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Hi everyone,
My name is Mandy and I might or might not have commented on any posts in this forum 😕 Sorry am confused 😆 I wanted to make this post from a long time but then I felt maybe it will join the long list of many posts which didn't interest anybody. And then again I thought what the heck, I might as well get it out of the way. Initially I wanted this post to be my thoughts on just season 2 but then I also wanted to explore some of the facets of season 1. A gentle disclaimer: if long posts seem boring and a waste of time, you might want to skip this 😳 or if you are interested please do share your thoughts post reading it.
I remember the first promo that went on air for Naagin where a mysterious woman in red lehenga walks around a bunglaow with a bunch of red roses that end up catching fire. It looked promising and this was Ekta's second franchise on the supernatural genre (first one being Pyaar Kii Yeh Ek Kahaani that was one of my all time fav shows) and I wanted to give it a try. Ekta also had a track record of coming up with cliched concepts given her so called saas bahu and romantic shows that never had anything new to offer after a couple of years (she did make wonderful shows at the start of her career though I admit). But PKYEK brought in a wave of fresh air and I thought Naagin would follow suit *sighs* If Only
Season One:
A brilliant star cast, impressive sets, decent background score and a sexy, sultry kali nagin aka Shesha - this is what season one boasted of. And you also had a seasoned veteran from the industry - Sudha ma'am and Mouni, who was basking in the glory of her DKDM days and Naagin only catapulted her to a stardom that a select few in the industry can rejoice over. Not to mention, Rithik-Shivanya chemistry. But in terms of story what did the show have to offer the audience? Nothing new. It was heavily inspired by the 1976 Reena Roy starrer Nagin and the much more recent Sayantani Ghosh show Naaginn. There was absolutely nothing innovative about the show. Even in that show a shape shifting snake seeks out to avenge the murder of her parents for a naagmani and gets married into the household that was responsible for her parents death. And to add to the similarity list, we also have the evil scheming mother in law who was feigning innocence from the start. So what exactly was new here? 😕
For that matter even Yamini's character was a rip off of Kahin Kissi Roz and funnily enough that character was enacted by Sudhaji herself. Sudhaji played a conniving mother who raised her stepson without letting him realise he was never her own child not out of love but for her greed to usurp his wealth when the right moment came. It's a pity Sudhaji agrees to portray such regressive characters time and again.
Shesha was a breath of fresh air but sadly her character was butchered beyond repair. Not because she turned negative but she turned negative for all possible insanely stupid reasons. She never craved love and all she wanted was power. The few times she got to be near Rithik she had assumed Shivanya's form. So Rithik had showered that love on his wife but yet Shesha, a naagin who found human emotions stupid found herself succumbing to one. And it had to be her sister's husband whom she had mocked initially for being a chipku 🤣 She had joined hands with Shivanya to avenge the death of her maasi who had looked after her like a mother but she forgot that and gave up her honor lusting after her sister's husband? 😕 Shesha always aspired for power and knowing that a naagin will lose all her powers after consummating with a human she made numerous attempts to seduce not just her brother in law but also a son in law 😲 (considering Shivangi was her niece Rocky was a son in law figure to her 😆) And Ekta tries to compare her shoddy shows with GOT 😆 Really now? 🤣 In the end she joined hands with Yamini, first in the hopes of getting Rithik and then Rocky 🥱
Rithik was just a prop in the show and his character never really justified that of a lead considering he was just an eye candy in the show. And of course the numerous shape shifting animals which we deem harmless but are more powerful than a snake to thwart one 😆 I still can't understand how a bee can be more powerful than a snake or a peacock? And we also have a bull to add to the long list 🤣 When the makers realised they have run out of adversaries they came up with Mahishmati courtesy Bahubali 😆
I can still understand why Naagin was a TRP game changer but fail to realise what did Naagin 2 have to offer to remain the TRP chart ruler? 😕
Season Two:
Moving on to S2, the storyline didn't change much. It cascaded down to Shivangi, Shivanya's half human daughter who fell in love with Rocky and the saga continues with Shivanya's death. Shivanya's parents are now replaced by Shivanya herself and Shivanya with Shivangi. Only difference being Shivangi assumed her lover to be her culprit and set out to take revenge on him as well.
The biggest let down of S2 for me was KVB who is one of my fav TV actors. He was totally wasted in this show and his characterisation here is way worse than Rithik's I wish his character had some depth but sadly there was none. I understand he wanted to experiment with different types of characters and break out of the grey shaded hero image but Naagin? Like seriously? KVB and Mouni would have made a fantastic pair but sadly makers didn't bother to put an effort.
You have a plethora of supernatural elements at play here and at one point, despite the mediocrity I wanted to give S2 a chance. But everytime I tried watching it, the meaningless tracks used to put me off. Starting with Shivanya's death who had been a mere mortal at that time. How can anyone justify Shivanya taking Shivangi's place even though she was badly stabbed and also her death by impersonating her? OK so her daughter looks exactly like her. Was this one similarity enough to fool all her enemies? She even managed to lock Shivnagi and change into clothes and then get thrown off the cliff by her own sister. Were the makers mocking their own intelligence or ours?
Why would Nidhi ever want to be a mystery killer amidst the crazy supernatural gang? 😆 The mystery killer clearly resembled a guy and Nidhi who is tiny and petite was that same killer? 😲 And the villain needs to be equally powerful else there is no fun but in Naagin 2 majority of them seemed lame right from Yamini to Nidhi. Even Shesha was reduced to a blubbering mess always lusting after Rocky without caring a damn about the consequences. Saari duniya jaaye bhaad mein, mera matlab sirf Rocky se hai 😆
Also how did Shesha end up becoming a 118 year old (or is 108) naagin? 🤣 She was a young girl herself when Shivanya's parents were killed and more or less her age. Shivanya must have been 25 herself when she married Rithik and she must not be older than 50 or 52 max when she died. Then how did Shesha age so drastically? 🤣
Like in S1 we had Rudra who came in as a breath of fresh air in S2. He had a strong presence to an extent it overshadowed the male lead itself. And whenever I visited the forum, I could sense that almost everyone here wanted Shivangi to choose Rudra, even though the story never had a scope for that to happen since Shivangi had always loved Rocky from the start and Rocky himself was a nice guy who loved her more than anything else. It would have been illogical to show DraShiv happening however good the two looked together. Rudra was instrumental in her revenge and I am really glad the makers didn't butcher his character like Shesha's by turning him negative for Shivangi. I suppose unrequited love has its own beauty and I am happy that's how DraShiv concluded.
I have lost count of the number of times I quit S2, started watching in between when I found one of the tracks interesting and lost interest again 🤣
And why did S2 have to be a continuation of S1? I know Mouni, Sudhaji and Ada have done a fabulous job in S1 but why not give others a chance? Plus a new storyline too? Why could not the makers take the risk? For all we know, the new starcast would probably have been better than S1. Or are we so used to seeing such regressive storylines that we don't want to give new concepts a chance and that's why even the makers have become lazy enough to not think of something fresh but serve the same stale concept on the same platter? The concept of shape shifting is intriguing but why not come up with interesting concepts instead? Why the same old wine in a new packaging? We have tons of talented writers who come up with innovative concepts on fanfic in IF itself and I am sure the writers hired for the shows are no less talented. But why do they give us such lame shows? Or is the TRP responsible for it? I knew a writer who has written wonderful stories on fanfic but the same writer's work for TV is beyond lame. I am certain it's not the writer's fault. I do not wish to name the writer or the show but all I want to say is why are we, as an audience satisfied with mediocre stuff? Why don't we push the writers to rack their brains harder and come up with interesting storylines that will be remembered in a long time to come?
When speculations are rife about S3, audience don't wish to see anyone else besides Mouni, Ada and Sudhaji. If you don't want to see anyone else beside the old cast, then you should also not be cribbing about the shoddy storylines. Unless we desire to see new things on television, the pattern will continue to exist. Its down to us to decide. Do we wish to see something new? Or the same old ghisa pita remixed tracks? Would you want the protagonist to be Mouni who would again be Mouni's daughter in the show and the same saga repeating with the enemies being resurrected from the dead for the 100th time or an entirely new set of characters with a new story?
Please share your views and thank you for reading it 😊 (if you took the trouble of reading it that is 😆)
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