Imagine one fine day you go to your office & that irritating colleague is at his/her best act again. As always, you wish under your breath ’’How I wish this one would turn into a toad’’ and voila !! what you see standing there is a croakg ugly toad !! Do you know what this means? That you’ve turned into a Pari [a ’’good’’ witch] ! lolz ;)
Shararat is our very own version of The Teenage Witch Sabrina - a fun serial which I watched regularly. Even though Shararat has just started on Star Plus [Fridays 9pm], I’ve been watching it & would like to recommend a dekho of the show to all who are interested in watching light hearted comedy serials rather than the usual rona-dhona type
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The Characters:
Jia: is a 18-year-old who has been recently blessed with magical powers but she is unaware how to put it to good use. She has a crush on her college friend Dhruv & is always falling in trouble because of her magical powers.
Radha:is Jia’s mother. A very level headed Pari, who uses her powers mostly to undo the problems created by her beti Jia & her mom Naani.
Suraj:is Jia’s dad. A doctor by profession, he is aware of the powers his wife has & would really love if she would use her powers to something good. He also has to put up with his mom-in-law who is forever visiting the Malhotra house.
Naani:is Jia’s granmom [mother’s mom]. She is a loud but cute Naani & doesn’t think twice before using her magic. She loves her grandchildren so much that she is practically living in her daughter’s house, much to the chagrin of Suraj. Naani is the one who is always advising Jia on how to use her magical powers. Naani is not scared of anyone or anything, even her own great great mom Rani Devi.
Rani Devi:lives in heaven & is always kept company by her two bodyguards - Mantra & Antra. Whenever there is a problem in Malhotra house, Raani Devi is they turn too. She doesn’t get along well with Naani, as the latter is always challenging Raani Devi’s decisions.
Meeta: Jia’s best friend, a very cute character. She is simple & sweet & still unaware of her friend’s powers. Meeta is always falling for guys in college but none return her advances. At the moment, she is infatuated with Dhruv’s best friend Raja & Jia is trying her best to convince Meeta to get over him.
Dhruv: a good friend of Jia. He too likes Jia but cannot resist flirting with the new girl Pam, who is much more hip than Jia.
Mrs Sabarwala: is just like our typical neighbour ! always borrowing stuff & asking about the whereabout of famiy members. She has doubts about something fishy going on in the lives of the Malhotras but no one believes her. Hence, she is always spying on her neighbours, hoping that one day she would catch them red-handed.
Pamela / Pam: is the ’vamp’ of the show ! She is the new girl on campus & her snooty attitude makes her popular in college. With Jia she has a hate-at-first-sight affair. Pam is very jealous of Jia & she makes her best effort to put Jia down. Pam is also related to Mrs. Sabarwala & is now staying in Jia’s neighbourhood.
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The Story so far :
Jia Malhotra has just turned 18 & unknown to her, she is now blessed with the ’supernatural powers’ that have been passed on to every female member of her family. The story behind this that Jia’s great great great grandmom was Rani Devi who was very kind/charitable lady. She was then blessed by a holy who gave her some magical powers & also the right to hand over these each daughter in the generations to come.
The funny stuff happens when Rani Devi sneezes all over the holy man just as he has finished with his blessings !! The holyman is annoyed but cannot take away his gift so he puts in a clause that she [& other Pari’s in her family] would not be able to use their magic for 24 hours, if they ever had a cold !
Its the first day of her college - after she has turned a Pari - and here Jia meets Pam who is the centre of attraction as soon as she enters the college. Even Jia best pal Dhruv cannot resist Pam. This makes Jia really mad & worse is that Pam takes an instant dislike to Jia & Meeta. The whole day in college is spent with Pam teasing Jia but somehow Jia keeps her cool. In the end however, Jia wishes that Pam would turn into a ’’baingan’’ & lo ! The beautiful Pam turns into a eggplant !!
Shocked at her wish coming true, Jia has no other option than to carry ’’Pam, eggplant’’ home & ask her Naani for some help. Here starts the comic situation where all the 3 Paris try to bring back Pam to her original self but even magic doesn’t come easy. Jia has a cold & for next 24 hours she would not be able to do any magic tricks !
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My Word:
The actress playing Jia is a bubbly innocent lookg youngster & suits her role perfectly. Farida Jalal who plays Naani is at her best & its good to watch her fight with Raani Devi [Shammi]. Its too early to predict whether the show will continue to be as enjoyable as it is in the beginning. As of now, Shararat is a simple magical comedy with a good cast & comic situations.
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Thanx for reading :)