OK, why is it called Paani Puri? Because Sumeet is Vikas Puri, a theatre actor and he’s in love with Divya Paani (Smita Bansal, daughter of a rich family) - so Paani and Puri, Paani Puri, you get the drift.

The first episode had Divya asking Vikas to come to her house to ‘meet the parents’. Vikas wants to avoid the meeting while Divya is keen that he asks her parents for her ‘haath in marriage’. And then what follows are predictable situations - her parents (Bhavna and Homi Wadia) are sticklers for punctuality and perfection, Vikas is late for the meeting, a crow shits on his shirt, he steals one shirt from a dhobi’s bundle and that fateful shirt belongs to Mr Paani! There’s more to this so-called-comedy-of-errors and you grin and bear this trash till the episode finally gets over.

What’s appalling is the script. There is not one decent punch or a line which can evoke even a half smile. Lines like ‘Maa hun main teri, woh bhi sagi’ or ‘Mujhe ek istri (iron) chahiye’, ‘Main hoon na, istri’ (woman)’ are expected to tickle your funny bone. Worse, Vikas’s friends are the paani puri and bhel puri wallas (pray why!) who suggest him corny ideas to escape Divya’s parents. The scenes are written without any thought and one can actually sense the discomfort the actors are going through. It’s painful to see Sumeet who’s been part of one of TV’s most slick comedies, Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai (ironically it was on the same channel) to go through this insipid paani puri. Bhavna talks in a stilted British accent (why?).
Last but not the least, we fear that a few more helpings of this bland Paani Puri may actually put us off the tangy chaat.
Verdict
One and a half star (for Sumeet and Smita’s earnest effort.

What’s in a name?
Ajeeb
Wednesday & Thursday, 9:30 pm, 9X
Ajeeb is a new drama series and true to its title it’s really ajeeb (strange). It’s supposed to be a ‘love story set in a hospital’ but we have clearly missed the first part. At the end of two episodes - we watched only two - we still don’t know where the show is heading (well, but that’s true for most of the serials today). What’s baffling about this one is that though the plot seems interesting, it is let down by a bunch of non-actors (save for the random ‘starry’ appearances put in by Shweta Tiwari, Tanaaz and Bakhtyaar Irani, Varun Badola and Sakshi Tanwar). We will come to that later.

From what we gathered, the plot goes like this: Anjali is a a small town girl with big dreams. She’s a doctor who wants to intern with SBMI, one of Asia’s biggest hospitals (which of course doesn’t look it) but is rejected by the selection panel. Anjali’s mother gives her a pep talk of how to not accept defeat easily and stay put in Mumbai.

Anjali’s best friend Neha is pregnant and has attempted suicide because her career-oriented husband doesn’t want to start a family. Neha is now in the ICU and matters gets worse when someone tries to kill her. Anjali smells fish as she decides to solve the mystery. The hospital’s matron (played by a Miss Stiff & Starched Uniform) however is the thorn in her flesh.

And yes, our Nancy Drew also has a commitment phobic, Casanova ex-boyfriend. While this seems to be the main story, there are sub plots about other people like a woman going into labour who screams like a banshee insisting on her ‘coward’ husband to stay in the labour room and witness her ‘plight’ (the Iranis play the couple) or a star-actress (Shweta Tiwari) who has made a suicide attempt but is actually admitted to abort her rich married lover’s child; but not before demanding her pound of flesh.

Unfortunately, for Ajeeb, the proceedings pep up only when the stars come on screen. The rest are simply lessons in ‘how not to act’ (especially Neha’s husband who manages to look calm even when his wife goes into a coma! Or her mother, who talks like some new-age spirituality Ma). While it’s evident that the makers (Bonnie Jain Productions which also produced the dance reality show, Yeh Hai Jalwa… now that explains the star cameos) wanted to do something different, they clearly fail with a plot that just about builds-up the tension. In the genre of a hospital drama series, it fails to engage you, primarily because of the non-performers. That’s sad, because Ajeeb has potential to raise above the mundane prime time offerings.