Sorry about the weird title. It was borrowed from an old joke which I dont remember anymore. Selective Amnesia is very convenient.
My idea of a Hindi serial has changed drastically ever since cable tv hit our country. Hindi serials of the pre-cable era were wholesome, clean, family entertainers that made you laugh or touched that sensitive spot in your heart. The characters were memorable and the storylines simple and sweet. Even a hyper, non-television person like me sat and watched serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Nukkad and even the Shah Rukh Khan starrers - Manoranjan, Circus and Fauji (his first tv serial).
Back to the age of cable tv. Evolutionary technology and huge budgets translate to better quality productions, elaborate sets and everything else... except content. The storyline seems to have sprouted wings and flown out of the window for good. Anyway, that was an awfully long intro so I’ll cut it short and zoom straight to the bitching... er... analytical section of the review.
My picks for the worst five serials are based on the occasional viewing and unlimited chattering by some people who watch these serials and narrate every incident... groan...Here goes nothing...
1: Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin:
The story writer had a bad day. He or she decided that they hated the world and it was time to take revenge on everyone. So they concocted a character called Jassi and decided to make her ’ugly’. Now ugliness is a state of mind and has nothing to do with how a person looks. Anyway, they decided to add a love story with two retards falling in love with Jassi. One of them owns an advertising firm. 25000 episodes later, the girl’s had plastic surgery, the company has swapped hands a few times, the jaded dudes who love Jassi are so confused that if one of them hadn’t died (i think he died but frankly, we don’t care anymore), the two of them would have married each other. Several episodes later, the storywriter who was ticked off with the world, finds inner peace and decides to end the serial and with it, every viewer’s misery.
Sure, there’s no one like Jassi. She’s one of a kind. If we all had a wish, we should pray that this serial is also ’one of a kind’. No one should ever venture and try to emulate this serial.
Final Thought: This would have been a good serial if they hadn’t dragged and dragged and dragged and dragged and dragged and dragged... you get the point.
Kkusum
You thought Jassi was painful. Kkusum with the two intentional K’s at the beginning was Excrutiatingly Painful with a capitale E and P.
This one’s from the stable of Jumping Jack’s daughter, the bright eyed Ekkkkkkkta. Again, a decent start for a serial. But then, she got greedy and decided to stretch a 26 episode plot into a multi-year affair. I must admit that Kkusum did not leave any lasting impressions, so wont be able to reveal much of the plot but like any Hindi serial that spans years, there are several deaths, several marriages, several kidnappings, several instances of treachery, several songs stolen from here and there (not including the title track that is played at 10 beats per minute with the intention of ripping your heart and soul apart and making you cry) and most of all... several tears... most of them shed by the viewers who have been tormented by the extreme stupidity of the whole thing.
At the end of it all... a lot of deaths happen... but most of it is the death of sane brain cells in the human anatomy.
Ek Ladki Anjaani Si
Ah... now I have something nice to say about the previous picks. They are all over, done with, finito. This one... is still going on...
The serial had the most unique start of them all. An 18 year old girl gets accidentally impregnated when she goes for a routine checkup for a Visa!! A married businessman had hired a concubine to bear his child using er... you know... that he had saved up before he was treated for cancer. Post cancer, he had lost his ability to create life... but life had created life for him without his own knowledge (sometimes I don’t make any sense)..
The serial had some powerful acting from the lead character and the lady who played her mom... but they went and replaced them both using the tried and tested First Accident, Then Plastic Surgery, Then Bye Bye Main Character angle...
My throat choketh... cant go on with this tale anymore. It’s too painful.
All the horror serials:
Just want to sum this one up by saying... we just don’t know how to deliver when it comes to this genre... India is yet to see a real good horror serial.
Considering the wealth of old wives tales and mythology that our country has, we should have enough resources to craft slick horror tales. Hopefully, someone will crack this nut.
Big Boss:
Reality Bit! Big Boss Sucked!
It’s sad that with the kind of brains that are there in the subcontinent, we cannot come up with original ideas and unique concepts. It’s even sadder when we have templates created by others, concepts that we can just take and deploy... and we make an utter mess of it. Maybe it’s me... but I just couldn’t register Big Boss.
Anyway... am done. Those were my two cents plus VAT. Feel free to yell at me if one of those happened to be your favourite serial.
~finis~