Hitler Didi

She doesn’t smile. Eve teasers and anyone who takes panga with her gets a chappal treatment from her. She runs the home with clockwork precision and works hard to earn a living,she is Indira aka Hitler didi.

Zee TV’s latest heroine is a no-nonsense Chandni Chowk girl whose father abandoned her family when she was very young. While her mother dutifully waits for him to return,Indira can’t seem to either forgive or forget it. She has a good-for-nothing older brother; a younger college-going sister,a bhabhi who orders pizza on the sly and a nephew,whom she dotes on albeit with an iron fist. The bills are mounting and Indira,who works in a travel agency,is increasingly finding it difficult to run the family with absolutely no help from her kin. So to supplement her income,she is desperately looking for a tenant for her barsaati. In comes Rishi,a shayari-spouting young man who has already hit a wrong note with Indu. He doesn’t know he will soon land on her barsaati!

A single working woman taking care of her house is not a novel premise on television (though many such shows have always been suitably domesticated for the sake of TRPs). After all,makers and channels would like us to believe that viewers generally like their primetime heroines weeping buckets and doing household chores than successfully balancing home and career.

Interestingly,Indira is not really a career woman as much she is a woman,forced to take on a job. She rues the fact that the men in her family are responsible for taking away her smiles. And the way things are progressing,we know,Rishi will prove to be an exception and restore sanity in her life.

While it’s nice to see a primetime heroine crack the whip,the joy is short-lived as a large part of the show is unappealing. It looks half baked in places — for instance,there was a scene between Rishi and an old woman who he sees on the neighbouring barsaati which we still haven’t figured out!

On the upside is the lead girl — Rati Pandey as Indira. She brings a certain dignity and freshness to the character. The hero — Sumit Vats — is earnest and confident. Indu’s relationship with her nephew,Ishaan is endearing.

It’s early days yet and we only hope Hitler Didi retains some of her tough resolve in the future and doesn’t metamorphose into a sari-wearing bechari!

Verdict: **

Watch it if you must.