New Star Plus show Dadi Amma Dadi Amma Maan Jaao comes across as a whiff of fresh air.
As we all know, no one is evil in Rajshri Productions’ films or shows, just that people have different perceptions.
The same thumb rule applies to this 100 episodes limited series as well.
The setting is Indore, where you have a Marathi family who’s patriarch Vijay Pradhan (Mohan Joshi) has dementia and several other illnesses.
The characters are very relatable, who we come across in our daily life. Also, here it is good to note that the Rajshri’s have also moved with the times. Lead girl Anjali Pradhan (Sheen Dass) to has her flaws (smokes and loses her temper etc) yes, but she never crosses the primary Indian family line. She
also keeps her young sis Shraddha Pradhan (Anagha Bhosale ) in check (wanting to find out if she has a guy).
Anjali, is the granddaughter of Vijay Pradhan, and his wife Urmila (Seema Biswas), who plays the title character of Dadi Amma.
The opening scenes where Anjali and Urmila try to hide the fact that the next day is Republic Day was full of pathos, for they did not want to overexcite the retired wing commander Ajoba (grandfather) in his above condition.
The love banter between the senior couple (Vijay and Urmila), calling each other, old man and older woman respectively, brought a smile to our faces. The adage that old age is a second childhood is effectively brought out by the narrative.
Budding fashion designer Anjali feels stifled in Indore and wants to move to Mumbai and Delhi, and is resentful of big-city girls’ freedom to do, what they want.
Her most significant issue is that she does not want to get married and waste her life, and she often fights with granddad over the same. Ajoba’s scene with the doctor who he sees as a prospective groom is a common occurrence in families where the daughter is unmarried.
The younger sister, Shraddha Pradhan (Anagha Bhosale) tries to keep her sister’s hopes alive.
Anjali and Shraddha’s medical rep father, father Vikas Pradhan (Rudra Kaushik) does what it takes to treat his dad’s irreversible memory loss. His talk with Urmila about the same brings into sharp focus, money problems of middle India.
On the other side laid back, lead guy Shlok’s (Abhishek Singh Pathania ) ambitious mother Rekha (Shilpa Tulaskar) wants him to achieve the sun, moon, and the stars.
Shlok likes Anjali, but does not have the gall to pop the question. So he uses his younger brother Dhruv (Ankit Raizada, a wannabe actor) to help him get his lady love. The scene where they sneak up to the Pradhan house to click Anjali’s pictures and, Shraddha chases them away, was cute.
The scene where Ajoba slaps Dhruv for messing up Bhagat Singh dialogues was again fun.
Rekha blows up big money in an attempt to impress actor Mukesh (Mukesh Khanna) to set her sons up in life, but both fail to turn up for the party. She even arranges a photoshoot for Dhruv and wants him to bare his chest.
Rekha warns Dhruv that his face is his USP and hence will brook no injuries to it. No wonder she clips him when he returns home after being beaten by Shraddha, instead of nursing his injured face.
At first, Rekha wanted to destroy Anjali, but later decides to make her a bahu, impressed by the changes in Shlok after meeting her.
Rekha’s husband (Khalid Siddiqui) is a man happy with his lot. But his wife berates his lack of ambitions and does not want her sons to follow his footsteps.
Coming to actors, I am deeply impressed by Mohan Joshi for bringing out the debilitating condition of old age in terms of body language and facial expressions.
Seema being past master of the acting craft adds heft to her title character. While supporting her granddaughters’ career aspirations, yet does not want her to show skin. Her role like many women of her generation, could not go beyond the kitchen, yet she keeps up to date with political news.
Sheen Dass is also doing a good job, and we have high hopes from her. Anagha Bhosale’s character also has meat.
She requests Shlok to come to the hospital, hoping that he can revive Ajoba’s memory (he saves him, from getting lost) despite being aware, that elder sis hates him. She is doing a good job so far.
Hope Abhishek and Ankit too get the scope to show their acting prowess, for TV is more a female-driven medium.
Kudos to the Rajshri creative team for giving Shilpa Tulaskar a grey character, which she fulfills with aplomb.
Given the limited series genre, the pace is fast. But if this show does get huge ratings, will it also be extended like Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka!
Star will certainly hope that this show fires for it has replaced underperforming medical drama Sanjivani, which now airs at 6. 30 pm.
We credit Dadi Amma Dadi Amma Maan Jaao with 3 out of 5 stars.