Bade Achhe Lagte Hain..
Monday - Thursday, 10.30 pm, Sony
Two well-known actors were returning to prime-time fiction after a long time. The title was borrowed from a popular song and the promos were teasing. Little wonder then, when Bade Achhe Lagte Hain Yeh Dharti Yeh Nadiya Yeh Raina Aur Tum (quite a mouthful) went on air, expectations were sky high. Sadly, after watching the first couple of episodes, I felt it was a case of great appetisers but an insipid main course and before I could turn away the desserts, producer Ekta Kapoor allegedly sacked the original director and got a trusted old hand to liven up the proceedings. And so, the viewers can now probably look forward to the magic of its two lead actors, Sakshi Tanwar and Ram Kapoor and I can perhaps have that dessert.
Priya Sharma is in her 30s. She teaches at TOEFL –– her ambitious, ex-Miss Bhubaneshwar mother calls them tuitions –– and is her papa's simple, ideal girl. Her younger sister is an aspiring model and the apple of her mother's eye. There is a brother too. Theirs is a well-to-do middle-class family but her mother has pinned all her hopes on her younger daughter. She feels, the girl would be a supermodel one day and will change their drab existence forever.
Ram Kapoor (that's his character's name too) is a globe-trotting businessman. He lives with his stepmother, a stepbrother and two stepsisters. He buys everything money can for the happiness of his family but the mother uses him for her convenience and he's bereft of maternal love. In his 40s, he is portly and single. He's given up all the hopes of marriage though his best friend-cum-business associate is sure he will find the right girl if he looks hard enough.
And so one day, Ram's and Priya's paths cross, albeit on a wrong note. Their cars meet with an accident and Priya's mother, who knows how to extract her pound of flesh, gets into an argument with Ram. In all that drama, he misses his father's death anniversary ceremony and he swears revenge. On the other hand, Ram's youngest sister, Natasha, a brat and a fashion designer is in love, with Priya's brother. So now, the two older siblings have to bury their hatchet for the sake of the much-in-love younger couple.
The show has just about begun to warm up with the endearing sparring between Priya and Ram (both are effortlessly natural). But that's the only highlight of the show as the rest of the cast barring Priya's mother (Renuka Israni who does the loud, blas Shipra Sharma with elan) is randomly picked up. Wonder why Eva Grover agreed to play the stepmom? The actor playing Priya's father is almost the same age as her while Sumona, who plays Natasha Kapoor, is a hoot, a complete miscast!
What works for the show is the fact that for once the protagonists are not teenyboppers or young things who don't know their job. For once, the story is about the loneliness and the barbs two seemingly over-the-hill single people face, their concerns, their fears and the way they begin to accept their single status once their 'marriageable' age passes them by. I also like Ram's self-deprecatory humour. Which other actor would allow others to call him 'fat' on screen?
What doesn't work is the somewhat tacky treatment meted out to the other characters like the relationship between Ram's friend and his suspicious wife…if they are there for comic relief, then no, they only grate on your nerves.
So then it's left to Ram and Sakshi who make you come back for more. Can't wait for them to get hitched on screen!
Verdict:
If you are looking for a mature romance and some good acting then this is for you.
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