Ankita Lokhande AT #11 - Page 13

Ekta Kapoor (Balaji Telefilms) nicely blended supernaturalism and reality in the first story of the eight part series of Life OK's Ek Thhi Naayka. The first episode primarily conveyed the positive social message that if anyone resorts to evil black magic to gain good luck and benefit, then their family members should take a firm stand against the act and even duly report it to the police if necessary.

Black magic is unfortunately practiced widely in India and like Vishal (enacted by Sachin Shroff) there are Indian men who may even resort to sacrificing their offspring on being misled to think that even cruelly butchering your innocent newborn may usher prosperity.

It was an interesting concluding turning point when Vishal who seemed to be prosaic, practical, rational and a skeptic is found guilty of such a heinous crime which stemmed from superstitious beliefs. It was progressive to see not just a wife but also a strong mother (Smita Oak) boldly opposing her murderous son with a knife in hand.

Generally it is women, who are thought to be witches, are harassed by the society. Indian men who may also be guilty of evil black magic and gruesome crimes related to tantric rituals may however go scot free. This story brought to the notice of the viewers that the seed of evil may sprout in a demonic form in both men and women.
The title of a witch is therefore not gender specific; it is after all the individual's choice whether to become a dyaan or a virtuous person.

Coming to the plot analysis, the climax was built up in a satisfactory way- through nightmares and frightening visions which were dispersed within normal day to day activities. However if you compare the building up of suspense to Zee TV's Fear Factor; the latter uses far subtler devices to evoke fear. Maybe Ek Thhi Naaykacould be less loud at times, the evil mantra which is chanted with the dyaan appears is jarring.

The dialogues were penned well, especially the lighter dialogues when Vishal joked with his wife Pragya (Ankita Lokhande) when she insisted that she was having eerie supernatural experiences. The folklore that the power of Lord Hanuman can ward off evil was blended in well.

Each story is however too long- two episodes from 11pm to midnight for two consecutive weekend nights do test the patience of the viewers. It would have been better if each story was completed within an hour's time.

The art direction was average- Vishal's family home seemed like a typical mansion shown in Balaji soaps. Vishal and Pragya's apartment interiors were just like also like the usual apartment decors that you see in soaps. The costumes, makeup and hairdressing were also archetypal to Balaji.

As far as the cinematography was concerned, the night scenes came out well. It was nice that the crescent moon was shown once (usually the stock image of the full moon is just shown in soaps). The aerial shots of the busy Mumbai streets were captured nicely on the camera.

Ankita Lokhande acted in her Pavitra Rishtha style. Sachin Shroff did quite a good job. The lady who played Pragya's sister-in-law Maliti was overacting while mouthing the evil side of her character.

The show may have been deliberately named Ek Thhi Naayka so that it has a contrasting title to Ek Thhi Daayan- the film it is promoting. The title of the serial also indicates that the focus is on the women who have bravely defeated evil.

The remaining series has a lineup of popular TV actresses- Smriti Irani, Sakshi Tanwar, Mouli Ganguly, Kritika Kamra, Shweta Tiwari, Pooja Gor and Aamna Shariff who will be essaying protagonists from various parts of India which should hopefully lend variety to the show. It will be interesting to see film director, writer, screenwriter, producer, music composer Vishal Bharadwaj making his acting debut on the show.

To sum up, Ek Thhi Naayka has made a fairly good start. However, it does have room for improvement.

review of ETN by tc