Here is an article to support the story line a bit...
Not just another?
Tejal Shah. 'RETH' COMPLETES a week of existence in Indian television's soap list this Monday. Being aired Monday to Thursday at 12.30 p.m. on Zee TV, Reth offers a head-on collision with the numerous afternoon sagas, primarily on Star Plus, which are giving the channel high TRPs. So, is it suicide then?
Tejal Shah, who plays Jia, the protagonist of Reth, insists it is not. And, she counts reasons to support her 'no.'
"None of the characters in most TV serials are well defined. They move the way story wants them to. Young one day, they turn old the next day. Of course, they look the same. They keep crying and plotting against each other. But Reth is different," maintains Tejal.
Well, how different?
"She is a real-life character. A wrong is done to her and she decides not to accept a situation offered by society. She decides to fight for herself. A today's woman," describes Tejal. Her role is of Jia, a newspaper apprentice who falls in love with a firebrand journalist, Shekhar, and overnight turns into a middle-class bahu, quiet, accommodating, upholding family values, winning over the in-laws. Till this point, she is not many shades different from our other TV bahus. But after criminally assaulted by street goons while trying to save her unmarried sister-in-law from them, life changes for Jia. "For many an episode after the rape scene, I have not even worn any make-up. Because, I have to be like one, look like one, grappling with life," Tejal continues.
Unable to live by the terms set by family and society, Jia decides to live on her own and fight numerous battles to win back her rights.
"Interestingly, this rape victim is not a poor, downtrodden woman but from an educated middle class family. Yet, she has to grow up with this conditioning that a woman's physical purity is the most important thing. But we try to show that the purity of the soul is the ultimate beauty and here, I feel, it is way different from other soaps. It contributes positively to our lives. And yes, there is no fashion statement here," the actress says.
On TV for about three years now with Hip Hip Hooray, Bhabhi and Shagun, this English literature graduate from Mumbai feels "happy indeed to enact a real-life role."
"Jia says whether it is life or reth (sand), she will keep a hold on it, and I appreciate that line," Tejal comments. Well then, is this Zee Woman a clone of Simran of Astitva... Ek Prem Kahani? Mind you, the strong woman bags good TRPs.
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