PICTURE SPEAK

PICTURE PERFECT: Kapoor (left) with Desai in Kasamh Se

Call them the bhabhi-behenji serials, as opposed to the saas-bahu tribe. Six years after star Plus unveiled the first bejewelled bahu on the small screen, a new traditional woman is competing for the viewer's attention. She is sober, strong and married to a dreamboat. She doesn't slap and hardly ever screams. She dresses well, with the mandatory mangalsutra, but not with everything out of the bank vault. And though she suffers in silence, she also shoots back when she has to. This new woman has found fresh acolytes-from beauty parlours to drawing rooms, from Television Audience Measurement ratings to global satellite platforms. Showcased in two daily soaps-Saat Phere...Saloni ka Safar (begun in October) and Kasamh Se (since January)-she is also turning around the fortunes of Zee TV. Coming soon after the success of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005, the serials now find a place regularly in the top 30 of TV programming, and Zee has cosily made its way into the No. 2 slot in the general entertainment category.

The stories are simple enough. Saat Phere's Saloni (Rajshree Thakur) is a dark-skinned girl who is discriminated against precisely because of that, a clever exploitation of the Fair and Lovely territory. She gets married to rich hunk Nahar Singh (Sharad Kelkar) who comes to love her madly, even going to jail when she insists on it. Kasamh Se is the story of three very different sisters-Bani (Prachi Desai), Pia (Roshni Chopra) and Rano (Arunima Sharma)-from the small town of Mount Abu, who come to Mumbai to live with the dashing Jeh Walia (whose gorgeous credentials are certified by the women in the Zee TV office who immediately gather in the programming division when the Kasamh Se tapes arrive). The plainest girl, Bani, marries him, and again through a series of selfless acts, wins his love. Kelkar explains the draw of the silent but strong woman, which almost sounds like a matrimonial ad: "She respects elders, can adjust in a family, can handle crises and yet oppose what she feels is wrong. Her biggest strength is that her husband loves her."

PICTURE SPEAK

PLAIN JANE: Thakur plays Saloni in Saat Phere

If there is evil, it is concentrated in the sisters-in-law, nasty pieces of work in both serials. The actors are all fresh and even those who are not, like Ram Kapoor (Walia), have developed a fan following. Characters do not multiply senselessly yet, and the plots, unlike in star Plus's reigning soaps, are fairly simple to follow. As Ashwini Yardi, senior vice-president, programming, Zee TV, says: "In the first month, when we asked people to SMS their suggestions on how the story of Saat Phere should progress, we got a lot of feedback to keep it logical."

For Zee TV, the success is sweet and well-earned. The reinvention began with the 20-city road show of Zee Cinestars ki Khoj in 2004, which, according to the channel's senior vice-president Ashish Kaul, helped it gauge the pulse of the nation. As he says about Saat Phere: "In India, a girl may be a doctor, an IAS officer, a pilot, but if she is dark-skinned, it's always a disadvantage. The show is lavishly mounted, but the essence of the character is undiluted." So, it is sophisticated enough for the metropolitan audience and yet, not so much as to alienate the small towner.

ZEE'S NEW MENU

JAB LOVE HUA: Tony and Deeya Singh, creators of Jassi, do a city gori-meets-gaon ka chhora. Premiered in April. JOHNY AA LA RE: Thrice-a-week answer to star One's laughter shows, stars screen-comic Johny Lever. Started this month. SHABAASH INDIA: Thrice-a-week semi-reality show. Features people who have the ability to perform extraordinary feats. Starts this month.

For the Zee TV actors, it has spelt instant celebrityhood. Thakur (Saloni) says a lot of people tell her they love her character because she is a "very Indian girl who respects her family and has Indian values". For Desai, a 17-year-old Pune schoolgirl, "everyone can relate to some character: either to me (Bani), or to Pia who is bolder, or Rano who is reserved. The role I play is of an independent, confident, soft-spoken and simple, a typical middle-class, girl".

What works in both is the romance, which, in the finest tradition of Indian entertainment, happens post-marriage even for modern girls. Good looks don't matter, neither does fair skin. Plain is perfect.

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