Kasauti Zindagi ki: A feminist soap opera

By: Dhanyasree.M
Wednesday, October 11, 2006

An Ekta Kapoor serial has never failed to touch the pulse of it s female spectators. Kasauti Zindagi ki also continues its unbeaten expedition for years. Directed by Prasad under the banner of Balaji Telefilms, Kasauti Zindagi ki is one of the most popular daily soap operas, telecasted on Star Plus from Monday to Friday, at 8:30 p.m.This family drama centers around the struggles of the protagonist Prerana Bajaj (Shweta Tiwaari).

The serial is woven around three large business families -the Sharmas, the Basus and the Bajajs that are connected through the protagonist Prerana, the daughter of Sharma family. Prerana as a young girl loves Anurag Basu (Cezzane khan) and conceives his son. But Anurag betrays Prerana, being unable to stand against his mother Mohini Basu (Kannu Gill). He marries the lady villain of the serial Komolika (Uravashi Dholakia) and eventually divorces her. Prerana still loves Anurag, but; sacrifices her love to save his establishments, by marrying Rishabh Bajaj (Ronit Roy). These are the main characters around whom the story moves from the beginning till date. Other major characters of the day are Sampada, Prem, Mukti, Sneha and Debonita.

The story lately concentrates on the second generation. Prerana comes back after eight years of imprisonment, only to find that Mr.Bajaj is missing from the city. Her Business establishments have been taken over by her own son Prem (Manoj Bohra) with the help of Komolika and Debonita. Prerana starts her battle against injustice and wins over the opposite side with the help of Mukti Deshmukh (Tina Parekh).

Prem and Mukti share an unsuccessful love affair in the past that is revived recently by the regular meetings. Komolika fears that she will loose Prem to the other side. She threatens Prerana that if Prem won't get married to Debonita, she won't reveal the whereabouts of Mr.Bajaj. Mukti overhears this conversation and steps back from Prem's love. Prem also realizes the vicious side of Komolika and sacrifices his love for his mother's happiness. But on the day of Mukti's marriage Prerana realizes the true love between Mukti and Prem and sends Mukti to Prem.The lovers reunite only for a couple of minutes. A truck sent by some unknown villain, murders Mukti at the same instance. Prem loses his senses due to this incident.Mr.Bajaj also reappears on the scene, mysteriously, not revealing his presence to Prerana.

This family entertainer can be considered as a feminist soap opera since it revolves round the intrepid actions of the protagonist. Prerana is daring and ready to fight for justice. She is not bothered about the consequences, while she stands with justice. She fights against her whole family on behalf of getting justice for Mukti.She makes the young girls Mukti and Sneha realize about their rights and power as a woman. She is the constant inspiration for everyone to fight against justice. The direction of this serial is excellent, especially when the emotional and dramatic scenes are handled. Shweta Tiwaari and Uravashi Dholakia have given full life to their characters, correspondingly gathering the admiration and wrath of their spectators. The male crew also presents a remarkable performance. Cezzane khan's acting in the emotional scenes and Ronit Roy's rendering of the dialogues will definitely grasp the praise of the family audience. Among the new faces, apart from Manoj Bohra and Tina Parekh, nobody presents a notable performance.

The screenplay of the serial is superb. The costumes and jewelleries of each and every character have been selected aptly and utmost care to the situation and role. However, editing of the plot requires more attention as it does not rise to the standard of the serial. The story unnecessarily drags at many instances with some song scenes and repeated actions. The title song of the serial will attract anybody's attention. The picturization of the song is equally amazing as the melodious singing of Babul Supriyo and Priya Bhattacharya.

On the whole Kasauti Zindagi Ki is a complete time-pass. Regular viewers will enjoy the ups and downs in the serial. Where we have a woman like Prerana to fight against injustice, it will never fail to entertain the audience.