Monday to Friday, 8.30 pm, Star Plus

Cast: Krystal D'Souza, Nia Sharma, Seema Kapoor, Karan Thaker

By Kshama Rao

Two sisters brought up by a strict beeji. While one is the quiet, shy type, the other is naughty and witty. Jeevika and Manavi can't do without each other — that explains the long title borrowed from the heartachingly beautiful Dev Anand-Zeenat Aman song — yet their lives threaten to take them apart. While Jeevika is engaged to be married, Manavi keeps having these fainting spells that look ominous to us.

There is something dated about Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna, maybe it's got to do with the dukhbhari story about these two girls, maybe it's the supporting cast that does nothing to pep up the show or maybe the show simply lacks something vital that's a downer.

In any case, here's the story: Jeevika and Maanvi lost their parents during childhood and are brought up in a middle class family by a stern beeji in Rishikesh. There is the local Dr Manan who shares love vibes with Jeevika, but isn't courageous enough to profess his feelings for her. Meanwhile, she gets engaged to a lawyer, Viren Narain who belongs to a rich family. There's Viren's younger brother Viraat, too, who doesn't leave any opportunity to pull Maanvi's leg. At the time of writing, he is the only one who's fathomed something's brewing between Manan and his Jeevika bhabhi.

Produced by Cinevistaas, the show is strictly average fare. Krystal D'Souza and Nia Sharma as Jeevika and Maanvi share a sweet chemistry. The promos of the show and the title had got us excited but the bonding between the two sisters doesn't go beyond hugging each other and wiping each other's tears. We wish the scenes were written better….with a title like that we expected some more endearing, engaging stuff between the sisters.