Baytaab Dil
Ki Tamanna Hai
Sony, Monday - Thursday, 10 pm
rating: ***

What’s it about?Mumbai being portrayed as the city of dreams is not new to the denizens of the island city. Baytaab Dil Ki Tamanna Hai, yet another soap opera from the Balaji Telefilms kitty, focuses on this very aspect. Three girls Kanchan, Shamoli, Kakon, 19, 17 and 12 respectively, live along with their mother in a beautiful place, Siliguri. All three work in the tea estates as daily wagers where they are paid a sum of Rs 18 per 12-hour day, and they all happily try and make ends meet. But circumstances compel them to leave their home and come to Mumbai along with their rakhi brother, Raju. They leave their mother behind promising her to return in a couple of months once they earn the money required for their livelihood. The three girls are on the way to Mumbai to fulfill their dreams but little do they know that their rakhi brother has sold them in the flesh trade.

Who’s in it?The show stars a lot of fresh faces including Kanchan played by Priyamvada Kant, Shamoli played by Sumana Das and Kakon played by Pragati Chourasia along with the experienced actors like Aman Verma, and Urvashi Dholakia, who returns to the small screen in yet another negative avatar. The role of the evil Rakhi brother is played by Vishal Nayak.

What’s hot?The concept is what makes it different from the other serials produced by Ekta Kapoor and this is definitely its biggest USP. There have been movies made on flesh trade but no TV serial has probably tackled this subject. The whole idea of getting a serious topic like flesh trade on a primetime slot takes some grit and Ekta has done it successfully so far. The production unit has also gone slow on the camera angles, focusing only on one person and not panning from one person to another. The pick of the characters is Shamoli played by Das; she has a pretty face and great diction.

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