kulvadhu:Sonys tribute 2 Ekta -Article MM

Santa didn't spring out through the chimney this Christmas. Instead, he chose to beam us his bag of goodies via the idiot box. And his lovely gift for us viewers? Another one of those young-woman-fights-against-all-odds daily soaps. Kulvaddhu premiered on Sony last night, and going by the first episode, promises to be a designer replica of the sort of full-family dramas we have learnt to 'enjoy' on other channels.

Kulvaddhu, as per media reports, is the story of Niyati (newcomer Daljit Kaur), an unmarried widow (go figure that out for yourself!) who, through a weird turn of fate (the usual thingy on our soaps), finds herself transported from a heavenly haveli in Jodhpur to a palatial bungalow in Mumbai. And as you can imagine, the poor babe will have to spend her entire life dealing with an ultra-traditional, all-things-modern hating, aggressive, death-before-dishonour type of a Rajput clan. In short, the stage is all set for many gharelu jhagdas, old world vs new world arguments, frantic prayers to assorted gods and goddesses, and lots of rona dhona. There's already a superbitch (Sushmita Mukherjee) raring to dig her claws into the poor village belle.

Sounds like familiar ground? It is. Ekta Kapoor has been doing the same gig very successfully for years now. The only thing difference this time is the locales, costumes and settings, which promise to be exotic and arty.

We already saw great opulence, fancy cars, royal palaces, a chase over beautiful sand dunes, etc, in the first episode. This is like Johnny-come-lately TV producer Anuj Saxena saying to Balaji Telefilms, "What you guys can do, I can do too, but I will do it with more bucks down the hatch."

The one smart thing Sony has done is not to slot Kulvaddhu on the happening 9PM to 10PM zone (it's scheduled for 8.30PM), as that would have meant a head-on clash with Star Plus's oncoming SRK starred KBC, a battle even the courageous Niyati would have chickened out of.

Dear Santa, next year please arrive through the chimney, we prefer it that way. And kindly stop that 'Ho! Ho! Ho!', it's not funny.

P.S:sorry if it was posted earlier!!!