After a mass murder and a shift from the gaon, the new-look, new-generation Balika Vadhu goes on air from tomorrow. Though no longer dealing with the issue of child marriage, the show will tackle other societal evils but remain titled the same for keeping the brand value after eight long years. SANGEETA YADAV tells you more
Think of Balika Vadhu, and one name that strikes immediately is Anandi. Over the years, she has broken stereotypes, fought against the evils of child marriage and empowered village women. But now, after eight long years, the most watched show will take a 15-year maha leap tomorrow.
Gone will be Anandi and every other person around her. Gone is the issue of child marriage. After the mass murder of Anandi (Toral Rasputra), Dadisa (Surekha Sikri), Jagya (Shakti Anand) and Akhiraj (Sunil Singh), the new track will be with new artists, none of them either balika or vadhu, for that matter.
It's not just the actors who have exited. The show's writers Purnendu Shekhar and Gajra Kottary have also parted ways with the channel over creative differences. Even director Sidharth Sengupta has left the show.
The story is taken forward by a grown-up Nimboli (Dr Nandini), played by Mahhi Vij, and revolves around a love triangle with Krish (Ruslaan Mumtaaz) and Dr Amit Goel (Avinash Sachdev).
"Honestly, the show required a fresh outlook and storyline. The ones who left, worked long and hard in making this show a hit. Now, the new scriptwriters are doing a fantastic job. The show is going to be a youthful love story and yet will continue to be issue-based, with a message in the end. It's going to be something new. The older team would have stuck to what they were doing. Maybe that's why the channel thought of a fresh approach," Mumtaaz says.
Mumtaaz, who plays a snooty NRI who gradually comes to appreciate India, feels that it's the western outlook and values that made him connect to the character. "Like my character of Krish, I don't enjoy travelling within India because wherever I have gone, people trouble the tourists and I found plastic bags and garbage littered at exotic places which really put me off. We as Indians disrespect our country and don't look after it. When I go abroad, people let you be. They treat their country well and keep it clean. I might be Indian but my sensibilities and values are western so I fit perfectly in this role," Mumtaaz says.
Mahhi Vij, who is associated with Colors since its inception with shows like Laagi Tujhse Lagan and Khatron Ke Khiladi, is excited about playing the grown-up Nimboli who, she says, is very much like her in real life. "Nimboli grows up to be Dr Nandini. She is headstrong like her mother and wants to change the society and the way people think. Yet she is happy-go-lucky. She lives life with a fresh approach leaving negativities and grudges behind," Vij says, adding that the best thing about the leap is that she will be seen romancing on screen.
"I didn't get to romance much on the last show. I was just getting belittled by my husband. But this show has got two handsome men and there will be love and romance in the air," she tells you impishly.
For Mumtaaz, it is not the first time that he will be romancing a senior co-star. He wooed veteran actress Sangeeta Ghose in his debut show Jee Le Zara. "The fear of seniority has been broken. More than the fear of working with experienced actresses, it was about meeting somebody for the first time. On the first day, Mahhi made me feel so comfortable by saying that we'll make the roles iconic and an award worthy jodi. The best thing is you get to learn a lot from the senior actors and I give full credit to Sangeeta for helping me improve in the way I conduct myself, my acting skills and confidence," Mumtaaz says.
Avinash Sachdev, who plays Dr Amit Goel, a mentor to Dr Nandini, feels that the character is nowhere close to him. "He is composed, disciplined, passionate and dedicated to his work. There is no fun in his life. He shares a formal relationship with his father. The only thing on his mind is the hospital. He is my paradox. I love my life and live it up. I love travelling and I can go anywhere. I drove my car to Ladakh and Bangalore from Mumbai. But as Dr Amit, I've to be calm," Sachdev says.
The biggest challenge for him was playing a doctor. "I can never imagine myself as a doctor. We were shooting a scene in the operation theatre and I was supposed to operate for endocrinology. I had heard about it for the first time and there was nobody who could tell me what it was about and which part of the body it is associated with. I had to Google it and study it," he says.
For Mumtaaz, going to Naigaon for the shoot of Balika Vadhu was challenging. "Travelling to Naigaon daily was something that I never wanted to do because it would leave me with very less time for my fitness routine which is an important part of my life. I've said no to so many shows that were shot there in the past. But now, I've to find ways of working out on the sets and in between my shoot," Mumtaaz says. With a new starcast and writers, it'll be interesting to see how they match up. "It's a challenge to do better than the previous Balika Vadhu not just for the production house and channel but for us too. We hope to get the TRPs so that we can continue the show for another eight years on a high," says Vij.
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