The simple life

Kesariya Balam treads similar ground,although,with the protagonist Rukmini’s gruesome burn scar,it’s more likely to remind you of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. In brief,Rukmini is the virtuous older daughter of a farmer embroiled in a fight to get back his land from an evil overlord. The family is dirt-poor and have to rely largely on their oldest daughter,who sells handmade Krishna idols. Additionally,the girl is constantly traumatised by her hideously scarred face,which she got as a result of rescuing her younger sister from a fire. Rukmini,therefore,goes about with one side of her face covered a la Zeenat Aman in SSS and has resigned herself to her fate as a spinster—what man would want to marry an ugly girl like her,is her reasoning. Predictably,she finds love within the first few episodes—the handsome,educated son,Ranvir,of her father’s nemesis,Megh Singh. The rest of the show,one can safely presume,will deal with the tension of the girl revealing her scarred face to her loved one and once that obstacle has been surmounted,the two will struggle to keep their love alive in the face of family opposition.

Who’s in it?Jaya Binju plays the pretty protagonist with plenty of eyelash-fluttering and lip-quivering,with Akshat Gupta as Ranvir. Both actors do the best they can with the flat characters and manage to remain likeable. The real hamming comes from Ramesh Tiwari as the father fighting for his land,and Ashok Banthia who plays Ranvir’s conniving uncle. Toral Rasputra and Siddharth,as Rukmini’s younger siblings,bring some much needed life and energy to the show.

What’s hot?In a show of this sort,it’s a little difficult to find freshness. What one can appreciate,however,is the pace—which is a lot faster than previous shows of this type and the almost complete absence of dramatic camerawork. Some of the dialogue writing is quite spot on too—the disbelief expressed by an impoverished young boy at the sight of a crisp thousand-rupee note strikes an authentic note.

What’s not?The sheer predictability of the plotline is tiresome. When the well-heeled hero’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere,you know that this is where he’s fated to meet our innocent young heroine. Ranvir,moreover,is a romantically inclined fellow—a painter with a penchant for depicting nubile young women on canvas. The only catch here is that he never paints the face because,as he explains,he’s never found a face worthy of the honour. Until he meets Rukmini,as you know will happen in the very next scene.

Should you be watching it? Why bother?