things working. She also donates blood for another patient in the hospital. Nandini's employer comes to her with an urgent assignment wherein she is needed to go to the PRP office and work overnight on the dcor. 

In the meantime, Gayatridevi summons an urgent meeting with Abhay and Suryamaanji (Muni Jha) to come up with a plan to dissuade Rajveer from going abroad. Suryamaan who is a senior party worker is of the opinion that instead of convincing a reluctant Rajveer, they should make Gayatridevi's daughter, Aakansha the leader as she is more into politics and always with her mother. However, Gayatridevi is against this as Aakansha is married and already has her own commitments towards her husband and son. 

We are also introduced to the huge royal Raghuvanshi joint family who stay in a mansion of sorts and as expected are swathed in silks and rubies. Each one of the family members which is highlighted with the entry of each of them. 

What works - 

Nothing much! While Keerti, Sujata Sehgal and Suhasini Mule do manage to make an impression the rest of the cast is strictly OK. The story of an aam ladki being transformed to a budding politician who will ultimately lead the nation does have scope but only if the show is treated strictly like a political drama with a pinch of glitz and nothing else!

What does not work - 

Most of it! The show, the scenes, the acts look highly dramatized and fail to make an impression! Right from the first episode till the fourth episode, Nandini is shown to be a fighter and in an attempt to establish her character, there are too many instances depicted. It seems as if she is the only one left who comes across various difficult situations faced by the common man and it is no one but her responsibility to fight for the right cause. Potholes, Police patrolling, Pension, ignoring old parents, Unemployment, Blood donation, inhuman treatment at the hospital... the list goes on and on. She is seen forever setting the wrong things right!

Keerti Nagpure has a strong Marathi accent and needs to work on her dialogue delivery which at present sounds very preachy and practiced. The sets look garish and give a plastic and unrealistic feel to the show. In one shot, Nandini is shown to be sitting with her father and uncle at the doorstep of her house and the road is so smooth and clean with gaudily dressed extras strolling casually on the street that it looks unreal. Immediately, the next shot follows where her neighbor who is passing by on his scooter falls down due to a pothole laden rough road which seems to have erupted suddenly from nowhere and the entire scene instead of gaining sympathy looks funny! The house where Nandini stays looks pretty big and up to date so why is the family crying about bad times? Nandini herself is always shown to be dressed in rich, dark colored clothes while her mother is sitting amidst an assortment of vegetables, chopping them religiously which is so typical of daily soaps!

At the end of the first week, we get a feel that this will be one of those shows which start of as an aam ladki ki khaas kahani show but ultimately turn into kahani ghar ghar ki meaning the typical saas-bahu sagas where we can expect the aam ladki Nandini to get married into the rich, politically influenced royal family where her ambitious mother-in-law will try to make her a mere political puppet but she will rebel and thus make it into yet another dragging saas-bahu saga. 

We were given a glimpse of what to expect from the Monday night episode in which Rajveer gets mobbed by girls and runs off to sit on Nandini's scooter, thus giving the story twist. However, just like other scenes in the show this scene too looked very filmy and typical and we just hope that if the makers want to survive for a longer time, they will change the track from filmy to realistic!