IPL season has ended and there is a sudden surge in the content /shows churning in the television space. Every channel is tomtoming about their new launches. As journalists, most times, it feels like each one is mirroring other’s attempt. In the flurry, some endeavours, like the popular Naagin and Salman Khan’s Dus Ka Dum stand out and hog most limelight. However, in discussions in corridors of media professionals, one attempt has caught everyone’s fancy and is expected to gain viewership via word of mouth.
“Have you seen the new Ram Kapoor show? The Sony TV one?
“Is it out already”?
“Yes and it’s interesting. Dekho ekbar…”
The recommendation of a fellow senior scribe coaxed me into checking out Sony TV’s new show Zindagi Ke Crossroads, anchored by the inimitable Ram Kapoor.
Well, I watched the second episode of the show: titled Ethics at Stake. Let’s discuss it.
Crossroads erases the lines between fiction and non-fiction, and it does it rather convincingly. It’s unique indeed, at least in the realm of Indian television, and the concept touches your heart and mind, both.
The show takes one important social issue, weaves a fictional narrative around it, and when the characters reach a crossroad, the story is stopped and Ram holds a discussion on the same, with the studio audience. This is repeated four or five times during critical times in the episode, giving viewers a more detailed understanding of the dilemma the characters face, as opposed to your normal drama situation.
The reconstruction cum real time diverse feedback model keeps you gripped. As an audience, you too want to share your views. Crossroads is an intelligent show…it plays with an individuals’ morals, ideals and principles. The scenarios depicted, which are subjective, evoke response as per one’s belief system.
In the second episode, a bus conductor faces with the choice to either let vice dictate his decision of taking someone else’s money to save his ailing daughter, or continue to lead a life of ethics. He chooses the later and ultimately, rainbow shines after a grim day.
Veteran and gifted Jaywant Wadkar adds soul into his part of a bus conductor and his emotive expressions stay with you once the episode is over. Able-paced editing and breezy direction adds relatable drama to realism.
Crossroads and its interesting tales, the smart ‘merge’ format and nuanced anchoring of Ram Kapoor make it a cut above the rest.
It’s a show which makes you think, a rare phenomenon in Indian television.
We would rate the attempt 3.5 out of 5 stars. Do watch it when at leisure.
