REEL WEDDINGS OF THE YEAR
If a television serial is cantered around a family then weddings have got to be the real take-off point for the show. On-screen weddings that take a week to unfold take the TRP of the show to newer heights.

The marriages that endeared viewers the most this year include Ram and Priya's nuptial vows which displayed the stark difference between a middle class family and its poor cousins, Jeevika and Viren's highly emotional and tear-jerking wedding, which took the show to its 5-plus rating, and the marriage of the uncommon seventh grader sweet shop owner, Sooraj to well-educated and career-oriented, Sandhya in Diya Aur Baati Hum, which is rocking as at No. 2 post-marriage.

"Marriage is the most potent tool that can spice up the story. Most often it works, but sometimes it doesn't. And if it doesn't, then nothing can save the show," says Saurabh Tewari, ex-TV programmer at Imagine and Colors, now a producer. Sooraj and Sandhya of Diya Aur Baati Hum, Daksh and Naina of Sapno Se Bhare Naina, Jeevika and Viren of Ek Hazaron Mein Meri Behna Hai, Ram and Priya of Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, Kartik and Lovely of Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein, Sasural Simar Ka's Prem and Simar, Parichay's Kunal and Sidhi, Jai and Sarika of Beend Banoonga Ghodi Chadunga and Mohan and Santo of Dharampatni were among the other on- screen marriages this year.

***