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| Isharon Isharon Mein |
Yet another TV show has made a fool of me, after connecting so well initially. Of course this is not the first time that an Indian TV serial, after raising expectations, has brought me down with a thud. It had happened with Balika Vadhu, Pavitra Rishta, Saas Bina Sasural, Bahu Humari Rajnikant, Qubool Hai and more recently Aladdin Naam Toh Suna Hoga. Unnecessary fillers -- what with irrelevant characters and pointless subplots -- (leading to overstretching of the storyline) or else ridiculous plot twists were what drew me away from the aforementioned serials. This time, it's the turn of 'Isharon Isharon Mein' to disappoint me - a serial I used to religiously watch until a couple of weeks back.
A good start is half the battle won. True that, I completely agree. But why do the makers forget that the beginning is just a part of the story, the ensuing parts too need to be as good! Furthermore, why do the makers of Indian TV daily soaps take their viewers for granted? Why do the scriptwriters, after a while, stop acknowledging that there is an actual audience (and not bots) watching the show and that they have got brains? Viewers are not that dumb to gleefully accept whatever twists that are thrown at them!
Actually trust Indian daily soaps to come up with the bizzarest of twists, in their attempt to add spice to the plot-line! And I have seen enough of them. But none so absurd as the one that was brought a few days back in Isharon Isharon Mein, currently being aired on Sony Channel. The serial had such a promising and engaging start with relatable characters and situations. The acting performances of the cast were equally top notch. In fact, with a robust and compelling story of a speech and hearing impaired young boy Yogi and his family, the serial had come as a breath of fresh air, so unlike the template of other saas-bahu dramas that are usually replete with manipulative, scheming mother-in-laws or other such trifles. No wonder the serial had viewers hooked to it (at least until the first 100 or so episodes). But just when the serial had got us all addicted, the writer brought an absolutely absurd twist to its plot-line, out-of-the-blue and the entire tangent suddenly changed its course. I wonder whether the originally appointed episode-scriptwriter went on a vacation and handed over the writing job to somebody else who regularly smokes marijuana. I can't find any other plausible cause for this very haphazardly done twist.
In terms of their love relationship, the three lead characters - Yogi, Gunjan and Pari - are now as if playing musical chairs! To begin with, Yogi and Gunjan fell in love with each other and were about to get married. They were happy, their parents were happy, we viewers were also very happy for them and were looking forward to their union. But suddenly their marriage was called off by the bride's father Shiv Kumar, right on the day of their marriage because of Pradeep Chouhan's conspiracy and Shiv's own selfish reasons. Gunjan even after knowing how her father had tricked her to keep Yogi away, agrees to get engaged to Roshan (Pradeep Chouhan's son). Understandably Yogi was heartbroken and so were we. His beloved Gunjan and her father had betrayed him, he must have felt like someone had pulled the rug from under his feet. It wasn't easy for him to move on, he was in deep pain inside but put on a happy front, hiding his heartache and agony behind his smile.
It took a lot for Yogi to get over his heartbreak and it was Pari who helped him in moving on, during which they both fell in love with each other. They were about to get married and we viewers were equally happy to see them together. Just when we were starting to enjoy their love story, suddenly we were shocked out of our seats.
Because right then came this ludicrous twist to the plot out of nowhere that we were left scratching our heads in disbelief on how much of a sharp turn the creators took. Yogi's father emotionally blackmails Pari and asks her to go away from Yogi's life so that he can get married to Gunjan! Just because he has given his word to his childhood friend Shiv! He doesn't even bother about his son Yogi's happiness (now that he loves Pari and wants to get married to her), even when knowing fully well what a difficult phase his son Yogi had gone through because of his friend Shiv Kumar's betrayal! But if that wasn't bizarre enough, more was coming our way.
Pari, in turn, asks Yogi to forget her and instead get married to Gunjan which he dutifully does. Just like that. Honestly, this plain dumb plot twist has actually completely derailed the story and has now obliterated every bit of credibility that the serial once possessed. In the next few episodes, we are shown that Gunjan is now pregnant with Yogi's child, the two families are happy and Yogi is literally over the moon at the news. Everyone behaves as if the Pari chapter never existed. Furthermore, Pari gets invited to Yogi's home every now and then (in spite of their past), may be to rub more salt on her wounds (so what if she was the one who had sacrificed her love). This is probably the weirdest love triangle I have ever seen on Television.
Gunjan at one point in time seemed fairly happy with Roshan but when her marriage with him gets cancelled, she is equally quick to get over the heartbreak and at once gives her nod to get hitched to Yogi. Similarly at one point, dadaji and dadi who were so against Yogi's and Gunjan's marriage proposal the second time around, are suddenly ready to accept their union! How quickly everyone got over Yogi's and Pari's love story is hard to digest! And I am still wondering as to why then, in the first place, did the scriptwriter bring Yogi's and Pari's love track into the plot if it were to end ever so abruptly!
This is why I detest the Indian daily soaps on Television -- in their bid to make it more interesting, the makers of a serial often bring just about any nonsensical or unjustified plot twist, only to end up completely ruining the entire story, which is akin to the popular dhaga in Odia - "diyan gadhu gadhu mankada" (otherwise meaning acha karne ke chakkar mein, satyanaash kardena). I can no more take such daily soaps, not any more. It’s better to watch documentaries on National Geographic or Discovery or Animal Planet instead.
