Review: Many hopes from this Odhani

Many hopes from this Odhani

It's about Khanak (we love the name) and her childhood sweetheart, Suraj who live in Kutch, and city boy, Shantanu and his girlfriend Natasha. Both the couples are engaged to be married. Suraj works for Shantanu's dad's company. Shantanu is a typical spoilt brat, who rides bikes and gets into trouble even as his girl does everything possible to drill sense into him. He is the younger of two brothers and has yet to grow up. On the other hand, Suraj is a good hearted bloke, who dreams to marry and get Khanak home but as the promos suggest, he will die after their marriage and Shantanu will be responsible for his death. The panchayat (Pankaj Dheer plays the restrained sarpanch) wants to decide the punishment for Shantanu but it's Khanak who wants to seal his fate. Ab aage.

While the lead stars are nothing to write home about (mouthing lines, looking straight into the camera can't qualify as 'acting') we would still like to give them a chance to deliver in the forthcoming episodes. We have hopes especially from Yashashri Masurkar, a Marathi actress, who acted in a 'kabaddi-based' soap on a regional channel. And Maharashtrian actors have never let down in the past. Karan Thacker as the rakish Shantanu tries hard to be cool but is an eyesore, so is Priyanka Chibber as Natasha. Harpreet Singh as the camel-riding, gaanv ka bhola bhala gabru jawan is easy on the eye but has a squeaky voice.
The setting, the lingo (though we have said in the past the Kutch-Rajasthan lingo has starting coming out of our ears) everything is near perfect; now only if the story moves ahead with a feverish pace and engages the viewers.

Something tells us that the story is going to follow the Dor way (remember Nagesh Kukunoor's film about a young widow and a city girl, who comes to her to ask for mercy for her boyfriend who was responsible for the woman's husband's death) but we are not complaining. With veteran director Swapna Waghmare Joshi at the helm, we are hopeful the colours of this Odhani... won't fade with time.
Verdict:
Give it a try. It is definitely a respite from the channel's other 'young' shows.