What does Sony serial-Bade Ache Lagte hain tell us about money?
Bade Ache Lagte Hain
Bade Ache Lagte hain -yes I am talking about the Serial on Sony with Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Talwar. Isn't the story about two older people falling in love that too after marriage. yes it is! This time serial seems different, you know zara hat ke. What can a serial that too from Ekta Kapoor Balaji production house tell us about money?
What is Bade Ache Lagte Hain?
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain is a TV serial on Sony Entertainment Television that started on 30th May, 2011. It airs every Monday to Thursday at 10:30 PM in India. Story of BadeAcche.. is based on the two strangers, Ram and Priya, who get married and fall in love. Both Ram and Priya are past their marriageable age. Ram is 40+ while Priya is 30+.
Priya is a simple girl, who teaches college students TOEFL , which her mother ex-Miss Bhubaneshwar calls tuitions. Her younger sister, Aisha, is an aspiring model and the apple of her mother's eye. There is a brother ,Kartik, too. Theirs is a well-to-do middle-class family. Priya is played by Sakshi Tanwar, the Parvati bhabhi of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki !
Ram is a wealthy businessman. He lives with his stepmother, a stepbrother and two stepsisters. He buys everything money can for the happiness of his family but the mother uses him for her convenience and he's bereft of maternal love. In his 40s, he is portly and single. He's given up all the hopes of marriage though his best friend-cum-business associate is sure he will find the right girl if he looks hard enough. Ram Kapoor, of Kasam Se fame, has plays the character of Ram.
Renuka Israni does the loud, blas Shipra Sharma with elan while Eva Grover plays the scheming stepmom.
What is it about Bade Acche Lagte Hain that appeals to viewers?
It is slowly climbing the Television Rating Point (TRP) charts. Let's find out why:
"It's a refreshing story. We have had enough of kitchen politics," says Ratna Kulkarni, a housewife from Dadar.
"It's interesting to watch two older people falling in love," says Niharika Patel, a computer professional. "Why should serials only show two young people fall in love? We are happy to see something different," she says.
"Ram Kapoor is so…o sweet and cute and fat-just like a big teddy bear. I watch serial just for him ," says Kavita, a 30+ software engineer from Bangalore.
Ref:TimesofIndia
Other than Ram being wealthy what does BadeAche.. tell us about money(It highlights about getting married at the right age )
Money does not buy happiness
Ram Kapoor is rich, very rich. Infact he buys a failing company so that he can get the airplane of that company(The first episode). He buys anything that money can buy for his step family. But he is lonely. When he talks about his loneliness outside the bathroom door of a restaurant(thinking he is talking to his friend's wife but actually Priya is inside), a lot of women had tears in their eyes.
Ram's sister Natasha has everything, comes from rich family, is a successful designer but when her boyfriend, Kartik( Priya's brother) refuses to meet her, she slits her wrist and is rushed to hospital. Call it obsession or being stubborn but the bottom line is that money couldn't get her boyfriend.
Young girls are ready to marry for money
20 somethings are ready to marry 40+, fat Ram because he is rich. They think he is their ticket to bigger, expensive, branded things in life.
Remember the conversation that Priya has with her students when they talk about the magazine which has Ram on the front cover and Priya is tempted to pick the magazine.
Or the episode in which Ram on insistence of his best friend meets a girl who is model. How the model tries to literally butter Ram and then runs off when Ram tells her he has no money!
Or how Priya's younger sister, Aisha, agrees to marry Ram because for her buying a branded purse gives more happiness then talking about sunrise, sunset with a middle class husband. Her dialogues about the Sapnoon ka Rajkumar coming in white horse is all lies, makes us nod our heads in agreement. Her family agrees for the match "as they could not afford her dreams"
Playboy owner with his ex-fiancee
Around same time newspapers were buzzwith reports of 84 year old owner of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner worth $43 million, marrying 24 yr old Crystal Harris. That's not an age difference, but is several GENERATION difference. When I read the news, I was seriously wondering why a 24 yr old would marry such an old man if not for his money. (On June 15, 2011 Hugh Hefner confirmed on Twitter that his wedding was canceled because his fiancee had a change of heart.saying "the breakup is a heartbreaker, but better now than after the marriage.").
Money makes one greedy
An employee of Ram, who was already married, agreed to marry Priya because of increment and promotion. He seems to be perfect guy, agreeing to let Priya have her identity. Thankfully Ram founds out at the right time else priya ki life barbaad ho jati!
A small quiz: Can you guess the serial, a very popular one, of 1980's in which Renuka Israni , who plays Priya's mom acted?
Will Raam and Priya ever come close to each other? Will love blossom between the two? All the answers to above questions will form the further story of bade acche lagte hai. These are money lessons that I can think of. Bade Ache Lagte hain. Do you agree, can you think of other money lessons from Bade…