2 weeks of Silsila - A honest review

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Angels11

@Angels11

Rocker

+ 5

Posted: 7 years ago

So the show is now 2 weeks old. All the main characters have been established. Even the 1st week TRPs are out. So i think its safe to write a review of the show.

Before I begin, just a few points. I dont watch Indian shows Hindi or regional post Doordarshan of the 90s. The only show I ve watched is IPKKND-1. Even tat I couldnt tolerate towards the end & stopped watching. I ve watched a few episodes of EDKV & BP. I watched IMMJ till even tat show nose dived. So my experience with Indian shows have been very bad & frustrating. Most of the shows start with promise, then take a complete U turn thanks to TRP drama & the characters r butchered beyond recognition. Also I am not a fan of any TV star except Barun & now Arjun. So I can safely claim that my views are as a purely neutral viewer in her 30s.

Lets start with the positives.

I absolutely love the characters Mouli, Kunal & Kunal's mom. I cant even believe that an Indian show has such realistic characters. No OTT drama. No overacting. Characters who r so believable & relatable. Mouli represents every educated, independent working woman who daily struggles to balance office & family, juggling the various tasks, responsibilities. The way she rushes around in the morn preparing BF, interacting with the family, running 2 reach office on time. I feel I am watching myself on TV. Its so surreal. As a working mother I feel her pain, her frustration, her insecurities, her struggle to do the balancing act. A big shout out to the CVs for showing how a real modern Indian woman talks & behaves. Mouli gets a big thumbs up from me. She is not perfect. Maybe she is workaholic. Maybe she tries too hard. But tats why I love her. Coz neither am I perfect. None of us truly are. But who wants perfection? Mouli is real & so are you, me & countless other women like her.

I love Kunal as well. He is the husband every girl dreams of. Caring, cheerful, supportive, honest, romantic, BFF. And none of it looks forced. Be it making a cup of green tea for his wife or massaging her foot, nothing is contrived or exaggerated. The romantic scenes are quite tasteful & cute without being cringe worthy. Again he is not perfect. He is impulsive. He took a major decision to quit his job without consulting his wife. However at the end of the day the love & care they have for each other is obvious & endearing. Also despite his impulsive behavior he is righteous & stands by his principles. He has morals, he has lofty standards. Again a thumbs up from me.

Finally Kunal's mom. With saas bahu crap dominating Indian TV its so refreshing to see a Saas who dotes on her daughter in law. A saas who looks pretty & doesnt wear tonnes of makeup & jewellery. Her interaction with Mouli are lovely & touching.

This Malhotra trio get a 9 out of 10 from me.

Next are the costumes. Again we have a winner here. I may not be completely sold on some of Nandini's costumes esp those weird salwars in the FB & that collar blouse but except those few irritants the costumes, hair style, make up of all the actors are spot on. Especially I love Mouli & Kunal's dresses. The title score & music is good as well.

Now lets talk about the negatives.

No offense to DD fans but for me 1 of the main off putting factor of the show is the character Nandini. Please dont get me wrong. This is more due to my own personal taste. My parents raised me & my sister to be confident, independent women. I ve a successful well paying job. And despite our arguments & fights me & my hubby love each other a lot. Hence coming from such a background I cant relate or identify with Nandini. I agree that there are lots of Nandinis out there in the world. But I find it difficult to sympathize with them. Even if u work as a cook you can earn 5-6K per house & lead a dignified life. So I ve never understood wat makes these women put up with abuse. A mother who doesnt even ve the backbone to fight for her unborn child. And the way she keeps telling its my mistake, I need to manaofy my loser husband just gets on my nerves. Hello lady wake up. Your only mistake is continuing to put up with your poor excuse for a human loser husband. I am sorry but this character gets a thumbs down from me. I am hoping that the CVs will soon show her slowly gaining courage & confidence to walk out of her abusive marriage. Till then this character will not be on my favorites list.

My next complaint is with the slow, dragging screenplay. Most of the times nothing of significance or interest happens in the episode. The CVs take 10 mins just to show Nandini walking from 1 end of the hotel to another. And the hit & miss meetings between Mouli & Nandini starting from the Goa conference to the Mumbai hospital are contrived & test our patience. If the CVs want the TRPs to improve they must increase the pace of the story. Each episode must be engaging & progress the plot. Right now its stagnant & boring.

Of course how can I forget the infamous Colors Coming Up Next & Precap tortures. They will show the same scene for 3 days by when the audience would get fed up & switch channels. It only highlights the dragging nature of the episodes & makes the audience restless so that they reach for their remote.

All in all a different premise but the initial episodes lack the punch. I am still curious enough to watch few more episodes but the CVs definitely need to get their act together. The episodes need to be crisper & keep the audience interested wanting to know what happens next. And they need to work on Nandini's character. This show airs at 10 PM where the target audience are educated working women who hate saas bahu crap. So less of rona dhona & more of realistic characters. Its so exhausting to watch Nandini's constant tears & fears after a long day in office & home.

So tats my take on the show. Folks do comment & share ur views about the characters & the show. I am sure u guys ve loads to discuss & debate 😆

Edited by Angels11 - 7 years ago

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madlal

@madlal

Explorer

Posted: 7 years ago

Dear Angels11,

That was a very nice review. I loved your positive and negative take of the show. Like you said, it is very difficult to understand Nandini. While She is a modern woman, she is using her Sathi Savitri mode that it is her dharma to be with her husband. Well to each his own.

But I have to tell you My aunt Is Ph.D. in PSYCHOLOGY. and has been married for 30 years, all 22 years, she had been abused by her mother-in-law while her son ( her husband) just stood there watching that happen. But still, she did not leave him or say anything against his mother to him, though he was aware of the injustice happening in the house. We were all telling her to fight back, but she did not. Finally, the mother in law died and she was relieved and now the husband is like oh darling, oh dear and That is making my aunt so happy and I want to puke. Where was this oh darling and oh sweetie, when she was being abused, is my question? My aunt is very independent and a psychologist and still she let this happen. It needs the courage to fight against any type of injustice and I guess my aunt did not have it. And if the predator sees the prey weak, they will only torture them more. which is what happened. I can relate the same thing with Nandini. For her, her hope is what is keeping the marriage going. Hoping he would change. I hope the makers don't make his change, just he needs to punished.

I waited and waited for Arnav sigh Raizada to be punished for his cruelty against Khushi, But it did not happen, not even his eyelash was hurt.😆😆 I hope raj gets his due.

Thanks for the honest review.

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Angels11

@Angels11

Rocker

+ 5

Posted: 7 years ago

Originally posted by: madlal
Dear Angels11,
That was a very nice review. I loved your positive and negative take of the show. Like you said, it is very difficult to understand Nandini. While She is a modern woman, she is using her Sathi Savitri mode that it is her dharma to be with her husband. Well to each his own.
But I have to tell you My aunt Is Ph.D. in PSYCHOLOGY. and has been married for 30 years, all 22 years, she had been abused by her mother-in-law while her son ( her husband) just stood there watching that happen. But still, she did not leave him or say anything against his mother to him, though he was aware of the injustice happening in the house. We were all telling her to fight back, but she did not. Finally, the mother in law died and she was relieved and now the husband is like oh darling, oh dear and That is making my aunt so happy and I want to puke. Where was this oh darling and oh sweetie, when she was being abused, is my question? My aunt is very independent and a psychologist and still she let this happen. It needs the courage to fight against any type of injustice and I guess my aunt did not have it. And if the predator sees the prey weak, they will only torture them more. which is what happened. I can relate the same thing with Nandini. For her, her hope is what is keeping the marriage going. Hoping he would change. I hope the makers don't make his change, just he needs to punished.
I waited and waited for Arnav sigh Raizada to be punished for his cruelty against Khushi, But it did not happen, not even his eyelash was hurt.😆😆 I hope raj gets his due.
Thanks for the honest review.

And surprisingly domestic abuse is common even in Western countries where women are supposed to be more empowered. I did ve issues with my MIL & my hubby was silent. But it was nothing serious like abuse or violence. Just routine nagging & backstabbing. It took 9 yrs for my hubby to realize that I was right all along. But again except for his mom he has always been loving & caring towards me. Tat's y i fail 2 understand characters like Nandini. In my case forget bt me if my parents came to know my in laws are abusing or ill treating me they will drag me back home unlike some parents who advise their daughters to put up with everything. My dad passed away but I am what I am today only because he raised me & my sister to be brave & confident. May be we will get to know more about Nandini's marriage & y she is so scared.

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obstinatefemale

@obstinatefemale

Dazzler

+ 5

Posted: 7 years ago

I m also not fan of weak character although I like DD but nandini's character is very weak but I think there is more scope for this character to grow as I feel with the encourgement of Kunal and mauli she will emerge as stronger woman .TM it depends upon how we are raised so far what I concluded from nandini's character I think she is not raised in stronger enviornment .In some families gals are not given freedom and they are always told that they can't do particular things and restricted from raising voice againts males whether he is father or husband.I m from medical field and hv seen many cases of woman abuse where woman despite being educated are not ready to give up abusive relationship becoz of the pressure of society and parents .In some cases woman are bound by children .We being in medical field tried to make them understand that if they will not take action this will happen again and again but they don't have courage in them to go against it and many are afraid that what will happen with them after divorce as Indian women are raised with mentality that life is nothing without husband .We are lucky that we got good and supportive families so we can't relate to character like nandini but what cvs are showing is real .Many woman still being independent and educated fear to go against their male partners due to ine or other reason.I hope nandini character changes into strong woman with help of kunal and mauli.

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obstinatefemale

@obstinatefemale

Dazzler

+ 5

Posted: 7 years ago

Special mention yes me too loving the character of mauli .Writers hv this charcter very beautifully.It's beautiful becoz it is more relateable.You are right if they want to grab the eyeballs they should not keep on repeating same scenes and show more meaningful content.One thing I want to say all actors whether it's shakti aditi or abhinav drashti all are doing awesome job .Supporting cast is also best now the future of the show depends upon the story and presentation. And i request cvs to show nandini's family and background so we will be able to relate more to nandini's character that why she is so submissive and weak.

Edited by TheMockingBird - 7 years ago

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Sandysprings

@Sandysprings

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

Completely agree with you..love Kunal and Mauli characters..but pace is very much slow.

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SStephy

@SStephy

Dazzler

+ 3

Posted: 7 years ago

I completely agree about the Malhotra family... they are a breath of fresh air. And esp Mauli's character... the problem and issues she is facing and how she deals with them are very real and relatable.

About Nandini... I feel a bit of a disconnect with her character because we haven't been shown much about her background or anything to understand why she is the way she is. Like the fb scene where she chooses Rajdeep over Mauli after Mauli, accuses Rajdeep... even there it is strange to see Nandini side with Rajdeep over a friend she knew very well. Actually, right from before marriage itself, she seemed to have been submissive where Rajdeep was concerned.

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731627

Suspended

Posted: 7 years ago

Maui is fun loving caring person
she works day and night .she might get badly tired but still she remains in jolly mood and make environment jolly .she rarely get serious .even she is serious . she hide it and start doing majak Masti. .

Kunal ,a very romantic husband , supportive husband as well as honest doctor

both Kunal and mauli not only think about them selves . like if my family is happy hume doosre ke dukh se Kya Lena Dena .Maui and Kunal r happy in their life but still both can understand others pain

Kunal family r very broad minded and supportive .they don't interfere in Kunal and husband personal life when Kunal take mauli to restaurants . in law did not feel bad like Kunal to mauli ka gulam ho kar reh gaya

also in law did not forced mauli to wear saree only

where as mauli got such family
where she can Wear dress. she can eat ,drink of her own choice . husband and in-laws has given her fully freedom

but in Nandini I think in order to breath she might be taking permission from rajdeep . she can't do any thing of her choice

. rajdeep Alway force his liking on Nandini and making her life hell

Edited by surabhi01 - 7 years ago

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Flame_of_Forest

@Flame_of_Forest

Dazzler

Posted: 7 years ago

I have a different view regarding the characters.

For me, In a TV show a character is end result of contribution by many people like the actor, director, writer, dialogues, editor and others unlike a novel where the character is created solely by the writer. (so I am not looking at the written character here)

and the word relatable also has a little different meaning for me.

Definitely the matching thought process, actions, reactions to a situation is one part of it, but

beyond that there is also a part in terms of how the character exhibits its feelings and whether they touch the viewers heart or not,

or how they make the character feel real through conviction and get the viewer connected and related to her/his feelings (even if the viewer has not experienced similar circumstances or incidents or emotions)

so there is a mixed feeling when I look at these characters.

my thought process does not match with that of Nandini, but the feelings expressed by her are easily connectable.

while I am not able to connect with the feelings exhibited by Mauli and Kunal but my thought process against the domestic abuse matches there. May be because something is a miss there, may be the emotions do not go beyond a certain level (and I am not talking about making it dramatic), but the depth seems to be missing to me, be it emotional or romantic scene. Give a week full of romantic scenes the way they are currently and I may even skip it altogether because they are predictably repetitive. The rewind-the-scene-value is less for me.

but then what is a story, if the characters do not go through some emotional and mindset related evolution,

so waiting for Nandini to start repelling and rebelling out against the abuse..and hoping the transformation is done subtly..it is a high time now considering 4-6 years of their marriage.

On the story theme (the way it is advertised) - not in favor of EMA at all nor I am sure if I will continue watching the show, but it would be interesting to know as a possibility as what happens if Kunal and Mauli are thrown to face an emotional disruption..how Kunal will deal considering his background of morally principled character and how Mauli will deal with the inclination of her husband towards another woman considering her strong woman background.

And about the show, overall start was well, although there are standard cliches and gimmicks..the abuse part is little overstretched and so is the goody-goody part of the Kunal/Mauli/Malhotra family.

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Angels11

@Angels11

Rocker

+ 5

Posted: 7 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: S.Stephy
I completely agree about the Malhotra family... they are a breath of fresh air. And esp Mauli's character... the problem and issues she is facing and how she deals with them are very real and relatable.

About Nandini... I feel a bit of a disconnect with her character because we haven't been shown much about her background or anything to understand why she is the way she is. Like the fb scene where she chooses Rajdeep over Mauli after Mauli, accuses Rajdeep... even there it is strange to see Nandini side with Rajdeep over a friend she knew very well. Actually, right from before marriage itself, she seemed to have been submissive where Rajdeep was concerned.

This is wat I am unable 2 accept & understand. I mean she has known Mouli since childhood. Why will Mouli lie about something serious like sexual advances. Nandini dint even try to talk 2 Mouli & understand wat actually happened.

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2 weeks of Silsila - A honest review

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