Going overboard with opulence

Everything has a limit. Beyond that there’s only exaggeration and vulgarity. The over-saturated glamour of Neeraj Pathak’s new Rajasthani epic Yehi To Pyar Hai hits us in the eyes like blazing beams of light. An excellent writer, Pathak’s brief from Zee seems to be, “Lights, camera, action, dazzle!”
Actors in this optic viagra don’t play characters. They play models posing against spectacular desertscapes, fortresses, swimming pools and havelis with rooms that have sidetables decorated with tablecloths of every colour in the rainbow. Understandably, the story about the clash between traditional values (as represented by Dadaji Arun Bali who seems to be impressed by Kader Khan’s acting style) and grandson Sanjay Suri (who puts so much concentration on getting his best profile into every shot that one wonders, does he think he’s modelling for an aftershave lotion) doesn’t get any leeway. There’s the commoner girl Kasturi whom our narcissistic hero has seen and flipped for in Jaisalmer. Nethra Raghuraman looks as much like a Rajasthani belle as Ila Arun does like a pop crooner.

The opulence of Yehi To Pyar Hai is not just dazzling, it’s overpowering. When our hero Yash reaches his haveli, his grandma showers cliched endearments on him while the cameraman focuses on the hefty haveli in the background and two bougainvillaea flowers in the forefront. Probably to add phool to fire.
And when Yash meets up with his father they don’t embrace like all normal parents and children. Yash jumps into the swimming pool to clutch at his dad’s bosom, thereby hoping to make splash in the ratings. Some months ago, Star Plus had tried to build a Rajasthani opulence on our television sets in a soap starring Manohar Singh, Arbaaz Khan and Reena Wadhwa. That ended in a whimper.

Yehi To Pyar Hai is splashy. Yes. But at what cost? Don’t ask. The mind boggles and the purse strings shrink in horror. Opulence seems to be the new buzzword on Zee.

The sets for the new upmarket youth-oriented avatar of Sa Re Ga Ma resemble a cyber cafe. The two painfully young co-hosts are endearing in their eagerness. But one misses Sonu Nigam’s effortless professionalism. With time, I’m sure the brothers Aman and Ayan will get a hang of the music contest. In the meanwhile, they are being extended support from unexpected quarters. Like singer Abhijeet who was the judge on the show last week.

For once, Abhijeet was humble, attentive and enjoyable. He sang his own songs and Kishore Kumar’s hits effortlessly. He was gentle kind and helpful with the contestants, though some of them were shockingly ill informed. Imagine a female contestant who couldn’t identify super-evergreens like Jo hum ne daastan apni sunayee aap kyon roye?! Abhijeeet was shocked, and so were we. Is this an indication of the way popular culture is moving in the new millennium?

For my money and time the star of Zee’s semi-finals of Closeup Antakshari were the Taj Mahal and singer Poornima. She really endeared herself with her spontaneous reaction when she was asked to sing a song by Lata Mangeshkar. “Which song of Lataji does one choose?” she asked in what must rank as one of the most sincere statements on the Nightingale’s reach and influence. Later when Didi tera devar diwana came during the contest, Poornima urged co-hostess Renuka Shahane to sing along. “This is your song, Renuka!”

Speaking of Renuka, her serial Tejaswini has been yanked off primetime and replaced by something called Sampat & Sampat which right now looks very unpromising. It’s the story of little girl called Kechua and perhaps that explains the pace of the narration. In the introductory episode we met Kechua’s sisters one of whom likes the boys in the neighbourhood to write love letters which she collects in a jar hung by the roof. Maybe she hopes the serial would follow suit and hit the roof. At the moment chances of that happening seem bleak. But yes, the scenic splendour of the hill station is tonic to the eyes. Er, could characters get out of the way, please?

Sab TV finally has a quality product to offer. Haadsa, which goes into lives that are overtaken by catastrophe. The story featuring Neelima Azim as a blissful housewife whose life is thrown off course when her husband is detected with a terminal illness worked brilliantly, thanks to Azim’s author-backed portrayal. What a capable actress she is! And so strikingly photogenic. It’s surprising that she isn’t being used more often on television. That evening on Haadsa Neelima Azim lived every moment of the traumatized life of the real life character Dr. Murthy who resolved to dedicate her life to looking after the old and the aged after personal tragedy took over her life.

Besides Azim, the story also featured Zohra Sehgal, rather miscast as an abandoned woman who wants to end her life because her children have forsaken her. Zohra and despair? Nah, impossible.

Govinda, looking dapper in a grey suit, appeared on Star News’ Limelight, where the original host Sunil Sethi is fortunately back again. He just couldn’t get over the fact that Govinda was giving a “rare television interview” and that the star “rarely visits television studios.” Having got over his rare awe at the sudden windfall in his studio, Sethi’s conversation with Govinda was quite interesting considering the two participants could hardly communicate with each other on an effortless level.

What is veteran actor Sujit Kumar doing on DD’s Metro Channel playing Harsha’s father in a soap on Sunday night?

Harsha plays a girl who’s moved out of her husband’s home to live with Irfan Khan and Anju Mahendroo. Khan seemed to be lusting after his houseguest in subtle ways. When she expressed disapproval of his facial hairs he promptly shaved it off. Now if only a talented actor like Irfan would vanish along with his beard from a serial as tacky as this. In the episode that I saw, Harsha changed her clothes and hairstyle after every five minutes. Some television stars are so filmy they put Shekhar Suman to shame.

Shame on Doordarshan for putting on a music contest as shabby and ill-informed as Sargam. Recently, while a female contestant wobbled and warbled through Asha Bhosle’s immortal Ab ke baras bhej bahiyya ko babul the logo at the bottom of the screen informed us that this was a song by Lata Mangeshkar in the film Bandhini (sic). Shouldn’t Sudesh Bhosle who hosts this atrocity be more careful about what he is associated with?

Subhash K Jha