Trading Places?

Ask director Gautam Adhikari if his new serial Saudaagar which was to have rolled off Doordarshan yesterday, is loosely inspired by the r...

Ask director Gautam Adhikari if his new serial Saudaagar which was to have rolled off Doordarshan yesterday, is loosely inspired by the real life story of one of India8217;s biggest business tycoons, and you are greeted with an expression of complete bewilderment. quot;Who are you talking about? My serial is based on Harkishan Mehta8217;s novel Mukti Bandhan which was published in Chitralekha magazine a few years ago,quot; he says, oh so innocently.

Yet, everything from the protagonist8217;s name, Ishwarlal Virani, his background, his awe-inspiring success story and his rivalry with Bhavanji Bha, to his son Vaibhav8217;s involvement with an actress, sound familiar. Extremely familiar. And suddenly the name Dhirubhai Ambani springs to mind. quot;See, that way, every novel and any work of fiction draws from real life. But my serial has a life of its own and my purpose is purely to entertain people,quot; Adhikari insists.

Adhikari, who had read the novel long ago, claims that he was looking for a grand theme for his new serial and Mukti Bandhan had it. quot;I am a dream merchant, and like to mount my serials on a grand scale. I don8217;t like to show people a mirror image of their lives,quot; he claims. After making so many successful serials, including Commander, Shrimaan Shrimati, Waqt ki Raftar, you can8217;t argue with the fact that the Adhikari Brothers, Gautam and Markand, do have the golden touch.

Despite what Adhikari says and claims, the story of his serial sounds like Ambani8217;s. The story of Virani 8212; played by Arun Bali 8212; the son of a school teacher unfolds on a lavish scale. Virani8217;s relationship with his younger brother Manharlal and his mother Ratanba are strained and his mother prefers to stay away from him. Ishwarlal starts off as an ordinary clerk in Bhavanji8217;s Siddharth Randeria shop and subsequently rises to great heights through sheer hard work and determination. But he always carries bitter memories of the humiliating slap his former employer gave him before throwing him out.

Virani8217;s older son Vaibhav Kuldip Mallik falls in love with Sabina Sahani Shikha Swaroop, a famous actress, much against his father8217;s wishes. And so the plot thickens. Again, this sounds kind of familiar and close to the Ambani story, doesn8217;t it? quot;We have made some changes to the original story to suit the format and also because it was written a few years ago 8212; times have changed since then. Later, we also plan to introduce new characters to the story,quot; says Adhikari who has written the screenplay himself.

But the director, a former commercial artist, has no plans of dragging the story beyond its logical end. quot;I believe in functioning with a tight screenplay. So, if I have a 23-minute slot, then I must convey everything in that much time and not waste a moment on frivolous shots. Right now I am keen on just 104 episodes,quot; he says.

Interestingly, Adhikari has chosen to air his serial at 3.30 in the afternoon on Sundays instead of pegging it for prime time. quot;Yes, it is a new slot. I am aware that everyone wants to grab the 8.00pm-10.00 pm slot because it is considered prime time. But then a Sunday afternoon is the best time to get the entire family together, and we are hoping that with this serial this slot too will be considered prime time,quot; he says. If the serial is anything close to the story of India8217;s most successful businessman, then Adhikari will have nothing to worry about.