From the editorial of a newspaper:)
Tears and cheers
It is not Shantiniketan founded by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore way back in 1921. In setting up his abode of peace the Nobel laureate was moved by the idea: "I wish to keep my students away from all the luxuries of European life and any blind infatuation and thus, lead them in the ways of the sacred and unsullied Indian tradition." What we are talking about is Shantiniketan of our times. It is a home built on a small screen. It also swears by Indian traditions. The only difference is that while doing so it undergoes the trauma born of suspicion, infidelity, matricide, separation and backstabbing. It is the central point of a family drama "kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi" that has brought tears and cheers to millions for a long time. Now that Tulsi is back in Shantiniketan with Mihir one hopes that everybody's ordeal is over. It is true that lakhs of people sit glued to their television sets as long as the television drama is on. In fact, in its early stages it had brought the nation to a halt by faking the death of Mihir then played by Amar Upadhyay. Even Amitabh Bachchan, the superstar of both big and small screens, had come down from his high pedestal at that time. He could not help but note that it was for the first time that this one incident filmed on television had cast a spellbinding effect on the entire nation. But at the same time the other side can't just be ignored. It can't be denied that there are a large number of discerning viewers. They have been bored by the sameness that they face from one episode to the other. They are tired all the more when they discover that this likeness extends from serials to serials despite their different titles. Particularly the "K" series suffer from this flaw. Tight screen-plays have not been able to camouflage their identical themes. That, however, matters little to artists. They have become stars overnight exceeding in many cases the popularity of those featuring in Hindi films. For them TV has resulted in a major career breakthrough. Smriti Malhotra-Irani in her portrayal of Tulsi is as well known as any top heroine. It is another thing; however, that she could not make a successful electoral debut like most of the actors have done regardless of gender. Ronit Roy as Mihir (he is the third actor cast in this mould) has also assumed a celebrity status by now. There is no exaggeration about it.