The rise of the sisterhood

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Still from Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai

Bhai-behnon ka season hai with Rakhi ka tyohaar being around the corner and all. But, you know, I think ki waqt aa gaya hai jab sisters should start tying rakhi to each other. Because real life main toh behen hi behen ke kaam aati hai.

So I thought, chalo, let me check out shows where the main-main people are behenjis. I began with Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai (Star Plus), a serial about two orphan sisters. The elder one, Jeevika, is married and weepy, and the other, Maanvi, is unmarried and suffering from cancer. They both love each other and cling to each other whenever they are within clinging distance, and that’s what the serial is about. Clinging. But since Jeevika stays with her in-laws in Chandigarh and Maanvi stays with her biji, chachaji etc. in Rishikesh, there is little opportunity to cling. That’s why intelligent Jeevika has found a substitute clinger for Maanvi. Jeevika’s devar, Viraat. Viraat loves Maanvi and she loves him too, but because Maanvi feels that she’ll be ruining his life because of her illness, she’s not allowing him to cling. Is clinging-pushing se toh I got maha bored. The pace at which this serial is crawling, if we revisit it next Rakhi, Maansi will still be pushing Viraat and Viraat will be standing right there, aching to cling.
So I moved to Sasural Simar Ka (Colors) where Simar was falling down chakkar kha ke in the middle of her birthday party. Her little sister Roli, always the first shrieker in this house, accused chudail Kushi of giving her sister poison, but it turned out that there was no poison-shoizon. Simar is just preggers. Though this was a happy occasion, it turned into a family tragedy with first Kushi threatening to walk out of the house, then her husband and then her saas. To stop this mass exodus, Simar announced that if anyone has to leave, it should be Roli.
Arre yaar, Simar, you have good reason to lie in bed and go “ui maa”, then why get into family politics and banish own sister. For TRP’s sake, I’m guessing.
Very sad si baat yeh hai that while there are many serials about sisters of all shapes, sizes and varieties, there is not one minute ki shanti in their lives. Telly sisters ka rishta toh has been jinxed from day one, from the days of Uttaran (Colors). Jab tak Tapasya jaisi behens hain, behen log ki life main twists aate-jaate rahennge.