Dho dala! --- Kashish vs Kasshish

Sujal O Sujal!

I just cannot figure why Time Bomb 9/11 (Zee) doesn't send the pulse racing.

The weekly serial's loaded with all it takes for a high action drama to grab the imagination: a rapid pace, gripping action sequences, a very, very real plot (am sure Osamabhai has his own solution for the Kashmir dispute). And it's a clone of Keifer Sutherland's 24, which rocked the US.

So what's the problem? I think it's gotta to do with a casting blooper. No, I ain't speaking of the actor who rather cutely plays Osama (an uncanny resemblance to the benign gent who mans the cash counter at Gulshan E Iran near Crawford Market — don't miss the great mutton biryani), it's got to do with Rajiv Khandelwal.

The TV actor is best at playing the chocolate hero… a self destructive, brooding romantic type. This weepy king of love is most unconvincing playing a hard-edged secret agent.

Think of Rajesh Khanna in Mission Impossible. It just doesn't work. Khandelwal walked out on Ekta Kapoor's Kashish saying his Sujal wasn't going anywhere. Well, he's licked that problem with Time Bomb. Varun Awasthi is racing ahead… to explode right in Sujal's chikniya face.