Viewer section | iDubba's Blog

iDubba is back with its Viewer’s Section blog for this week. Enjoy this second post from one of our ardent viewer Nausheen Raja about Parichay, a popular show on Colors TV.

Balaji’s synopsis: ‘Parichay is a tale of a Mumbai based middle class Punjabi Family that portrays love, care, struggles, challenges and bonding amongst its members. The story revolves around the eldest son of the family, Kunal Chopra (Samir Soni), who has lost his zest in life due to his failures. Dejected, he begins to feel as a failure amidst his family and the society at large. Watch the story unfold as Kunal finds his way in life.’

Parichay…Nayee Zindagi Kay Sapno Ka is a new and a unique show Ekta Kapoor has created. We have seen a male centric show after really long time. This type of show has never been tried before and therefore was very exciting for the audience to see a show with the story based on a male character. We were promised a new show with a central character known as Kunal Chopra (Samir Soni). But did we REALLY get what we were promised?

Well, we did get to see Kunal’s struggles him not having a job, his girlfriend leaving him, his younger brother dying on his own wedding day, having to marry his dead brother’s bride, a number of times getting a job losing a job and so on…

The story became more interesting when Kunal and Siddhi started to develop feelings for each other but didn’t know how to tell each other…the consummation scene was appreciated and was said to be one of the best scenes from many fans. The fans call them the “SiNal” lovingly. But the kidnapping track made them realise each other’s importance in their lives. However, their continuous arguing was and is still great to watch as it is just harmless fun. 😛

They also have had a great run at the TRPs! YES these are important for any show and Parichay is no different. Their ratings have been very good from the beginning but last couple months or so have shown a drop and are continuing to fall as the weeks go by. Why so?

Well, after the kidnapping scene, Kunal seemed to have less screen space which fans are not happy about.

Example of Kunal’s screen space in a recent episode for about 2minutes ONLY!!!

Kunal is the main lead and if audience see him in the show for this short space of time it is definitely not accepted!

The focus shifted from Kunal to Siddhi, where she was trying to handle and deal with the problems the family had encountered on her own which Kunal should have solved.

After all it’s a male centric show NOT female! Isn’t it??

So where is Kunal’s Parichay? What are his ‘Nayee Sapne’? Why has Kunal has lost so many jobs?

The typical saas-bahu track had started when Siddhi was revealed being pregnant. This trend didn’t last very long. PHEW!! *sigh of relief*

However, this ridiculous track doesn’t make sense because a consummation scene that was shown months ago. How on earth did the doctors during the kidnapping track not know Siddhi is pregnant? Siddhi herself didn’t get any symptoms of being pregnant and when she did NOTHING had happened! So why when everything was going well and they expressed their love for each other this track was put in place with a village ‘dai jaan’ giving the verdict.

We are getting the occasional good scenes but just hoping to get a lot more of Kunal and tracks to do with Kunal. I’ve noticed that Siddhi have had two birthdays whereas Kunal had none. WHY WHY WHY??

The character of Richa which was played by Mona Vasu has been replaced by Sonia Singh but I don’t like the new Richa. Mona played her so well. Also, this Rohit, her brother is walking in her footsteps and there’s absolutely no need for it!

Going by the new promo Siddhi driving and runs over someone which is Rohit who dies and is behind bars, not sure what to expect…separation is already happening, divorce is a possibility because of the separation but what next? I guess we have to wait and watch for the upcoming Saturday special at 9pm.

Enough of complaining is done. WE the FANS are not happy with the amount of screen space Kunal (Samir Soni) is getting but I’d like to congratulate the entire Parichay team on recently completing 200 episodes which is very commendable. May you have great new storylines for the show to increase its viewership and success! It’s been on air for 10 months.

Congratulations to Samir Soni on winning Best Actor (Popular) jointly with Ram Kapoor (Bade Achhe Lagte Hain), also a Balaji show in 11th Indian Telly Awards! Very well deserved! 😀

Samir ji has made me his fan because of his character Kunal. He does it with such ease, looks so natural and real. Sir, you do full justice to Kunal and I wish you get more appreciation and recognition for being the actor that you are.

A message out to Ekta ji, fans including myself complain a lot about the tracks that happen in Balaji shows as the same ones are used in all your shows. For example the divorce/separation track already used in Kya Hua Tera Vaada – Mona and Pradeep, its currently in the process in Bade Aache lagte Hain – Ram and Priya. Already the divorce track has been used in Parichay – and now again separation is happening between Kunal and Siddhi. Why is this so?

There are many fans who write fan fictions who would LOVE to write tracks/stories and that too for FREE! 😀

[Note: This post was written by our TV viewer Nausheen Raja and was edited by Mehak]

Viewer’s Section: iDubba is glad to announce that we are introducing “Viewer’s Section” from today where anybody can participate and submit their views about any show on tv. We may even approach you over Twitter and ask for various viewpoints before publishing your thoughts here. Enjoy today’s view-point from Nausheen Raja.

I Luv My India was created by DJ’s A Creative’s Unit, surprising or not it’s the same Production House as Parvarrish which airs on Sony TV. Some may wonder why I Luv My India didn’t do as well as Parvarrish is doing. Anyway, that’s another topic for another time. Unfortunately, the show only lasted about two months (60 episodes only)!

I Luv My India was a family comedy show based on an Indian family, The Sethis. The focus of the show was on Indian family values in a light-hearted manner. The show starred Premnath (Arun Bali) and Deep Sethi (Himani Shivpuri). They had been living in London for many years and kept dreaming of the day they will go back home with their family to Punjab, India. They were a family of three generations who lived under one roof. The first generation was very patriotic, the head of the family Premnath (Arun Bali) and his wife Deep Sethi (Himani Shivpuri). The second generation their children Ravinder (Imran Khan) married to Vinny (Dilnaz Irani), Rajinder (Indresh Malik) married to Simran aka Simmi (Anjali Mukhi) and Surinder aka Sam (Rohan Tiwari). The third generation was their grandchildren Ravinder and Vinny’s son Prem (Ayaz Khan). Rajinder and Simmi’s children were Jazzy and Dimple. The children and grandchildren as they were born and raised in London (except for Ravinder who was born in Punjab) they all have adapted to the English ways of doing everything and stay well away from anything and everything desi. They even addressed their grandparents as ‘grand-mom’ and ‘grand-pa’. The show revolves around the family and their ways of living.

The first episode was very grand with all that happens when a Punjabi celebration takes place. Deep Sethi dreams of her entire family living in Punjab. She wants her family to be who they are; that is Punjabi but that doesn’t look like it will ever happen. They try to convince their children to go to India but as they were London born children so they were not willing to leave. Suddenly, circumstances changed and they all had to leave for India.

The initial episodes were beautifully shot. The typical Punjabi things like the bhangra, dhol, food and so on were all present. The viewers especially those abroad would have loved to see the celebration taking place as it would have brought back a reminder of their motherland. To top it all, the patriotic song (Pagri sambhal jatta) played was like the icing on the cake. In the beginning, the first few episodes were great to watch. It showed the love for India within the lead characters which came across very well. The idea of this show was brilliant but it didn’t work long enough.

Why didn’t it last?

The main reason the story wasn’t able to follow through was as a result, the TRPs which had been falling from the beginning and not once did it reach even TRP of 1. The concept of the show was contemporary and very close to real life. Sadly, the ratings did not match up to what the show was or could have been. The show was battling with the likes of Star Plus’ Iss Pyar ko kya naam doon and Colors’ Balika Vadhu which have higher ratings. However, if the show had a different time slot it probably would have gained better ratings.
Anyway, I loved watching it, including all the nonsense that happened in it. The characters as individuals brought a new vibe to television. This was an attempt to entertain viewers which I’m sure it did. Well I can say that it did entertain me. I myself can relate to this show very much as I was also born and raised in London but have always been very close to my roots, Kashmir. Being born in London or anywhere else doesn’t automatically mean you’re only where you were born or live but it’s a choice people make. This show has visualised how London born children of a family, did not value their true roots of India but when they went there they learned the true meaning of being an Indian. I Luv My India has ended positively by showing the grandparents dream coming true of the family living together happily in India.