Looking for Love: Out of the Box

Timing: Monday- Friday,11 pm

Rating: ***

The new show,Ye Hai Mohabbatein,steers clear of the saas-bahu dramas that TV keeps churning. At least not yet. The new show waves a green flag to second chances — marriage,love,partnership,adoption,trust and life. From the house of Balaji Telefilms,the show weaves a story around two colourfully diametrically opposite families — the Iyers and the Bhallas. Although a tad exaggerated,we particularly enjoyed the tu-tu-main-main between the north-south households. It’s a refreshing break from the usual Gujju-UP overdose. But that’s peripheral. At the core of this drama are its two protagonists — Ishita Vishwanathan Iyer (Divyanka Tripathi) and Ramandeep Bhalla (Karan Patel).

Ishita is your cultured,loving,compassionate girl next-door. An on-the-call dentist who has a magical way with kids,she has this angelic aura about her,a buttery softness that also renders her an affable and innocent vulnerability. Across her apartment lives the angry young man,Raman,who nurses a bitter grudge,finds a sadistic kick in being a “jodi breaker”,prefers to be in bully-mode and ignore his only daughter,five-year-old Ruhi. Where Ishita — the ideal girl for marriage is haunted by a failed relationship,and is denied a suitable match because she can’t have children,a scorned-in-love Raman chooses to stay away from the ‘M’ word. Little Ruhi plays the promising link between the two.

For a society obsessed with all things matrimonial,Ye Hai Mohabbatein lends a fresh perspective. In snatches,it gives us our own desi speed dating avatar in “Yuvak Yuvika Parichay Sammelan” (loved this concept),it blurts out ugly truths like ‘a man,divorced or widower,or no matter how old,will always find a girl,a young and single one,but a girl with even one flaw,loses her chances drastically’. It also presents us with women with an independent mindset — be it the single working girl Ishita who wants to adopt a child,her cousin Mihika who thrashes a man who is harassing her or Santosh Bhalla (Ramandeep’s mother) who spikes her cold drink with rum. When it comes to mothers,one could totally relate to Madhavi Iyer,Ishita’s mom played so beautifully by Neena Kulkarni.

The downside of the show is that it tends to derail a bit with hyperbole and dramatic expressions and reactions. It’s also wrapped up in the typical Mills & Boon romantic ‘reform and tame the beast with love’ formula,and Newton’s ‘to every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction’. In the stages of love,it’s still hovering at takraar. Now waiting for pyaar,and ikraar. And hopefully,a sign-off with “happily every after”.