What's missing in KZK 2.0?

I strongly feel that the missing link in KZK 2.0 is the lack of agency in the characters, be it positive and negative.

First of all, I'll talk about Komolika/ Sonalika. As much as I'm loving Aamna's acting, I don't understand why a narcissistic woman like Komolika take so much trouble for a boy. She's beautiful and stylish, she is rich, why is she behind Anurag. It would've made a lot more sense if they showed Komo as a gold digger who is after Anurag solely for money. I can't understand her obsession with a boy who's completely in love with another woman. Obsessive love was portrayed compellingly in Beyhadh, but we knew Maya's backstory and while I never sympathized with her, I could understand her motivations but the motivations of Komolika are laughable. It would've helped if she were at least smart but even a fifth grader can do better planning and plotting than (Komo/Sona)lika. The strength of ITV shows lies in the evilness of its villains and sadly KZK has villains who don't have a single dimension to them.(Again, I feel Aamna is doing really well but the character itself is so weakly written that even she couldn't salvage the show).

Second, I strongly feel that Prerna in KZK 2.0 is very weak. The basic trait of Prerna's character was its strength and how she bounces back from any Kasautii. I may be in minority, but I feel, when Anurag married Komolika, instead of barging into Basu Bari, if she took revenge by defeating Basus in business, the show would've taken a different path. The underlying theme of Kasautii was always how Prerna was humiliated for being middle class and hence not considered suitable for Anurag. Prerna becomes one of the best businessperson, causing her haters to regret. Though I didn't want Anurag to be slapped for thousand times in this Kasautii as well, but I would have loved to see the love-hate-revenge-forgiveness story of AnuPre.

Third, the character of Anurag, When the show started, I had high hopes that Anurag 2.0 would be stronger and more clever but in previous track, when there were so many opportunities to show his business sense in dealing with Mr. Bajaj, they made their rivalry clownish by making both men claiming Prerna is theirs when in fact they would be so good as business competitors. Even now with Sonalika, I wish if her faking his memory loss to expose her wrongdoings. Even if this isn't possible, I would love a track where Sonalika stabs Anu and Anurag returns for revenge. At least, this would give his character some agency. I feel Parth can play a character with contrasting shade well and CVs are just wasting his potential making him just a pawn in Komo's lame game.

Mostly, I want AnuPre to focus on something else other than their love for some time. I know it's a love story but they are full fledged characters. Their lives should have other aspects as well. An important part of Kasautii is misunderstandings and the feelings of hate and revenge AnuPre had as a result. But now AnuPre are just bystanders in their own stories.

Also, CVs need to take some risks now if they want Kasautii to be a hit. Making Aparna a villain, Making Shravan a negative character, killing Prem 1, Anurag blaming Prerna for Prem's death, Sneha's husband Sharad being a villain were a few risks that previous Kasautii had taken and they have paid off. I feel makers should either kill Sonalika now and Prerna getting blamed for it or make Sonalika kill Anurag. That can increase the TRP and bring in the conflict the show needs.

Edited to conform to forum rules -Kzk2 Dt

FOR ME:

-Lack of foundation for this ‘epic’ love story. I think the build up was so weak that everything which followed when it came to sacrifices and secrets flopped in terms of storytelling.

- Connection. Ekta generally does know how to make the general audience connect to its main leads and their journey. Here she’s written very artificial lead characters, I feel there’s no depth in their characters. They’re mundane.

- Chemistry between the main leads. There was some in the beginning but for the longest time there hasn’t been any. Their strongest connection is the dupatta flying over their heads.

- Sub-plots - IT HAS NONE! Every successful show has some sort of sub-plot which can give the main story a little breather. KZK has nothing else it can rely on.

Originally posted by: Reemz11

FOR ME:

-Lack of foundation for this ‘epic’ love story. I think the build up was so weak that everything which followed when it came to sacrifices and secrets flopped in terms of storytelling.

- Connection. Ekta generally does know how to make the general audience connect to its main leads and their journey. Here she’s written very artificial lead characters, I feel there’s no depth in their characters. They’re mundane.

- Chemistry between the main leads. There was some in the beginning but for the longest time there hasn’t been any. Their strongest connection is the dupatta flying over their heads.

- Sub-plots - IT HAS NONE! Every successful show has some sort of sub-plot which can give the main story a little breather. KZK has nothing else it can rely on.

Excellent points. I too feel that the story hasn't given the main characters space to properly build up their love story. Both of them say they matter the most to each other but why? Just because of they feel they are the 'soulmates'.

Initially, I connected to the character of Anurag, though it was largely due to the nostalgia of previous season. But ever since his marriage with Komolika, he seems to have lost his logical nature and calmness. We get to see a glimpse of the original Anurag when the memory loss track started but they are again paving the way for Prerna/ Komo fight which I don't find interesting.

I too feel the chemistry of Anurag/ Prerna is not as good as it is portrayed. This is especially a negative point when the USP of Kasautii 1.0 was the AnuPre chemistry. I don't even find the interactions of AnuKom, PreKom, PreBajaj interesting. I only find the interactions of Mohini Basu with other characters compelling and Anupam and Nivi with other characters.

No one in the show has anything to do except trying to bring AnuPre together or separate them.

Edited the comparison drawn with Dev Sona and kuch rang bit-Kzk2 Dt

Originally posted by: Reemz11

FOR ME:

-Lack of foundation for this ‘epic’ love story. I think the build up was so weak that everything which followed when it came to sacrifices and secrets flopped in terms of storytelling.

- Connection. Ekta generally does know how to make the general audience connect to its main leads and their journey. Here she’s written very artificial lead characters, I feel there’s no depth in their characters. They’re mundane.

- Chemistry between the main leads. There was some in the beginning but for the longest time there hasn’t been any. Their strongest connection is the dupatta flying over their heads.

- Sub-plots - IT HAS NONE! Every successful show has some sort of sub-plot which can give the main story a little breather. KZK has nothing else it can rely on.

I kind of agree and to add to lack of a strong FL usually Ekta and SP bahus drive their shows and people should be tuning into see what Pre will have to engage with next but here that connect with the female lead is not there at all.

Also there is no fun humour content in the show its just too morose and negative filled with scheming screaming and rona dhona heck there isnt even proper 21st century romance on offer despite the fact that ektas other shows are delivering this constantly for those leads

The lack of flow in tracks how one leads to the other and the tracks serving a purpose and adding to the overall growth of the story the chars and their relationships.

The original version of Bajaj,Prerna and Anurag. A Bajaj who didn't get involved in kitchen politics and childish mind games, a Prerna who had the spine of steel and actual self respect and an Anurag who knew how to respect a woman's rejection and 'no' even when he couldn't come to terms with it.

When the show's core characters are rotten,nothing will ever work. The proof is there for all to see lol. Can't believe the iconic KZK had this.. whatever of a show as the official reboot. Seems like a bootleg version of it,found on shady sites that scam of money saying it's original lmao.

The "soul" is missing...

Anupre chemistry,I never liked it..the thing is it's good or it's bad does NoT run the show..and what amazed me this time is ,after mr bajajs exit, they actually thought anupre can make up for the non existent , mundane, repeated done to death plot and exceptionally ridiculous storytelling..they actually believed it !🤣 The result is here...

Originally posted by: -RD-

I kind of agree and to add to lack of a strong FL usually Ekta and SP bahus drive their shows and people should be tuning into see what Pre will have to engage with next but here that connect with the female lead is not there at all.

Also there is no fun humour content in the show its just too morose and negative filled with scheming screaming and rona dhona heck there isnt even proper 21st century romance on offer despite the fact that ektas other shows are delivering this constantly for those leads

The lack of flow in tracks how one leads to the other and the tracks serving a purpose and adding to the overall growth of the story the chars and their relationships.

The basic premise of KZK was that Prerna was not like other Balaji Bahus. She was a strong minded career woman who instead of proving that she's a good bahu to her in laws, showed her mettle in business. Her whole life didn't revolve around Anurag. Here, everything either of Anurag or Prerna do has to do with each other. It would've worked if one of the character was too much seedha saada so audience starts sympathising with him/her but though Parth is acting well, he doesn't have that simple, innocent vibe which can make audience root for him. I feel a good character from EK shows is Randheer of Haiwan. He is good, caring but he's also smart and resourceful. The leads of KZK are too self centred and obsessed with love for audience to feel for them and neither of them are intelligent or smart.

I think one of the reasons the show is not working is its high budget. If they have kept things simple instead of a costly set and bringing too high profile actors like Hina Khan, the story would have been more concentrated upon and effective. KZK 2.0 has become Thugs of Hindostan in Ektaverse.

Originally posted by: _charu_

The "soul" is missing...

Anupre chemistry,I never liked it..the thing is it's good or it's bad does NoT run the show..and what amazed me this time is ,after mr bajajs exit, they actually thought anupre can make up for the non existent , mundane, repeated done to death plot and exceptionally ridiculous storytelling..they actually believed it !🤣 The result is here...

Story is the foremost ingredient to make a show successful. The makers are just relying on fans of Erica, Hina, Karan Singh Grover and Parth to compensate for their half baked story. TRP giri, chalo kisi popular actor ko introduce Karte hain, story par mehnat karne ki kya zaroorat. The dialogues are so lame. Even a talented actress like Aamna can't salvage the show. I feel it's not justified to consider the actors responsible for this mess because Erica was wonderful in the previous show(I can't say anything about Parth because I've started watching KY2 after his character died, but while he's not a great actor, he is decent enough) but it's true the actors couldn't bring the magic.I'm not rooting for AnuPre this season as I did in the previously. There is a half-hearted ness I see in their portrayal.

Edited to conform to rules can the tm avoid comparisons with season 1 repeatedly else the topic will have to be closed.Please stick to this season.- Kzk2 DT

Originally posted by: _charu_

The "soul" is missing...

Anupre chemistry,I never liked it..the thing is it's good or it's bad does NoT run the show..and what amazed me this time is ,after mr bajajs exit, they actually thought anupre can make up for the non existent , mundane, repeated done to death plot and exceptionally ridiculous storytelling..they actually believed it !🤣 The result is here...

Ekta is probably gettin rid of black money with this show because there is nothing that justifies the poor writing of this show and no thought given to get it back to track its going through the motions really

Originally posted by: Autumn09

Story is the foremost ingredient to make a show successful. The makers are just relying on fans of Erica, Hina, Karan Singh Grover and Parth to compensate for their half baked story. TRP giri, chalo kisi popular actor ko introduce Karte hain, story par mehnat karne ki kya zaroorat. The dialogues are so lame. Even a talented actress like Aamna can't salvage the show. I feel it's not justified to consider the actors responsible for this mess because Erica was wonderful in the previous show(I can't say anything about Parth because I've started watching KY2 after his character died, but while he's not a great actor, he is decent enough) but it's true the actors couldn't bring the magic.I'm not rooting for AnuPre this season as I did in the previously. There is a half-hearted ness I see in their portrayal.

Edited to conform to rules can the tm avoid comparisons with season 1 repeatedly else the topic will have to be closed.Please stick to this season.- Kzk2 DT

I no longer watch but the forum is really a fun place to get updates and also the never ending credits war😆.. Have nothing really to say about script because there's nothing to begin with. So here's by 2 cents on actors. Coz most of the itv shows have same standards but I believe they somehow perform better.

I for one was very very excited about parth-erica pairing but from promos I felt parth was not a fit to play. So what intrigued me for long was how parth transformed from a character like manik to anurag. As shitty the show was/is from beginning with all that doing stunts for saving a chunni etc.. Parth's portrayal and strong hold and Erica's falling off her acting pedestal like literally in every episode was surprising thing. I strtd feeling that parth was given more to say coz of his clear diction, screen presence and all erica did was give facial expressions with minimal dialogues (must be coz of the criticism on SNS). This kinda effected even anupre.

Also the way anupre began was unconventional.. Two good ppl falling fr each other with no hate-love angle very unusual for itv where ppl are used to watching love bloom between an angry young man with childhood issues & a bubbly happy woman

Also, Over time even parth lost his mojo to play as anurag although the clips from current track says he has again got back in form. May b it was to establish other characters they literally made him spew and enact the same nonsense. But still I feel he should put his papers down coz dis way will loose whaever he learnt of acting from his prev show.

As of now the only intriguing factor for me is on what basis is erica being awarded time and again. Like why? Is it still for her sonakshi act? Is it for so conveniently sleep walking at prime time show without getting fired?