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BULLET PROOF

Objection milord. Why is it that our serials continue to be scientifically challenged? A DNA test to establish a person’s identity is always the last resort in our television sagas and sometimes, they completely sidestep this procedure.

Like they did in Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin (Sony) last week when Jessica-Jassi (Mona Singh) was on trial for her own murder. What better way to prove that Jessica was Jassi than by a foolproof DNA test? Not a soul, however, mentioned such a possibility. Instead we had people charging off to Mauritius to look for proof of her makeover! But never fear when Jassi the Genius is near. Sweet li’l Jassi appeared in her former Ugly Duckling avatar to convince the hammy judge that she was alive and creaking. In fact when Jassi made an entry amidst an eerie blaze of light, we thought for a moment that the serialwallahs had decided to bring in a supernatural element. Never know what these people might do to drag the serial.

Contributing his mite to corroborate Jassi’s innocence was her besotted Armaan Sir (Apoorva Agnihotri) who, in the manner of police arriving in the last reel in a Hindi film, rushed in with a bagful of makeover proof. Voilà, the judge at long last looked less hammy and let our Jassi off the hook. Time then for a romantic reunion between Jassi and Armaan? Not quite, because the moment she stepped out of the courtroom, some underworld Romeo put a bullet into Armaan’s Juliet. And then, the cherry on this unsavoury cake: Sony’s very own CID (more hammy than the above-mentioned learned judge) was called in to investigate the case. Turned out that the bullet was meant for Jassi’s defence lawyer Indira Bhargava (the ever graceful Sakshi Tanwar) and Jassi can now finally smile. Or can she? Plans are already afoot to put a spoke in the Jassi-Armaan wheel of love yet again. We can but hope that the proceedings will be less comical than the CID antics. Actually, Jassi had better watch it. The way they are going from farfetched to fatheaded, they might soon overtake Kkusum in the slapstick stakes.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

The Vatika Shampoo Star Parivaar Awards 2005 telecast by Star Plus on Saturday was an enjoyable affair. For the third consecutive year, the channel brought to life the concept of a perfect family comprising favourite characters from its serials andsitcoms. Kyunki’s Nandini and Karan (Gauri and Hiten Tejwani) won the favourite jodi award while Kumkum’s Sumit (Hussain Kuwajerwala) walked home with the fave pati award for the second successive year. The fave patni award went to Kahiin To Hoga’s Kashish (Aamna Shariff) while Kumkum’s heroine (Juhi Parmar) picked up two awards, for fave bahu and fave bhabhi. The entertainment acts were snappily performed: Hussain-Juhi’s Kaal dhamaal was terrific, Eijaz Khan can certainly dance and the Remix gang was worth a dekko. While Hiten Tejwani was endearing, Varun Badola was a riot with his take-off on yesteryear stars.

And oh, the yogya bahu award went to Ekta Kapoor. No? Okay then, it went to Kasak (Surveen Chawla) of Kasautii Zindagii Kay but Miss Kapoor could be seen every now and then beaming benevolently at her indebted actors. As is the custom at such events, this affair too seemed more like a tribute to Queen Ekta with winner after winner paying homage to her. Incidentally,couldsomeone please tell Bhabhi’s Saroj (Dolly Sohi) to keep a check on her expressions when someone else wins theaward in a category in which she has also been nominated? Thisisn’t the first time we have seen her pulling a sour face and it reflects badly on the lady.

OVER TO YOU

Manjari Sivanand of Abu Dhabi writes, “Dekhho Magar Pyaar Se (Star Plus) is shaping up well. Even though scenes are liberally borrowed from Hindi films (Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Dil To Pagal Hai etc) they have been done in an interesting way. I just hope they continue to keep it light. We get more than our quota of tears from those saas-bahu serials.”

Chitra RM, by e-mail, writes, “I watch Miilee (Star Plus) on and off these days, more off since it’s become tawdry. The storyline also seems to be haphazard though it started off well. Heroine Mona Wasu is quite talentedand reminds me a little of the bubbly actress Preity Zinta. But the scenes are dragged a lot and the pace is too slow for these fast paced times.”

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