There has been a lot of expectations from the Star Plus medical romantic drama, Sanjivani 2, which stars Surbhi Chandna and Namit Khanna.
IWMBuzz.com was among the select media invited last night to watch a preview of the first episode.
So without much ado, let’s get down to details.
The first epi was quite grand and tried to establish the baseline of the most prominent characters. Mohnish Behl (Dr. Shashank) and Gurdeep Kohli (Dr. Juhi) have been retained from the original cast.
Lean mean Namit Khanna stole the show with his performance as Dr. Sid. The scene where he spends the night with a girl without knowing her name was funny. But then he jumps into the sea to save a poor drowning boy (shirtless scene – check). He then wrongly tells his hospital that the chief minister’s son is injured and asks for an airlift.
This was creative indulgence; had someone else tried the same stunt, he would have got the boot in a New York minute. He also innovates with medical protocols to stabilize the boy.
The scene then shifts to Sanjivani, the city’s best hospital.
Enter Surbhi, as a first-year resident, Dr. Ishani. This gal with OCD throws a fit when a fellow resident wrongly puts the cola can in the wrong garbage bin. She also has a face-off with Dr. Sid, who asks her to see the hospital shrink.
To be honest, I expected Surbhi’s look and costume to be more hep. But maybe that is the character requirement.
Principal head of surgery, Dr. Shashank, has a verbal clash with Dr. Vardhan (Rohit Roy), who regards the hospital as a money-making business.
Dr. Shashank asks the new doctors to be true to their noble profession and has pride in being called one. Surbhi rightfully brings out the emotions when fresh MBBS graduates get their first white coat and stethoscopes.
Dr. Shashank has major health issues and will cede his position. His offspring, Dr. Anjali, played by Sayantani Ghosh, wants to step into her dad’s shoes but he might have other plans. Dr. Vardhan tries to stoke the father-daughter friction.
In the meantime, Dr. Sid gets a female Bollywood actor to sign up for all kinds of cosmetic interventions and also takes a commission to keep it away from the media. He wants to use the money to fund the above kid’s treatment.
But Ishani sees it, and as the future episode promos show, threatens to get him fired.
The former, on her very first round, also saves a patient’s life when the attendant medical professional loses his nerve. She then goes against norms, taking charge with the line that the patient needs to be alive for the eventual hierarchical issues to come alive.
There is something in her family tree that she wants to keep under wraps, but should her papers not reveal all that?
All in all, the first episode was just what the doctor ordered – good drama, great visuals and hope for much more masala down the road. Producer Siddharth Malhotra deserves kudos.
I just hope that here, unlike Sanjivani, a lot of medical issues are shown along with romance. The first episode gives hope on that.
Rohit Roy’s grey character will have much to do. He has the right senior doctor persona.
Hope we get to see more of the supporting cast in Jason and the girl as the talkative Haryanvi doctor with whom Ishani had the garbage bin tiff.
Gurdeep Kohli’s character will have much meat as her back story with Dr. Shashank unravels. Mohnish is an actor par excellence, no need to say more.
Last but not least, the initial chemistry between the leads seems good enough, though Namit will need to really up his game to impress the legion of Surbhi fans.
Above all, Producer Siddharth P Malhotra’s banner Alchemy Films has put its heart and soul into creating this medial saga. And with Malhotra being the creative brain behind the earlier versions at Cinevistaas, the show is expected to have engaging topics and plots.
Do let us know your views on the first episode when you watch it on 12th Aug.
3.5/5 is our rating for Sanjivani.
