Balika Vadhu. Review on Balika Vadhu

I had nearly given up watching TV....the programmes were sickening, stories without any imagination and news channels doing nothing but breaking news which took so long that one felt like breaking one’s head by knocking it against the wall...it became so frustrating...

Ho gya khulasa....hamare pass hai is rahseya ka jawab......Dekhiye break ke badd and you were forced to stick on to the channel for nearly an hour and then came a small whimper about a probable theory cracking the case.

So it was with not much of enthusiasm that I switched on the new channel COLORS. It changed my watching habit. Now I never miss a single episode of its serial Balika Vadhu.....what a brilliant performance by each and every actor actress.

The child artists are brilliant. It seems you are watching their real lives rather than reel life. The girl plying Aandi- the protagonist played by 10 year Avika Gor - is so very real that you want to stretch your arms and hug her when she cries.

Her face is so expressive that she did not need any words to express her disgust at the sight of the dirty plate which her husband had eaten from and she was expected to eat from the same plate and eat the left overs. Andi’s own mother in law (Smita Bansal) is affection in carnate.

The way Aandi puts the soiled single grain of rice in her mouth says it all and one wants to hit out at the grand mother-in law (Surekha Sikri) who would put even Hitler to shame. Even her son is  scared of her(Anoop Soni )With rural Rajasthan as its setting , ‘Balika Vadhu’ could really be a record of the arduous journey of any child bride . who enters a new household when even her own world due to her being on threshold of youth is at once alienating and confusing.

From being snatched away from mother’s nurturing to even the merriment of childhood being denied , she has to accept and accustom herself to this new family of strangers, new relationships and accept her varied roles thrust on the weak shoulders. ‘Balika Vadhu’ very sensitively portrays the plight of children who are unwittingly forced into marriage, in the name of tradition, and have to bear the repercussions for the rest of their lives..

It is nice to see the worst of child and best of friend coming out in superb acting by on screen reel life husband of Andi- Jagdish played by Avinash Mukherjee. They all are from various states but have moulded themselves in to Rajasthani style so naturally that they seem to be born and brought up in the desert of Jaisailmere. If you really want to enjoy television viewing then this serial is for you