Too Good. Review on Balika Vadhu

Balika Vadhu has beaten all the saas-bahu serials hollow. Here is a serial in which the mother in law and father in law really love the daughter in law and forgive her all the mistakces. The story sounded a bit retrogative in the beginning but when one really considers, it really happens in India. When Indians marry off their girls at whatever age, the brides, even modern ones, are expected to fit into the family and be accomodative, adjustable and understanding. Otherwise the male ego and that of the sasural comes in the way.

In this serial, a small but beautiful headstrong darling daughter is married into a rich house. She is allowed to do as she pleases, but the grndmother gets furious by some of her ways.

Mind you, the grandmother is not wicked, she is traditional and conservative. For her it is a heinous crime if a widow wears bangles. So she punishes Anandi, the child bride by keeping her in a dark room. She is sitting outside and genuinely feels that her headstrong ways can be curtailed only by punishment as she herself had undergone in her youth. She had been asked to stand for a week in the hot sun and that had tempered her . So she tries it on this girl.

When Anandi has a high temperature and faints, she does have qualms. Later she tries to make up by going into the kitchen with Anandi and trying to be friendly.

When Anandi runs away, the grandmother is also upset. It shows only in her expression and not in her hard words. She is also relieved when Anandi's father rings to tell that she is safe in her maika.

The tussle is between the orthodox grandmother and the much loved headstrong young bahu.

The characters are perfect. Whether it is Saguna, the married girl awaiting her gauna and clandestinely meeting her husband, or her mother whose angry eyes reveal her anguish but her head is bowed and she  does not rebel, or whether it is playful jagdishya, all of them act too good. They are all so real, quite unlike other serials where the evil ones are garrishly dressed, the good ones don demure clothing and white is too white and black is too black. The characters in this serial are all very good.