I have been watching star plus for about 3-4 years now. During this ’long’ stint I happened to see a number of run-off comedies sometimes hilarios, sometimes ridiculous. Oflate there has been a trend in Indian Television to copy the west.Some of them were instant/runaway success.Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, for instance (Inspired by original Columbian TV RCN’s Yo Soy Betty la Fia) which broght in an eye-popping TVR of 5.1 in C&S homes for Sony.
Star Plus, India’s best among all mass-hindi channels features Shararat which resembles in ’someway’ to ABC’s Sabrina, the teenage witch(Inspired by a Children’s sitcom). Sabrina... was a huge hit in the US which even saw it being made on silver screen. Melissa Joan Hart plays Sabrina supported by big names like Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick.
Synopsis:Sabrina Spellman turned 16 one fine day and she’s now a witch! Her aunts whom she lives with has been detailed with the job of teaching her magic by her father Ed Spellman who lives inside a book. She turns to him whenever she wants help to get out of the stymies she come across in her school. Her mother is immortal and she’s warned that if she lays her eyes on her in the next two years she will turn ito a ball of wax. Thus her livin-with-aunts scenario is made clear.
Now think of our version of Sabrina or her cousin....Jia excellently portraited by multi-talented Shruti Seth (perhaps the only good part of the series).Its not a blind replica of Sabrina tho’. For instance, here Jia don’t live with her aunts and becomes witch only when she turns 18. They also changed the legend of how Jia became a pari by outlining a desi kinda fairy-tale. The story goes like this; Jia has a crush on her college-mate Dhruv but Dhruv is Infatuated by Pam who’s the hot n’ happenin vamp in the college. Pam teases Jia everyday but one day she just couldn’t resist herself from casting a spell on Pam.Boom! Now Pam is a baingan or Eggplant! Now she’s in need of help from her witch a-k-a pari mother and grandmother, Radha and Naani. The story evolves around this line.
The show can boast of the talents of Shruti (who is a Channel V vj and has modelled for Domino’s Pizza, Fruti, Pond’s Talc et al).Her performance in Josh and Kyon Hota Hai Pyaar has gone well with the audience. And the other attraction is the presence of Fareeda Jalal and Shammi Aunty.
The show is weak in it’s storyline and is quite capable of getting into the last nerve of the viewer.However, initial episodes were good and it could have been made a better one had the creators worked a little on it’s dialogues and jokes(Some of them can eat your head at times).
But one cannot aver it’s a bad show.After all, it is inspired by Sabrina...an outstanding comedy..so what if a little customization eroded it’s outlook, it still can hope for a good deal of viewership.