Indian cable television has been struggling for a while now, trying to grasp at a formula after its blockbuster phase one. It hasn’t found one.
The saas-bahu serials, mythology dramas, reality shows still do well, but their TRPs are nothing compared to what the top shows boasted about 10 years ago. And so, finally, it’s trying new things. Thank god!
Zee TV recently launched Zindagi with a handful of Pakistani serials and, Allah ka lakh-lakh shukr hai, that it’s been doing rather well across India, especially in Kashmir.
Before that, last year, there was Anil Kapoor’s 24. That adaptation of a firangi hit show was billed as Indian television’s game changer. And it does seem to have given programming heads of our TV channels some himmat to try out new things.
The big show this year, which began airing on Monday, is director Ribhu Dasgupta’s Yudh (Sony), starring Amitabh Bachchan in the title role.
The serial, which has Anurag Kashyap as the creative director and Soojit Sarkar as the creative consultant, took off to a promising start. Set in Faridabad, Uttar Pradesh, the show is centred around Yudhisthir Sikarwar, a construction magnet who is both respected and feared. The show’s story is nicely complicated and yet predictable.
It has various strands — there are malevolent business rivals, bureaucrats and politicians, a dysfunctional family, another family that gives him some joy and creeping death because of a neuropsychological disorder. Obviously, some inspiration for Amitabh Bachchan’s character has been taken from AB’s classic films — he runs Shanti Constructions, the same company that he ran in Trishul, and we will get glimpses of the angry Vijay from Deewaar.
The show’s USP are its actors — apart from Amitabh Bachchan, there’s Sarika, Kay Kay Menon, Zakir Hussain and Tigmanshu Dhulia who is really very good. I believe Nawazuddin Siddiqui will soon join the ensemble.
Amitabh Bachchan was delightfully restrained in the first episode. I hope he’s able to resist resorting to his signature hamming throughout. If he is, Yudh will be remembered for giving us what we’ve been craving for years —Amitabh Bachchan as he was when we all fell in love with him.
