Bandini: Set me free - REVIEW

Monday to Thursday, 10 pm, NDTV Imagine
Ekta Kapoor's Bandini is an attempt to do something away from the usual loud, melodramatic stuff she churns out. The story about a simple Gujarati village girl, who unwittingly gets married to a widower 'Maalik' is heart-tugging in parts.
Dharam Raj Mahiyavanshi (Ronit Roy) is a no-nonsense, hard core, authoritarian maalik of Dharampur, a small village set somewhere in Gujarat. He sets the rules in the village and anyone going against is met with dire consequences. Santo (Aasiya Kazi), the second granddaughter of Madhav Solanki, a poor employee of Dharam Raj's diamond factory, unintentionally commits the mistake of offering her prayers at the village's Shiv temple. Now, the trouble is that no one dares steps inside the temple, until maalik has graced his presence and so to punish Santo, he sacks Solanki from the job. He also asks Solanki to pay back the loan that he had taken from the factory. After selling off his cow and his granddaughters' jewellery, the old man manages to save his skin. Meanwhile, an important diamond consignment requires the expertise of Solanki to finish it and so Dharam Raj decides to reinstate Solanki into the factory. He also decides to be extra meherbaan on the old man as he promotes a young employee and orders his parents to marry Solanki's eldest granddaughter but as fate would have it, their kundalis don't match though it matches with that of Santo's. After much deliberation, Santo decides to marry the guy.
Dharam Raj's brother-in-law (his sister-in-law's husband), Viraat Sanghvi proves to be the proverbial thorn in the flesh. One after the other, Dharam Raj faces setbacks in carrying out the consignment and that's when the family astrologer suggests marriage to him.

On the day of Santo's marriage, her groom runs away and Dharam Raj steps in to marry her. Of course there is an ulterior motive behind it and a mysterious twist to the story.

Directed by Santram Verma and Kaushik Ghatak, Bandini while is a sure, welcome departure from Kapoor's by-now all-too-familiar soaps, complete with loud characters, jarring background music, rolling eyes etc. Bandini is none of that. Yes, the effort to be realistic shows, the 'toning down' is obvious but we guess that's the need of the hour.

What doesn't work is the slow pace (and could do with an energy drink) and it can really test your patience. The show though scores on performances by Aasiya (though her dialogue delivery is very childlike and amateurish, it's the very thing that draws you to her), she is endearing and a fresh face. Same goes for the elder sister who though could do with a little bit of training in diction. The grandfather (he's the sweeper from Munnabhai MBBS) and the helplessness he projects does make you want to give him a tight jhappi. And last but not the least, Roy as the hard-as-nails Dharam Raj brings immense poise and character to the show.

All said and done, Bandini has started off with promise and here's hoping if the proceedings quicken a bit, it could get the makers and the channel some much-needed TRPs.
Verdict:
If you have the patience, go for it.

I suppose for them, when a husband sees the face of his wife about a week after marriage, it is considered "slow paced"

however, now it has picked up a bit, he yells at her, gives her a tissue, they touched (twice)....

So, I kind of agree, it started of kind of slow, but now that DM and Santu have some more interaction, it has sped up.

Same here Hema ..

I just cant understand HOW and WHY the words 'slow pace' and 'patience' have been associated with Bandini .. Moti-ben was being physical - we all cringed- and it stopped within 4 episodes and now it's mental torture ..

WHAT slow pace?

Originally posted by: tashmin

I suppose for them, when a husband sees the face of his wife about a week after marriage, it is considered "slow paced"

however, now it has picked up a bit, he yells at her, gives her a tissue, they touched (twice)....

So, I kind of agree, it started of kind of slow, but now that DM and Santu have some more interaction, it has sped up.

Well what I think is , in the other shows- the whole focus is on the lead pair .. but Bandini is shaping up so well .. and the reason is that they give due attention to character development where needed without overexposing their lead pair and taking away the novelty😳

Thanks a lot for sharing this article!

Overall nice review !

The slow-pace thingy i didnt get it😕 Otherwise it is surely rocking !😉

Originally posted by: ronitfan

Well what I think is , in the other shows- the whole focus is on the lead pair .. but Bandini is shaping up so well .. and the reason is that they give due attention to character development where needed without overexposing their lead pair and taking away the novelty😳

Thanks Sanam ..

The thing that has me perpetually hooked to this show is that I am always left with that sweet longing to see more of SanRaj .. I am never disappointed .. but I am left with that kasak - that sweet longing ..