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Posting a few blogs and reviews on Simone Singh as Sakshi Goenka in Ek Hasina Thi:
Unable to Suspend Disbelief for Ek Hasina Thi'...
I know that as an avid movie and serial viewer, I am supposed to suspend my disbelief a little bit in order to truly enjoy what the writer of the show has to offer us. Which is why, I try as much as I can, not to question some of the oft-repeated themes prevalent in many of our Indian shows-The 20 year time leap after which former 70 and 80 year olds are still alive and healthy, the life changing plastic surgery which alters not only the actor's features, but also his height, body type, and voice. I really try, though it irks me a little bit. But to expect me to believe that a man survives, after getting shot twice (or was it thrice? I remember there being a "bonus shot") by an experienced sharp shooter and being left to die, for god knows how long before being found by Durga, is a little too much and I don't know if I will be able to suspend my disbelief any longer.
Ek Haseena thi, which is the story of a girl out to seek revenge on the son of one of the most affluent families in Kolkata for the rape of her sister, is the Indian "version" of the ABC show Revenge. I was not expecting much from this show, to be honest. I usually find such blatant plagiarism of western shows intolerable but then I was pleasantly surprised. One of the finer aspects of this show. which got my attention is its excellent star cast. We have the gorgeous Sanjeeda Sheikh as the avenging heroine Durga (analogous to Emily Vancamp's role in Revenge) and the all grown up, boy-next-door Vatsal seth as Shaurya Goenka (Daniel Grayson). Ayub Khan is excellent as the filthy rich philanderer with enough money to buy his son's way out of trouble, Rajnath Goenka (Conrad Grayson) and Simone Singh is perfect and stunning in the role of Mrs Sakshi Goenka.So perfect, infact, that I almost forget that her character is based on Madeleine Stowe's character of Victoria Grayson in Revenge. It's as if the role was tailor-copied with Simone singh in mind, because she is excellent. The perfect ice queen, who handles her son's indiscretions and her husband's suspected philandering with elegance and "Old-Money" class. She is cultured, soft-spoken, and is always impeccably draped in designer sarees and pearls, but her soft, genteel appearance belies a backbone of steel. She owns the show, in my opinion. Sanjeeda Sheikh is apt in the complex, multi-layered role of Durga Thakur. She has supposedly undergone plastic surgery in order to enable her revenge on Shaurya Goenka (Big surprise there), Her plan is to entrap him in her web of deceit and finally expose him for the rapist that he is. She is a great actress, but I sometimes get the feeling that she tries to emulate Simone Singh's distinct speaking pattern, which is why she sounds stilted in her dialogue delivery at times, but that could also be because I am biased in my fascination with Sakshi Goenka. Vatsal Seth is gorgeous as Shaurya, no doubt about it. With those piercing green eyes and that boyish smile, he makes the perfect bad boy and womanizer. He has come a long way from his role of the day- dreaming teenager Jai, in Just Mohabbat'. But I feel that he would be a better actor if he didn't try so hard. He seems a little contrived and exaggerated in his dialogue delivery at times, but then again, maybe his role requires him to be a little theatrical?
So coming to the present, Shaurya has hired a sharp shooter, Elena to assassinate his "Bade Bhaiya" Dev, who he sees as a hindrance to his courtship of Durga, with whom he is deeply in lust. I am not going to dignify Elena's introduction with a description, except to say that she fell flat for me. I was expecting the sharp shooter to be a look-alike of Nitya or Durga or atleast someone memorable, which was why Shaurya was making such a big deal of her. Instead, the writer wasted too much screen space on an actress, who could at best be described as mediocre, and whose total appearance on the show lasted maybe 15 minutes
Anyway, Dev is shot thrice and Shaurya is so thrilled to finally get him out of the way, that he takes a selfie with a dying Dev. I have a feeling, that morbidly stupid move is going to come back to bite him in the behind. Also, while he was there, could he not have tried to check Dev's pulse to make sure that he was indeed dead? Anyway, he returns home, to the relief of his parents and seems uncharacteristically happy for someone whose life was supposed to be in danger. That is, till they receive a call from Durga saying that Dev has been shot but is still alive, though in a critical state.
That is when things start falling apart for Shaurya and he goes to pathetic lengths to avert suspicion from himself-from loudly declaring that he will make sure he catches the person responsible for this, to kneeling in front of Ma Durga, and beseeching that she save his brother. His mother of course knows her son and what he is capable of well enough, to immediately suspect him and she hopes desperately that she is overthinking it and that her son is not involved in this mess. Dream on, Mrs Goenka. Durga does not know what to think, but is taken aback by his sudden love for his brother and his new found faith in God.
So will Dev survive this mess? I don't know, but after three shots from an experienced sharp shooter at a fairly close range, I assumed that he would be a goner. I have seen characters in other shows not survive, from much less. But, oh well...Please note, that I do want Dev to be saved, He is the best thing going on in Durga's life besides her father, the dashing Dr Dayal. His survival is just a little, well unrealistic considering how he was ravaged by those bullets and left to die. But again, in a world of 20 year leaps after which great-grandparents are still alive and body and voice altering facial surgeries, nothing is impossible...
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