Same difference:Mere Apne Review

Same difference

Monday-Thursday, 10 pm, 9X

Rating: **

Who's in it? Smriti Irani, Vinod Khanna, Shahbaaz Khan, Kishore Shahane, Delnaaz Paul.The story so far? Gurdaspur MP Kashinath Pandey (Khanna) is a stickler for traditional Indian way of life and derives his life-force from his united family. This takes care of a chunk of storyline while the housewife-cum-glue that binds the family Sharda Pandey (Irani) and love story of their daughter Vrinda take care of the rest. Vrinda (Gauri Nigudkar) falls in love with the son of Bhanu Pratap Singh (Khan), who happens to be Pandey's enemy, adding more spice to the story. Son Aditya's secret marriage to Sanya, who finds shelter at Bhanu Pratap's house, and prodigal son Shankar reckless ways make way for the sub-plots. And Pandey's widowed sister (Shahane), constantly plotting to shatter the family's unity, leads to the the twists and turns.

What's hot? The presence of small-screen show-stealers, like Irani and Khan, and yesteryear hero Khanna. Though Irani's role is not very different from her famous Tulsi character, at least she is not forcing the audience to imagine her as a 60-year-old in this show. Though the storyline is trite and predictable, it isn't overtly soapy and weepy, at least till now. And the biggest relief is that the serial is not falling back on camera zoom and zap movement (one of the most favourite technique on Balaji's sets) to create drama, sparing the audience a headache. Shifting the story to Benaras provides a change with action taking place on ghats and temples. Some of the initial scenes of the show were shot in the holy city though now most of the action takes place on the set.

What's not? Gaudy make-up has always been a prerogative of small-screen heroines, but in this serial Gauri and Delnaaz go an extra mile while applying eye shadows. For instance, Delnaaz in the last episode had such a bright purple flower in her hair and equally fluorescent outfit and eye-shadow to match that it's almost blinding. The storyline and sub-plots are reminiscent of several Bollywood potboilers. And the mish-mash hardly has any surprises for the viewers.

Should you be watching it? Yes, if you are not tired of family sagas and have the remote within your reach. But those who have high anticipation of the channel's most-talked about show might be disappointed.

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