Article in DC

Navya is already a week old and has maintained its tempo so far.

Navya, the protagonist moves from a small town to the big bad city of Mumbai. Her parents are fiercely overprotective and terribly old-fashioned. Navya is always dressed in a salwar kameez and comes across as being timid and meek.

Her two friends Appy and Ritika are the naughty rebellious teenagers who goad Navya into living the high life. Newcomer Saumya Seth, who plays the lead role, has a very innocent face but needs to work on her expressions.

In the first episode, Navya is accosted by goons, who are opposed to the concept of Valentine's Day and give Navya a earful all because she is seen holding a bouquet of flowers and an "I love you" mug, which was gifted to her friend Ritika by her boyfriend.

This is the perfect opportunity for the hero, played by Shaheer Shaikh, to make his entry. He belongs to a political family and can't see any women in trouble, so he beats up the goon. Meanwhile, Navya's father who hears about possible trouble in colleges and rushes to his daughter's college, livid with rage. Navya's plea falls on deaf ears. Anant's family is equally annoyed with their son.

But thankfully the grandfather, the head of the family, comes around. Shaheer is good-looking but like Saumya needs to work on his acting abilities. There appears to be chemistry between the lead pair and if the plot is handled well, it could result in a sweet romance. But since both come from traditional homes one can expect fireworks and melodramatic reactions soon.

Typically the ladies who play Navya and Anant's moms are the balancing factors in their children's lives and make up for the harshness meted out by the fathers.

The plot deals with the trials and tribulations that Gen Y faces and also highlights the generation gap and its resultant problems.

It will be interesting to see how sensitively this theme centered around youngsters is handled. There is tremendous potential in this soap, which is such a welcome change from the dreary and manipulative saas bahu world.

But one is hesitant to get carried away. Most soaps begin on a very promising note but are unable to grip the viewer after a certain stage.

Let's hope Navya proves to be a turning point for the cynical and discerning viewer.