Sush'excellent question.
IPKKND has been different from other shows so far. The reason are many
1) The treatment of this M&B story so far has been excellent. It has been light, colorful and fun-filled with a healthy dose of old world (dupatta) romance that make hearts go hmmm'..
2) The storyline (what little we have had as of yet) has stayed true to characters.
3) The show has managed to balance traditional as well as modern thought process without making it tedious. A good example is that they went through all the marriage rituals and their meanings without shoving it down our throats.I for one learnt something new.
4) There is ample eye candy on the show along with excellent chemistry between the leads.
5) This is a family after my own heart. There has been very little discord in the family except for latest fiasco.
However the fact remains that a show cannot survive on candy floss alone, it needs a strong storyline. We are at crossroads where PH will have to make some serious decisions regarding the future of the show. If the PH truly tries to give us the intense storyline(I will discuss this later) then they will be taking a huge risk. If they succeed, they will redefine telly shows much like Ekta Kapoor did a decade ago and if they fail'it will be quite a fall given where the show is on charts now. Most PH will hesitate taking that risk because
1) The characters and the natural progression of this storyline means gray characters and intense intimate scenes. The slot for this show is 8pm which means all intense scenes have to be family friendly (there goes the passion and any hint of darkness possible'..). Also most Indian viewers have little appetite for gray characters and a truly engrossing storyline despite all our complaining. All we are looking for is a couple of mushy scenes, a bucket of tears and family politics. Anything more than that baffles majority of viewers. The TRPs might fall and the channel will force the PH to give viewers what they want.
2) The last show from PH started much like this one but got lost somewhere along the way'..thanks to TRP. The issues that needed more exploration got resolved quickly and the focus remained on mush and in later stages the conflicts seemed contrived. I hope PH have learnt something from that last experience and will not go the same route again.
Now onto intense storyline'. This can be a journey of two immensely prideful and passionate individuals caught in a difficult courtship dance. The family serves as a backdrop and a means to end to take the story forward. The show can actually appease everyone this time if executed properly'..we have three couples...PAYASH who will appeal to the viewers that love traditional do-gooder couples with Saas- bahu politics, Anjali and Shyam who will appeal to conspiracy loving viewers and Arhi for viewers who are looking for something new. All we need are characters that have some depth and a story that can transcend... therein lies challenge. Let me give couple of examples (I apologize but am on a roll here)
1) Arnav : We already know he is impulsive and mercurial with king sized ego and a mellowed down God complex. He is a commitment phobic with control issues (that might be related to tragedy in past). He inspires such absolute loyalty and respect in family that his cousin is not ready to take pheras with his beloved without his presence. Imagine how he would have felt to know that his BIL has been cheating on his sister and has rendered him helpless. This is not just about his sister but also loyalty and control. Furthermore he has send very clear signs that he is interested in Khushi but what does she do ...she chooses that two timing, penniless, married lawyer over him. What is he to do? He is gonna show her what she missed out on... he will get under skin, make her fall for him and then break her heart. Ofcourse it is also an appropriate punishment for Shyam for cheating on his sister. The only issue is that Khushi is getting under his skin instead and driving him crazy. He meant to make her lose her control but he is losing it instead. It would be even more interesting if the tragedy in past was related to some sort of marital fidelity issues.
2) Khushi: She is a spunky naive girl who ended up being collateral damage between two males. Her tragedy is that her champion is the same person who bought her into this situation to begin with. He never insults her or is violent. Passions run high between her and ASR and her heart goes pitter-patter at every smile of his but her emotions feel like a slap to her face as they add insult to the injury...how can she love one who has wronged her so and broken her dreams?'the more she resists, the more he ups his charm coefficient... She would rather die than accept that he impacts her.
3) Shyam: He was average person who did not want much, just tons of money,a loving beautiful wife who put him above all else and for whom he could play hero. He compromised with his wife's handicap hoping to be her savior and getting control over her money to achieve his ambitions the easy way but instead she always looked up to her brother instead of him who held purse strings and control over everything. He somehow got lost in his BIL ASR'S shadow. He was nothing more that Anjali's husband until on a fateful day, he got to play Khushi's hero. The high that came with it was unlike any other and he was very sure that she loves him bust is shy to accept. He even got her a job at ASRs partly because he was her champion and partly because he knew ASR will abuse her and he can play her hero forever. But everything went wrong, once again ASR bested him. Khushi seems to care more for ASR than him. He will do everything to get what he believes he deserves this time even if it means murder.
The point is for this show to stand apart we will need a different character treatment and channel agreeing to take risk. Unfortunately I have very little hope of that happenning given the spoilers.
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Edited by dramacrazy12 - 13 years ago
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