Oh! She's So Like Me. Review on Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara

"Oh! You have started watching serials again?" Asks my sister a little disappointed, a little disapprovingly. She has been advocating against the Couch-Potato-Syndrome since long. Catching me glued to the TV  disturbs her, if not annoy.  "No, this one's different." I say a little assertively. "Which one?" She frowns. " Kahta Hai  Dil Jeeley Zarraa aired on Sony between 09.30 and 10.00 in the night." "Humphh!" Comes the terse reply. "No, seriously, this one's got a story and the concept is new and contemporary." "Really?" My sis oscillates between skepticism and ready belief.

"Yes! It's about Sachi Prabhu (Sangeeta Ghose), you know, a girl in her mid thirties, whose parents have died in early childhood. She is the sole bread-earner of a family of five (including her) consisting of her paternal and maternal grandmothers (Aaji & Nani - played by Sulbha Deshpande and Meenakshi Sethi respectively), younger brother (Aadu or Advait)  and younger sister (Prachi - played by Priyanka Sidana). The family is settled in Panchgani where Sachi runs a strawberry farm. The farm land, given on lease to Sachi, is actually  owned by her  cousin,  Pradeep Dada (Vishnu Bholwani),  a black sheep of the family, who is now after her blood to vacate the  land (though the lease is still in force) so that it can be sold off  to a bigger fish, Prithvi Enterprise. Needless to say, it means a lot of money for Pradeep (which he can never earn otherwise by straighter ways) who is backed by this powerful Business House.

As Pradeep cannot get hold of the land legally, unethical tactics are employed by him to seize the land. Sachi, understandably,  is under tremendous pressure, running from pillar to post, to retain the lease, and thereby the land, so that she can continue her business. This strawberry farm is her life not only because its her only source of income but because it used to be her father's dream project. The farm is not just a plot of land for her; its a place where she has spent a lot of time chatting and playing with her father and listening to stories and sleeping in her mother's lap while she sang lullabies to her. As she says her entire childhood revolves round that farm."

"Hmmm! My sister takes time to opine, "But how in the world she plans to save that piece of land? She does neither seem to sport muscle nor money power?"  "True!" I retort, "But she has kindly neighbours who are with her through thick and thin - Dilshaad, her friend (Delnaaz), Ulka Kaku, the loquatious padosan and above all Dhruv or DV (Ruslaan Mumtaz), Dilshaad's Paying Guest." " Now who's Dhruv ?" My sister sits up. "Oh! he comes to vacation in Panchgani but eventually falls in love with Sachi and prolongs his stay to help her in times of need and war. You understand?"

My sis, by now, seems to have regained some of her lost interest in serials. "So, you mean to say its a lonely girl against the Powers be, fighting for her rights and financial independence, which separates this serial from the rest?"  "No, there's more to it", I reply. "And what's that?" She looks askance. "The serial is also about Sachi and DV - how Sachi's initial irritation with DV grows into a strong bond of friendship and how at present DV is trying to convince Sachi that there is nothing wrong if she accepts that she is in love with him. You see, DV is much younger to Sachi..." I let out the sensational secret, that I have been withholding till now, in a low whisper.

"Ooo! Unconventional theme..." whistles my sis. "Yes, as long as the Director (Siddharth Sengupta & Mohit Hussein) and the Script Writer are able to carry it well. I hope they do because till now the script is tight, narrative is flowing well and the episodic development is consistent. However, the main hitch with serials is that they lose track and tend to go off at a tangent from the main story with all the sub-plots layered in and blown out of proportion replacing the main plot. If the  actual story-line is diligently followed by the Director, Jee Le Zarra can be a serial worth watching." I take a breath.

"Now, I am a little confused", says my sis, "In which genre does this serial fall? Is it a rom-com, a love story, a family drama or a mixed broth e-la-Ekta-Kapoor?" I shake my head violently, "The tag-line says Pyar Ka Ehsaas. So, by all means its a love story. They have used the song,  inn dinon dil mera, from Life In A Metro, to signify how love flowers in Sachi's dreary life. At the same time, its something more than that wherein the vulnerability and helplessness of a not-so-young girl battling  the ruthless forces of the business world has been presented well. There are also  ample indications to the exploitative elements intrinsically grooved into relationships of love and care. Prachi emotionally blackmailing Sachi to marry her off to Sunil, who belongs to a rich but highly traditional family - a marriage which proves to be very expensive for Sachi in every possible way. Again, notwithstanding the family drama, Jee Le Zarra is an engrossing  tale of love and romance, beautifully told. Of course, much credit goes to the towering performances of Sangeeta and Ruslaan to make a growing relation between a duty bound girl of late thirty and a carefree but responsible boy of late twenty seem plausible. One cannot imagine anybody else in their roles. So is true for all the other characters. The cast is absolutely ideal."

"You mean to say there's no minus points for this serial?" My cynical sister stil looks doubtful. "Not exactly. There is that inevitable subscription to stereotype. The constant grandmotherly nag about Sachi not getting and should get married before it is too late. Ulkakaku going all out of her way to stress how the big bad world will criticize Sachi once it comes to know that she and DV have spent a night together in Pune,  away from the family, overlooking the fact that the trip is after all  meant for attending urgent Court proceedings.

But  I choose to ignore these minor pitfalls when I see overall how relatable the situations, the perspectives and the characterizations are. How Sachi worries 24x7 for her family and how she has a tendency to take care of everything without a break and without bothering about her limits  and what a control freak she is. Come to think of it, aren't we all? We who have made our lives out of nothing ? Aren't we, as weak and as determined like her, not to let go what we hold so dear to us, without that last daunting bit of tussle?  Don't we despair and stress and have sleepless nights like she has not knowing from where and when the next best opportunity will arrive? Don't we neglect ourselves like she does while prioritizing the to-do list in life? Don't we put and always put our family first, like she does, even if that means an end to our personal ambitions? Oh! She's so much like me and I'm so much like her..." I cry out.

My sister nods her head slowly as she sips the last dregs of her after-dinner coffee. Over the rim of the cup, she gives me a penetrating stare, "Now, you've told me the real reason why I should watch the serial..." She gets up to go..."Its 09.30." I remind her. "Yep! " She says, "I'll switch on the TV."

So do you....Happy Viewing!