Baarish first impression: The show, like any other Balaji Telefilms offering, could have been a decent TV show. Anuj (Sharman Joshi), an ‘adarsh’ son of an uber-rich household, loves his siblings – Rishi and Shreya – like his children. He has worked towards making the family business grow but lets younger brother Rishi take credit for it. He loves his employees like his family. One day, while it is raining, he meets Gauravi (Asha Negi), an employee of the company and offers her a lift. She, like him, is an ‘adarsh’ daughter of a middle-class family. Attracted by her simplicity and honesty, he helps in getting her job back, after she is fired by Rishi.
That, in a nutshell, are the first three episodes of AltBalaji’s latest show Baarish. Does the brief summary sound similar? To think of it, that is the plot of almost every TV drama you would have watched since Ekta Kapoor ‘redefined’ Indian television. After watching the first three episodes of the 20-episode long series, I am unsure why it has been released on the digital platform.
Baarish, like any other Balaji Telefilms offering, could have been a decent TV show with some 800 episodes running over the course of five years.
The show, within the first five minutes, establishes that in India, family is paramount. The son who is timid and obedient is ‘good’ and the one who is ambitious, assertive and questioning is ‘bad’. One who looks after the parents is ‘ideal’ and the one who listens to his wife is a ‘black sheep’. To top it all, every time Anuj and Gauravi’s paths cross, it is raining! (hint: the title of the show)
Baarish is shallow, unoriginal and there is no character for which you will want to go back. Sharman and Asha’s mediocre acting adds to the misery.
Having watched some AltBalaji shows like Broken but Beautiful, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, Haq Se, Apharan and now Baarish, it seems the makers do not spend as much time on the first few episodes as they do in creating the rest of the show. The pilot episode sets the tone of the show and leaves the door open for the audience to come back to it. But the first episode of Baarish fails to deliver. Will it get better after taking some time to establish itself? That remains to be seen.
