Its early days yet, but at first sight, Zee seems to have a winner here!
Its international political thriller “Time Bomb 9/11” has none of those tacky crime thriller kicks that one is used to in the Indian entertainment scene! Enlisting veteran director Ketan Mehta for this mega project seems to have been Zee’s masterstroke. The result appears to be quite encouraging at first glance.
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The plot:
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Varun Awasthi (Rajeev Khandelwal) is a senior field officer at ACT (Agency to Counter Terrorism, a division of RAW). His estranged wife, Roma (Amrita Saluja) is a TV news anchor.
We also have the US President, the Indian Prime Minister (Kay Kay Menon), his security agencies, Osama (Vallabh Vyas), his son Usmaan (Akashdeep Sehgal) and an assortment of his followers all in the picture.
Don’t snigger.
It is not as corny as it sounds.
The characters really look believable and the plot is gripping if you are able to concentrate fully. The unique feature of this serial is the shot taking. In one frame, you get to see two or three angles of a room at one time. This technique makes the sequences look even more intriguing and gripping.
The pace of the plot is feverish and you move along with the characters. The sequences are mostly during night time and we get to see events happening in 4 or 5 different places at the same time. A clock timer indicates the time difference between the different events, which also helps keep the viewer engrossed.
The plot starts with the US President being informed about Operation White Light. In PoK, Osama’s son gets to know about the possibility of a US attack. Osama, Usmaan and Zafar, Osama’s right hand man, escape with a few others. Zafar has been badly injured in the attack. In India, Varun Awasthi is on his way to capture a terrorist in a hotel room. He learns of a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister, who is already in tension due to a no-confidence motion on his Government.
Using this as a basic premise, the plot races from one lead to another, one suspect to another, one shootout to another encounter, it is one exciting episode after another.
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The cast:
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Ketan Mehta has lined up an impressive cast for this ambitious project:
Rajeev Khandelwal became popular as Sujal in the Balaji serial “Kahin to Hoga” which women kept awake till midnight just to be able to glimpse him. Having quit this serial in a huff, Time Bomb has given him a new lease of career. From a lover’s role in KTH, Rajeev has managed to make a transition very well and looks quite dashing. He convincingly portrays the role of a harried yet committed intelligence agent.
Akaashdeep Sehgal of the unruly long locks fits the part of a dreaded terrorist
Amrita Saluja, better known as the Whirlpool mom, makes an awkward debut, but seems more confident in the later episodes as she settles down in the role.
Other cast is fairly competent with veteran actors like Kay Kay Menon and Vallabh Vyas making the main roles.
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The Show Timings:
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The serial competes with Ekta’s mindless saas-bahu serials – and that is quite a risk. Slotted at 10.00 p.m. on Mondays, it directly clashes with “Kahaani Ghar Ghar ki”.
So far at least, the women seem to have yielded to the men, more perhaps since they get to watch their Sujal, or Rajeev Khandelwal.
(By the way, the craze for Rajeev Khandelwal seems to have reached amazing levels. I have yet to come across any other TV actor who has captured the imagination of so many people. You just have to look up the various discussion topics on the internet, fan clubs etc all for this reasonably handsome looking man to understand what I am talking about.)
Of course for those who prefer to retire early in the night, there are umpteen repeat telecasts throughout the week – the most convenient one being Fridays, 9 p.m. Do catch it.
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The catch:
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If your TV room is also a bedroom or a noisy living room or a dining room with household members talking on the phone or to each other, kids bawling, mobile buzzing etc. you are most likely not going to comprehend what’s going on in the serial.
You need to watch every moment with rapt attention in order to get engrossed – and I know, that is asking for a bit too much!
