Vidya Review: When The Teacher is A Student!

Colors recently launched its much-awaited social drama titled Vidya starring Meera Deosthale and Namish Taneja in lead roles. The show produced by Mahesh Pandey narrates the story of a young uneducated widow of an army man, who is forced by her in-laws to teach English in a government school and as the theme of the show suggests, Vidya struggles to teach the language. The show set in a small village in Uttar Pradesh also depicts the poor condition of government schools and the mindset of ignorant society in villages.

Watch the trailer here:

Plot 

The show begins with Vidya (Meera Deosthale) narrating her story as she visits a temple with a hope that the Goddess will listen to her prayers and grant her wishes. Vidya is seen wearing a simple cotton sari with long sleeved blouse, she is a bit shy because of her ill fate and devotional. She is a damsel in distress too, who works on the farm and at home all day long. Her in-laws are greedy who have wasted all the compensation money they received after their son’s death. Now, they have bribed government officials to get Vidya a petty government job. However, destiny has some other plans for Vidya as she receives job of an English teacher. After hearing the news, everyone gets shocked while Vidya is scared and recollects her childhood when her father asked her to leave school and learn to do household chores.

What we liked?

We liked the primary concept of the show - an illiterate struggling to teach English and the story behind it. There are many shows based on social issues but Vidya is one of the few shows, which will be showcasing the dark reality of Indian education system prevalent in villages and remote areas even today. The show depicts various negative elements existing in the society including the demons of corruption, bribery, recruitment scam and gender inequality.

Apart from the concept, Meera’s performance as Vidya is praiseworthy. Contrary to her last character where she played a strong and fierce lady, here, she is portraying a shy and hesitant woman, who is afraid of challenges, which adds a freshness. 

What we didn’t like?

The setting of the village failed to appear real. The introduction was a bit dramatic with the protagonist keeping ‘Mannat’ (Prayer) for getting a negative result from her job application while the postman is arriving with the offer letter along with background music. Some scenes were overdone like the one where Vidya is shown ploughing the field herself. It’s 2019, a person can be illiterate but can’t be mute. Not every illiterate widow  is a damsel in distress. We missed Namish Taneja in the episode, we feel his entry will make the plot more interesting.

Verdict

With Meera’s performance and the concept of the show, Vidya makes for a good watch. We need shows like this, which can change the perspective of audience for the remotest areas and hope the show sticks to its theme.

Ratings

**½ (2.5 Stars)