Honestly, I cannot comment much on either SBS or DABH ... I did watch a few episodes of SBS and liked them, but as far as I remember, Tej and Toasty were already in love and going steady when the show started ... that's what I meant when I said the love story was a done deal. The rest ... I really don't know, so cannot comment. I did see some of their off screen segments, I liked the actress in those, she seemed very sweet and perky.
As for DABH, I have heard from many people the same thing ... that their screenplay is very good, they do their tracks very well, and I am perfectly ready to believe it ... there has to be some reason why it is the TRP topper, in spite of having such a weak female lead. But again the way it is told is not to my taste, I tried watching it for a full month when it started, and then gave up ... I think it does give out very good messages but they are aimed at a different level of women, those who are struggling for those basic rights in their homes, and battling strict MILs ... which is probably a lot of women in India today, especially in the smaller towns and cities.
For myself, I can relate far more to Chhanchhan personally, as I belong to a very similar family, and even more importantly, I have brought up my kids in the same way, with a lot of freedom to follow their own paths in life.. And the teasing and closeness in the Sarabhai family again is VERY similar to what happens in my family. The Chhanchhan -Rugved scenes are a carbon copy of the relationship between my son and daughter - I love them!
But such families and upbringing in India is still not common ... it is only seen in the more developed urban cities and metropoles ... so the appeal of Chhanchhan might be limited for that reason as well. However, one month is far too early to comment on TRP's, in my opinion, that too, when IPL is going on. The TRP's of all the established shows have dropped sharply, whether due to IPL or digitalization, don't know ... CC launched just a week before IPL started, and two weeks before the digitalization started ... it will take at least 2-3 months before a clear picture of TRP's emerges. It takes a good three months for any new show to settle ... even more so when it was launched in a hurry, as CC obviously was. So I wouldn't write it off just yet.
Also, like I said in a post a couple of weeks back ... Uma Ben is not your typical wicked dominating MIL. She is more manipulative and clever. So I'm looking forward to what kind of clashes will happen between her and Chhanchhan. If Farhan is replaced or improves enough to be watchable, I will be happy, though ... a nice love story on the side is always pleasant to see. But I am not watching CC for the love story, Sanaya made it very clear this is NOT going to be a love story, she didn't want to do a love story, and both she and Supriya have signed on for the CC-Uma Ben clashes.
At this point in time, honestly the only thing that is holding me to see the show once in a while or at least in the fast forward mode is due to Sanaya but that's the only thing that is the plus I feel in the show. And Supriyaji even though she is a good actress, I am unable to warm up to the character and for as a person who likes a tight screenplay, the show is very jumpy/jerky which makes me lose the interest quite quickly. I didn't have a very high hope of CC being a love story, if you remember, I used to tell that it would be good if SI does a family sitcom.
But somehow the execution, the style and the narration leaves a lot to be deserved. And when the PH has such a good ensemble of characters, I would like to see some interactions and please let that be sensible interactions. I actually had lot of 'What The' reactions even with the scenes of ChanChan's family. Just as an example, I too am a forward thinking parent and a mother to 2 girls but I don't see myself playing a match maker to the first guy that gets invited to my house by my daughter. The scene was to show the difference of trust between CC's family and Manav's family and I do get that but had the team inserted a few dialogues/few scenes between say Rughved and CC's family talking about Manav, how CC and Rughved knew him, what he does and maybe 1-2 episodes down you have some discussion on the things, it is believable. That is what I meant when the screen play is so jumpy and jerky - one moment you have all the family teasing manav as Mr.Susu and then the next scene you have all of them declaring Manav-CC to be a cute pair. A *headdesk* moment for me. These kind of things should be avoided by this PH as they are not newbies who are doing their first show. Actually DABH is Mittal's first show I believe but the way the tracks are built, the layers are added to the characters and the tracks are ended with some social message - I have to say it is awesome. I still don't watch DABH regularly because I can't stand the action or rather the non-action of the lead but if I catch the promo and the promo is nice, I give it a shot because the screenplay is awesome, you know why the character is behaving the way they are doing and the BG is absolute soulful song and the track ends in a fixed time say 1-2 weeks. These are the things that keep the normal audience hooked on.
And believe it or not, all my group of office friends did give CC a fair chance because of Sanaya and none of us were expecting a story like IPK because frankly IPK like serial and the chemistry comes once in a while only. But all of us were expecting a better product and not this mediocre show. I am the only person who is still waiting for the show to get better - rest of the gang have already moved on to different shows. I am not sure if TRPs will increase once the real story comes out in open or after IPL ends but I do hope it at least stabilizes. Would I give a chance to this show going forward after the marriage - Will definitely try to give in a chance but it will depend a lot on how the story is told for me to tune in every day. So I definitely would like some improvement to be seen on the story and screenplay section also because right now they are the next areas according to me that I think need improvement.
CID
Ishaani
