A breezy, refreshing show - Review

A breezy, refreshing show

Saturdays-Sundays, 7.00 pm, Star Plus

Love U Zindagi, Star One's new show is inspired by the iconic Jab We Met and writer-director Imtiaz Ali seems to have blessed this television version as his name figures in the 'Concept by' credit line.

Now that's a tough act to follow, considering both Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur shone in this film, which is probably one of their careers' best performances. So, obviously then you are looking for similarities between the spunky, peppy 'Geet' of the big screen and her TV counterpart. Fortunately, Pavitra Punia who has been given the huge responsibility of pulling off 'Geet' is easy on the eye and partly succeeds in putting in an endearing act. We wish though she had not tried to copy each and every mannerism ofKareena. Though she tries her best to spout Kareena's lines like 'Main apni favourite hoon' with the same zest, the magic is missing. Nevertheless these are early days and she has it in her to make the character her own in the episodes to come.

The weekend show is set in a huge Punjabi family (so there is a liberal dose of 'hainji', 'By God', 'kudi' and 'munda'). There was a scene in which about 30 people ran into one room when the patriarch of the family boomed his displeasure over some thing. It was an unintentionally funny scene to see the crowded frame!

Geet is a happy, chirpy girl who lies through her teeth and gets away with murder. She, like her next door neighbour, Manjeet who has just returned after a stint in a fashion institute, dreams to become the world's best fashion designer" and so must go to Mumbai. Now, the problem is the over-protective family, especially darji who every time reminds Geet that he is "tere baap ka baap". But in a clever turn of things, the very same baap ka baap instructs her to go to Mumbai and show the world that girls from Bhatinda can conquer it when the need arises, with their values intact! At the time of writing, Geet has boarded a train to Mumbai and even bumped into the reticent Rahul (Siddharth Shukla), a scion of a business family who has his own set of problems.

Then there is her cousin sister, Roop (a character which was played by Saumya Tandon in the film) who unlike Geet prefers to toe the family line, is more conscientious yet aspires to become footloose and fancy free like her prettier cousin. There is a childhood friend too who dreams of getting married to Geet.

Love U Zindagi is nice and breezy, the lines are clever and the performances are decent (we love the two actors who play Geet's parents and Pawan Malhotra who plays her 'Mika' inspired chacha). There is nothing to really nit-pick considering it's a copy of a great product. Now, only if the show brings in good ratings and is a blockbuster like its big-screen inspiration!

Verdict: ***

Watch it to compare notes between the two Geets.

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