Ahem Ahem! So finally the Ankahee Dastaan of Mohana, Ansh and Piya played out tonight and here I am, channeling my inner Daayan to share my views with you!
Coming to this particular take on our beloved characters, I must say there were a lot of things which I liked, some even I loved and had "Khushi Ke Aansoo" as I wanted these points to be highlighted in the original.
But then again there were things which really irritated the crap out of me and I was highly disappointed.
Let's start with the positives... ððž ððž ððž
This might give my old friends a heart attack but for me, the highlight of Ankahee Dastaan was VedAnsh. And yes, I myself can't believe I'm saying this.
For the longest time I have cursed the makers for making Ansh so extremely "Sanskari". The shades of grey which made the character quite unique and made us curious about the union between the purest of entity and the purveyor of darkness so damn interesting, eventually the writers totally sidelined it and kind of made him weak.
Even though I loved the fact that Piya's love had been his anchor to goodness, on so many occasions I felt his character to be a pawn at the hands of the women surrounding him, be it - Vedashree, Mohana or Piya herself.
Here we got to watch that untapped potential and Harsh totally nailed it. ð ð ð
The biggest and most amazing twist in the tale was him acknowledging his power and using it actively to capture all other evil entities, being a "Reevavanshi" by choice. ðĪ ðĪ ðĪ Also, him being misunderstood by his family members on every occasion and his pain - it was very effectively portrayed and realistic. ð ð ð
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved VedKar and AviChai's unconditional love for him in the original. But with them constantly bragging about Ved's sacrifices and burdening him so much - it was in a way more cruel and detrimental for him. ðĪ ðĪ ðĪ
In this version he is somewhat lonely, there's a sense of pain for not being able to make his family trust him. Yet, his own faith and determination to follow the right path makes him even more lovable. One can feel his pain and then be proud of him at the same time...
Now coming to another surprise package Vedashree. ð ð ð She is thousand times stronger than the original and also quite reasonable here. Yes, we still have her signature whimpering but she is not delusional here. ð ð ð She acknowledges Ansh's dark side with better understanding. She is a protective mother, desperate to save her son but she also knows he might not be trusted and doesn't hesitate to do the needful on such instances. And Ritu Chowdhury was perfect in her portrayal. ððž ððž ððž So another big shoutout to the writer for giving us this...
Last but not the least - Kiara. That kid was loved by all for her portrayal of Adi. Seeing her portraying Ansh's kid version was too damn satisfying.
Although, I wasn't that elated seeing her cousin portraying Piya. Nothing against the kid, she is adorable as well. But I guess I'm still not over the "Sasta Wala" version of Nazar and since she played quite a prominent role there, the grudge also resurfaced. Sorry guys!
Now coming to the negatives... ððž ððž ððž
Brace yourself for another heart attack because for me the weakest of the cast was Niyati.
Had I not seen her as Dilruba/Bhasmika and lastly Visharika, I would say she is not cut out for negative roles. Niyati has a charming personality and that always comes fore on the screen as well. It suited Piya perfectly and whenever it was needed, she twisted her personality to fit in those rather quirky/negative roles effectively. ððž ððž ððž Here her Daayan avatar fell flat. ððž ððž ððž
And what pained me the most was that Piya in the original was an extremely layered character. I won't say grey but "Layered" and probably the one character who evolved the most with the passage of time. Even when she was chirpy in the beginning, one could feel the pain she hid and admire her strength. Here she was outright chirpy in scenes but there was no layer, no surprising element - nothing! ð ð ð She didn't seem like Piya to me at all. And the worst part may be was that they completely overlooked her "Daivik" identity and didn't focus on her connection with Goddess Durga. To me, it looked more like Niyati was portraying yet another bubbly character whose name by chance was Piya. ðĨš ðĨš ðĨš
And then again jet speed of the story and the action sequences...
I understand they had to wrap everything up in one episode but certain scenes need more detailing. They tried to recreate majority of the signature PiyAnsh scenes from their first meeting to falling into a pool. Not to mention their connection with fireflies and Ansh holding Piya in his arms. But except from the firefly scene, I was rather annoyed at their shoddy attempt. Till this day, I get goosebumps while watching those episodes on my laptop but here it hardly meant anything.
I really felt cheated because tonight's episode had anything but the everlasting love of PiyAnsh. Forget everlasting, there was no love, only forced "Tashan" and "Connection" which made zero sense to me.
ðĪ ðĪ ðĪ
And the action sequences! My god! Could it be any more disappointing? This is how I felt while I watched their so called "Nail Biting" action sequences...
Now, coming to the surprising elements which kept me hooked...
I've gotta say the plot of tonight's episode was actually quite good.
Here Mohana's actions and the logic behind them was quite good. Thankfully they were able to make her look like a scheming and powerful Daayan and not some weird lunatic like the original. And thank God that they didn't make her "Rakhta-Mo" as shown in the promo.
They included Naman and Guru Maa but the way they twisted the relations, I was laughing hard. Naman being a guardian to Piya and Ansh was something I didn't see coming and obviously, I don't need to elaborate my reaction to this plot twist.
Then again, how can I finish my review without at least one comparison. ð ð ð
The beginning of the episode itself was hilarious and it reminded me of "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" as all the Daayans boarded a flight to attend some grand event. ðĪĢ ðĪĢ ðĪĢ
And the way they used Ansh/Daavansh's blood to resurrect the dead Daayanvanshis, it immediately reminded me of Chang's attempt to bring back The Dark Dragon using Jake's Chi/Blood as shown in the pre-finale of "American Dragon: Jake Long".
But the fun went out of the window the moment they opened their mouths and uttered those heavy dialogues. Where has the old dialogue writer gone? ð ð ð I missed the punch and sass too much.
Also. Pandit Ji without his quota of action left me singing... "Haal-e Dil Mera Poocho Na Sanam"
ðĨš ð ðĨš ð ðĨš ð ðĨš
Overall, it was nice to watch most of our beloved characters to be back. ðģ ðģ ðģ
I wish they had taken some more time and made it a mini-series of 8-10 episodes as the story would make much more sense. But still, where it's due, we have to give the makers and all the cast and crew the credit for pulling it off. ððž ððž ððž
Enquiry from a potential PhD candidate
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