Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi Review: Another Twisted Saga Of Widow Remarriage

Show Title: Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi

Channel: &TV

Timings: Monday to Friday 7:30 pm

&TV’s latest show Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi tracks the life of a widow, Suman who is an independent woman and aspires to study further and become an MBA. The cast includes Sonali Nikam, Himani Shivpuri, Tasneem Sheikh, and Abhishek Malik. I watched the first episode and here is the first episode written update and review.

 

Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi (2017)

Episode 1

Image Courtesy

In Indore, Madhya Pradesh and we see a woman walking with her fingers crossed and tied with a string. Simultaneously, a woman in a beauty parlour tells the waiting clients that the moment ‘she’ will arrive ‘she’ will say ‘give me two minutes to get everybody ready’. Just then, the woman i.e. Suman (Sonali Nikam), with her fingers crossed enters the parlour and repeats the exact same words. She picks up a cone of mehndi (henna) and starts making a design on a woman’s hand. The woman asks her the reason behind the crossed fingers and someone replies that it is for the sake of a vow she has made to a deity. Suman then silently prays to clear an exam.

Cut to, an elderly woman jostles through a crowd of students (she actually pulls young students by their collars and throws them out of her way) at a management college to get to the notice board, which holds results to a certain exam. She scolds the student for being disorganised and asks them to stand in a queue behind her as she checks the results. She holds a chit containing the name of ‘Suman Ravi Kumar Parmar’ but she cannot read it as it is written in English. A student standing behind her offers to help.  

At the parlour, Suman excuses herself as the food she left on the burner is cooked and she heads towards the kitchen. As she switches the burner off, her crossed fingers accidently open up and she is worried if it could be a bad omen. As Suman heads to the parlour, she receives a call from her sister-in-law, Antara who tells Suman that she forgot the list of groceries she was supposed to buy. Suman then diligently lists all the stuff Antara was supposed to fetch from the market.

Antara then goes hunting for her sister, Sanju jeeji (elder sister) who was supposed to accompany her to the market. Sanju or Sanjana is the babe of the area and has men fainting at the sight of her (hahaha…. Seriously? Even Aishwarya Rai may not be eliciting such reactions from guys). Antara places her hand on Sanju’s shoulders and almost gets slapped by her. When Antara asks Sanju the reason why she enjoys slapping boys, she says that unless you don’t slap a few boys, there is no use being beautiful (Whatever that means :/). Antara reminds her of the chores they were supposed to do. Sanju picks one of her admirers to drop her to the market and asks Antara to take a rickshaw to visit the market.

In the parlour,  a woman praises Suman’s multi-tasking skills for singlehandedly managing the parlour and her house (Waah! Kya inspiring woman hain. I pity women with poor memory. Err….that includes me 🙁 ). Suman gets back to work when her client tells her that the lines on her hand indicate that she is destined to marry twice. A shocked Suman quickly withdraws her hand.

The elderly woman i.e. Maasaa (Himani Shivpuri) arrives at the house and gets busy trying to call someone on the phone. Suman, Sanju and Antara anxiously look over Maasaa who refuses to say anything to them. Sanjana then suspects Suman’s failure in exams. Neighbours crowd around Maasaa/Kalavati’s house and assuming Suman failed the exams, start openly taunting her. They tell her that girls are not meant to go to college and that they are best suited for household work. In the most dramatic way possible, Kalavati then stands up on a podium and announces on the microphone that Suman has gained admission in MSI college. She goes on to quote,

“Chori padh lik li toh je samjho pragati nischit hain, bahu padhi likhi ho toh samjho aane waali saath pushton ki pragati nischit hain. Betiyon ko toh sab padhave. Bahu ko padhane ki soch sirf Kalavati Parmar ki hain. Aur woh bhi choti moti padhai naa, MBA”

(When a girl is educated progress is guaranteed but when a daughter-in-law is educated, progress of seven generations of a family becomes definite. Everyone educates a girl but the idea of educating a daughter-in-law occurred only to Kalavati Parmar. And that too not any simple exam but a professional course like MBA.)

She then tells Sanju to distribute jalebi (a sweet) amongst all neighbours. A proud Kalavati then dances with her friends to celebrate Suman’s success.

Kalavati and her friends are chitchatting when a woman informs Kalavati that Sindhura has not sent the shagun ka thaal (a platter used in religious ceremonies). Kalavati tells her friends that Sindhura is her childhood friend as she calls Sindhura to scold her.

In Delhi, Sindhura (Tasneem Sheikh) is at a temple. After performing a puja the priest hands her a blessed thread to be tied on Ranveer’s wrist. As she leaves the temple, her friends tease her that the beggars outside the temple have gone to Sheila and that Sindhura will have to wait for them to come to her. She responds that she waits for no one and that time waits for her. She then flashes a bundle of notes looking at which the beggars leave Sheila and coming running towards her. Just then, she receives a call from Kalavati who tells her that she still hasn’t sent her the jewelry and chunar (long scarf) for Tulsi puja. Sindhura retorts that she has already sent the jewelry and chunar and hangs up the phone without another word. Kalavati then pretends to still be talking with Sindhura on the phone trying to act pally with her to create an impression on her friends.

Sindhura tells her friends that she had kept the puja for Ranveer’s MBA results and that her family ancestors have been doing charity for years at a place in Indore.
Antara chances upon a letter addressed to Suman lying on the tables. She opens it and is shocked to read its contents. She thinks that if Suman gets to know about it, she will have a difficult time. She is nervous but still decides to show the letter to Suman.

At the tulsi-vivah (a Hindu religious ceremony where the plant holy basil is married to Lord Vishnu or his incarnation Lord Krishna.) Kalavati tells Suman to complete the ceremony by welcoming her husband (by which she means a child acting as Lord Vishnu) and we see Ranveer (Abhishek Malik) bring a kid dressed as Lord Vishnu. Ranveer is all smiles as he catches a glimpse of Suman.

 

First Episode First Impression

I don’t know why do I do this to myself. Why do I try to watch shows whose plot promises nothing more than recycled content? I have seen hundreds of show dealing with a similar premise. Such shows start at one point and lead to a completely unrelated point. Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi may have started with the importance of education amongst women but I am sure it will end up being just another sad saga of a married woman. Gah!!  

 

What looked nice?

Though Tasneem Sheikh made a short appearance, I liked her in the first episode. Seeing her on screen after so many years made me happy. It saddens me to see her play the role of a mother to an adult son but she looks like a hot mommy. I will always remember her as the menacing Mohini from the serial, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

 

What did not look nice?

The first episode looked like any other daily soap’s first episode. There was nothing new or interesting about it. The first episode left absolutely no impression on me.

 

If I were to watch this show, I would do it only for Tasneem Sheikh because I know of her acting prowess and would support her in her comeback serial.