Exit Role Model, Enter Girl Next Door abut sakshi

This year television's ideal bahus made way for women we are familiar with.

What would Parvati make of Priya? What would Priya, for that matter, make of Parvati? Parvati, TV's ideal bahu with her prim bun of hair, the sindoor emblazoning her status, the perfect pleats of her saree matching the equanimity of her demeanour. Parvati, the protector and the preserver of the Aggarwal parivar.

Priya's long hair, on the other hand, falls untidily about her face, her saree spills off her body as if it has a will of its own and she giggles insanely; she's 30-something, carefree, recently married to a very large Mr Ram Kapoor and doesn't care much for the Kapoor clan. Priya tipples and sings Bollywood songs; Parvati sang bhajans at aarti and drank water only, always neat.

A funny thing has happened to Sakshi Tanwar as she went from the first decade of this century to the next: the actress who played the straitlaced and self righteous Parvati bhabhi of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki is now the bubbly, wide-eyed wife of Bade Achche Lagte Hain. They're about four years apart, on the screen, and no two women could be more unlike: if they met, they'd disapprove of one another, instantly. Come to think of it, Parvati would sniff at many of today's leading ladies and they are likely to stick out their tongues at her.