The simple life

TV writers new obsession is the picturesque Rajasthani villagecoy belles,carrying pots of water on their head,assorted camels and cows and of course,the all powerful Ransa living in his haveli.

Written by EXPRESS FEATURES SERVICE

November 30, 2009 06:09 AM IST

4 min read

Kesariya Balam
Aavo Hamare Des
Sahara One
Monday – Friday,9:30 pm
Rating **

Whats it about?TV writers new obsession is the picturesque Rajasthani villagecoy belles,carrying pots of water on their head,assorted camels and cows and of course,the all powerful Ransa living in his haveli. There seems to be a glamour about the inherently wicked rural rich and the self-sacrificing rural poor that never palls for them. Although,whether it appeals to television viewers can be seen from the dismal ratings that Balaji Telefilmss highly publicised Bandini garnered.

Kesariya Balam treads similar ground,although,with the protagonist Rukminis gruesome burn scar,its more likely to remind you of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. In brief,Rukmini is the virtuous older daughter of a farmer embroiled in a fight to get back his land from an evil overlord. The family is dirt-poor and have to rely largely on their oldest daughter,who sells handmade Krishna idols. Additionally,the girl is constantly traumatised by her hideously scarred face,which she got as a result of rescuing her younger sister from a fire. Rukmini,therefore,goes about with one side of her face covered a la Zeenat Aman in SSS and has resigned herself to her fate as a spinsterwhat man would want to marry an ugly girl like her,is her reasoning. Predictably,she finds love within the first few episodesthe handsome,educated son,Ranvir,of her fathers nemesis,Megh Singh. The rest of the show,one can safely presume,will deal with the tension of the girl revealing her scarred face to her loved one and once that obstacle has been surmounted,the two will struggle to keep their love alive in the face of family opposition.

Whos in it?Jaya Binju plays the pretty protagonist with plenty of eyelash-fluttering and lip-quivering,with Akshat Gupta as Ranvir. Both actors do the best they can with the flat characters and manage to remain likeable. The real hamming comes from Ramesh Tiwari as the father fighting for his land,and Ashok Banthia who plays Ranvirs conniving uncle. Toral Rasputra and Siddharth,as Rukminis younger siblings,bring some much needed life and energy to the show.

Whats hot?In a show of this sort,its a little difficult to find freshness. What one can appreciate,however,is the pacewhich is a lot faster than previous shows of this type and the almost complete absence of dramatic camerawork. Some of the dialogue writing is quite spot on toothe disbelief expressed by an impoverished young boy at the sight of a crisp thousand-rupee note strikes an authentic note.

Whats not?The sheer predictability of the plotline is tiresome. When the well-heeled heros car breaks down in the middle of nowhere,you know that this is where hes fated to meet our innocent young heroine. Ranvir,moreover,is a romantically inclined fellowa painter with a penchant for depicting nubile young women on canvas. The only catch here is that he never paints the face because,as he explains,hes never found a face worthy of the honour. Until he meets Rukmini,as you know will happen in the very next scene.

Should you be watching it? Why bother?