Soapbox’s new saviours

Sometimes the Jassi formula hasn't worked for immediate me-toos like Zee TV's now-off air Kareena Kareena and MTV's first soap Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi. And much before ugly duckling Jassi made being unattractive and middle-class a matter of national pride, Ekta Kapoor had made a tentative effort at showing a middle-class girl's journey into the world of riches in Kkusum, until of course it ended up being yet another saas-bahu caper.

Sahara One's Kittu Sab Janti Hai and Sony' Ek Ladki Anjaani Si are both about hopes, dreams and travails of average middle-class girls and the desire to do something 'extraordinary'. Newcomer Ami Trivedi's 'extraordinary dream' in Kittu Sab Janti Hai is to become a hard-hitting journalist. After a nationwide audition, producer Manish Goswami zeroed in on Trivedi. "Kittu's the story of a middle-class girl. What sets Kittu apart is the fact that it's set in the media world. No other soap has done that. It's about real characters," says Goswami. Tarun Katial of Sony admits that while "Ek Ladki Anjaani Si is about a middle-class girl, but her journey is so unexpected from what viewers have seen that we feel the show will crack a new genre."

And as long as the girl-next-door's screen fairytale grabs enough eyeballs, no one is complaining. Until the next big wave that is.