I love Sidhdhant. In fact, that’s what I feel about most of the serials on Star One. I had more or less walked away from television till NDTV and more recently Star One happened to me. If you are looking for in depth analysis of current events then it has to be NDTV and if it’s classy urban-based stories that need your attention the please turn to Star One. Hotel Kingston, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and of course Sidhdhant come to mind easily. They are my favorites.
Sidhdhant is the journey of its eponymous hero from sin to redemption, from blatant exploitation to idealistic conviction. Sidhdhant Mehra works for a law firm and is their biggest bet. He fights and wins cases irrespective of his client’s moral and ethical status. At the onset he fights the case of three rapists and acquits them. Ironically, it is the victim who has to suffer indignity at the hands of society. Even though everyone including his girlfriend Alka who lives with him denounces Sidhdhant, the lawyer carries on with life without any remorse. But one day something drastic happens and he finds himself waging a legal battle against the mafia. This time he is on the side of the underprivileged. If this seems like a regular Hindi film then please forget it. There are many side-tracks that delve deeply into the psychological motivations of the characters.
Sidhdhant as a story operates on many levels which are all interlinked. The serial begins with the rape of a girl. Sidhdhant wins the case for his law firm which later fights with him on behalf of the mafia headed by Quershi who is an ally of Saxena an eminent politician. Saxena’s wife Shruti is Sidhdhant’s ex-love for whom he still feels a lot. Shruti is a dope-addict and her supplier is Qureshi’s grandson. One day Shruti and Qureshi’s grandson are murdered in what is cleverly guised as a road accident. Sidhdhant is heart-broken and Alka moves away from his life. Sidhdhant makes headway in his case against Quershi but people in general are not very happy about his curiosity in the Shruti-murder case. Enter a journalist who wants to get away from being a Page 3 scribe.
The drama continues …..
The serial is race, slick and full of dramatic possibilities. I make it a point to reach home well before 10 pm every Wednesday.
Postscript: Sidhdhant – the Bollywood version
I often wonder if Rajkumar Santoshi were to remake Sidhdant fro the big screen then who would he cast? Won’t Ajay Devgan make a great Sidhdhant? I am sure Santoshi would ask him to smoke nonstop for the camera and even get him drunk in a couple of scenes. Rani Mukherjee would be cast as Alka but since it is Bollywood we are talking about, she would be his wife and not a live-in girlfriend. Sushmita Sen or Lara Dutta would be his Shruti. Quershi and Saxena could be played by Danny and Atul Kulkarni respectively. And yes .. there would be an item song by Mamta Kulkarni/Urmila Matondkar/Lara Dutta ... make your choice.
Similarly, if Ram Gopla Verma factorywalla were to make Sidhdhant , his choice would be …. Ajay Devgan again, I’m sure. For Alka it would be Antara Mali (and she would be living in with him) while Manisha Koirala would be the right Shruti. His Quershi and Saxena would be Nana Patekar and Manoj Bajpayee respectively. And yes, there would definitely be those trade-mark RGV sound effects.
Hope you enjoyed the review. Eagerly awaiting your comments.