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Shaleen Bhanot as a complex junkie
Q Your last serial ended more than a year ago. Was the long break intended?
Both actually. I am very choosy and also like to take at least a six-month break between two shows. Not that I was offered lots of shows, just a few offers.
Q What's interesting about Sajda Tere Pyaar Mein?
It is completely different from anything I have done on TV so far. In my last serial Do Hanson Ka Joda which was a family drama. I played a shy and reserved middle-class guy. But my look is different here. When I heard about the role I said yes to the show without even hearing the story.
Q How different is the look?
I have long hair, wear jewellery and look like a junkie. I worked on my look for two and half months.
Q It's a love story. So ,what's the major difference?
It's a love story for sure. But it's intriguing and not the normal boy-meets-girl kind of story. Apart from the girl loving boy, it's also about love for the country. It's a love triangle between boy, girl and the nation.
Q Is it inspired by Aamir Khan-Kajol starrer Fana or any other recent Hindi film?
No, it has nothing to do with Fana or any other film. It's completely different and original.
Q Are you playing a terrorist in disguise or a RAW agent?
He is neither. It's a very complex and multi-layered character. He has many names and there is lot of suspense about him.
Q How's life post-marriage?
It has changed for good in last two years. For eight years I had lived away from my family. I did everything for myself. But now there is a lady at home to do things for me.
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Debolina plays a happy, go lucky girl
She is not new to acting but is a newcomer to serials though. Debolina has done a Bengali film before and came to Mumbai two- and-a-half years ago. Surprisingly, though her debut film, Ami Aadu, where she played a Muslim girl married to a Hindu, won a national award, Debolina says that till date she has not been offered a single Bengali film. She came to Mumbai to work in Hindi films. "Regional films don't give you national recognition. Nobody knows you outside your state," she reasons.
However, her dream of working in Hindi films has not taken a back seat. "I have done one film which will be released sometime later. Since I came here for work, I was also open to serials because TV provides one with a lot of fame. But I didn't want to do those rona-dhona overdramatic serials," she adds. When she was approached for the lead role in Sajda Tere Pyaar Mein, Debolina says the character was quite tempting.
Elaborating she says, "Aaliya is a 21-year-old modern Muslim girl in the final year of college. She is careless, happy go lucky and not focused in life and career. She also doesn't believe in love. But a transformation comes over her when she meets Ranveer." What happens next? "Their tryst blossoms into love and soon she finds herself sacrificing everything in her life for Ranveer's sake, which leads to conflict between love and responsibility. She has to choose between her love and duty towards the nation. It's really different from what viewers are watching currently on TV," she promises.
The TV serial Uttaran has a unique way of bouncing back each time it slips down the Television Rating Point (TRP). The show that has gone on for the last three years has made its way back on to the top ten charts. Past couple of months it had gone down with people getting bored of the same old story, but last week with some big twists it managed to return to the number 7 slot on the TRP chart.
Right now the focus is on Iccha's child, who was taken away by nani. The creative team is trying to hard to make each episode interesting. But there's pressure on them, what with other channels eyeing that 10 pm slot. Sony TV recently started Kya Jua Tera Vada and Star Plus has just started Sajda to compete with Uttaran. Some time ago, the new channel Like Ok too put its best show Saubhagyavati in the same time slot. Clearly there's stiffcompetition for Uttaran. Will the creative team manage to survive and keep themselves afloat? Let's wait and see what the ratings wil be this week.
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Monday - Friday, 10:00 pm, STAR Plus
Cast : Debolina Chaterjiee, Shaleen Bhanot, Nivedita Bhattacharya
Rating: **1/2
After colour co-ordinated modular kitchens, corporate boardrooms (though they eventually land in the kitchen!), government offices, it's now the terrorists den, Hindi TV heroines seem to be entering or so it seems in Star Plus' latest offering, Sajda Tere Pyaar Mein.
Aliya is a carefree girl. She lives for today, is lazy to the core, doesn't care much for rules and farz, would rather spend time with her gang of friends without a worry in the world. She has an older sister, Nafisa, a police officer and a missing brother (who we are sure will come from the dead when the TRP clock strikes!). While Nafisa wears duty and patriotism on her sleeve, she is also the disciplinarian of the house. All she wants is Aliya to realise her responsibilities and grow up!
Meanwhile, Aliya's best friend Rishi is into drugs though she isn't aware about it and at the time of writing, she has bumped into a long haired suspicious-looking man, who's dropped his pen which she's picked up. We are told the two are eventually going to fall in love (long hair and Miss Carefree that is) and herein comes the terrorist angle. Things are going to take a turn for the worse when Aliya will have to choose between her love for her man versus that for her country.
The plot, to be fair, seems interesting (we guess, anything away from the mundane family dramas are welcome) though we are not yet sold on its execution. For one, Aliya seems to be all over the place. O.K, we do get the point that she is a happy-go-lucky girl but why show her prancing around, giggling and behaving like a five year old in every other scene. Secondly, there is too much drama happening, especially when the two sisters share the frame. Each tries to outdo the other in the hamming department. So naturally,we are waiting for the story to pick up and fast.
Nivedita Bhattacharya as the tough cop sister tends to go over the top while Debolina Chatterjiee as Aliya is rough on the edges and may be reserving her intense best for the subsequent episodes when the story will take a big turn. Shaleen Bhanot as the long haired stranger is still to open his cards.
So far so good because as we said anything that is not about two women warring with each other wearing saris and mile-long bindis is a welcome change! Can't wait for the aatankwadi ki prem katha to begin.
Verdict: Worth a dekko.
RT @shaileshkapoor Top show on TV - Diya Aur Baati Hum 5.6. Desi Boyz premiere 1.9. New show on Star Plus - Sajda 1.9 first week average. ,
Varun Badola who made his last appearance on SAB TV's telefilm Gadi Bula Rahi hai on its weekend slot is now all set to play a negative character in Star Plus's newly launched show Sajda Tere Pyar Mein under the banner of Ravi Ojha Productions.
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