The first impression one gets after watching Bandini is that Ekta Kapoor has made a genuine effort to give something new to the audience!
The second impression is that Ronit Roy has once again proved why he is so popular with his fans, reinventing himself again and again with every serial and despite being amongst the oldest actors around, still is the ruling hearthrob of Television.
The third impression is that the new girl has a lot of character in her face and is thankfully not the chiffon-duppata wearing, squeaky voiced and overmade up dolls that are usually Balaji Telefilms heroins (atleast in the recent times!)
The sets are not just lavish but also quite authentic. A lot of attention has been paid to details, you could see it in the way old-style gramaphone instrument and photographs were kept. Good one, this!
Most important, the backdrop of the story is a rustic / village one, something that has never been tackled on television, at least not in a mainstream serial! Most of the serial's show either Mumbai or a small town such as Nainital or Mount Abu as a backdrop....this is perhaps the first show that has a remote Gujrathi village as the setting.
The first episode was impressive mostly because it was understated yet made a powerful statement. Introducing both the central characters, Dharamraj and Santo, the episode showed not just a glimpse into the two personalities but also the stark difference between them.
Ronit was in excellent form, playing a character which is obviously tailor made for him. He has this innate indianness in him which just shines through. Tradtional yet Modern, Conservative yet open-hearted, Hard-headed yet soft-hearted. Someone who might not shed tears on every occassion but would always be willing to lend his shoulder for other's to cry on. Someone who will break but never bend. Someone who might not always be correct, but would always be fair. Someone who will never spare his enemies and would probably lay down life for his loved ones!
Its refreshing to see a strong, serious, masculine character after a long time of watching gooye faced hero's serenading heroine's in Khet-khaliyaans and crying bucket fulls for no apparent reason!😕
Dharamraj Mahiyavanshi gets a definite thumbs up from me!👏
Santo as a character would probably unfurl very slowly and hence its too early to comment on the actress as well as the character that she is portraying.
Also, it would be very interesting to see the chemistry between Dharamraj and Santo, as their marriage / relationship forms the crux of the story.
Looking forward to more of Bandini viewing!😊
Soapie!
Edited by soapie - 16 years ago