REVIEW: Parichay first episode (article)

Any new show on television has our hopes up – will it be better than the usual fare? For this one, we are just not sure…

A teaser plays a crucial role in helping you decide whether you want to watch a particular television show or not. Then the first episode is aired – it presents you with a more clear picture of what you have let yourself in for and answers many of the questions hovering in your mind. Some of the most crucial aspects you often think about are: Is this my kind of a show? Am I willing to waste that precious half-hour of my day watching this? Well, our verdict on Ekta Kapoor's Parichay - which aired last night on Colors – is not quite all joy. What got us hooked on to the show in the first place was the impressively created trailer. An unemployed Samir Soni wanders around with a helpless and frustrated look on his face. An unsuccessful lawyer, his resolution crumbled after he had to face failure. The concept looked supremely interesting and Kunal Chopra's (the charater that Soni plays) life intrigued us. But it's disappointing when you discover that it's nothing but another shoddily written script teamed with hammed-up performances and story angles that are obvious gimmicks to galvanise TRPs into climbing. Soni's mature acting is the only saving grace. He enters the show in typical Bollywood style, gambling with the goons to make money to buy a suit for his younger brother's convocation. The cops barge in and poor Kunal Chopra gets beaten up, hardly a triumph after all the hard work he put into earning his winnings. The bottom line for us: television really needs to evolve. How long will good actors, beautiful faces and frivolous fluff rule the small screen? Parichay falls flat in episode one, still leaving vacant that special place where people would like to see something different. Whether it's going to work with the masses – time and the TRPs may answer that question…