Shaurya Aur Anokhi ki Kahaani Rant Review

A Yin and Yang Tale for the Ages?

Firstly, I hope everyone reading this is well despite this mentally and physically exhausting pandemic in the last one year. Secondly, there are a LOT of spoilers in this rant so, do beware.

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So, I'd mentioned a week ago in my announcements that I'd binged the whole of 'Shaurya aur Anokhi ki Kahaani' on hotstar. I did want to do a one shot on it (and I still might in the future. I do have an idea ready...), but then I realised two things- the first being that I almost never write fanfiction on a show until it reaches its logical conclusion, mostly because I want to see what the creators have envisioned for their characters and their world before I offer up my own theories or alternative plot lines on the same, and the second is that I'm honestly not in the right headspace to write fiction, right now. And that's when I decided for better or worse, that I'm going to do another rant review! So, let's start off, shall we?

'Shaurya aur Anokhi ki Kahaani' (it's quite a mouthful of a title, isn't it?) is the story of Anokhi Bhalla- an academically brilliant, ambitious girl from a middle class family in Kapurthala whose sole aim in life seems to be to complete her education and achieve independence as well as a sense of self-actualization (Maslow's hierarchy of needs anyone?) through her profession, overcoming her father's oppression once and for all. It's also (as the title very obviously suggests), the story of Shaurya Sabherwal- a strict and stern Economics professor from an affluent family whose primarily liberal countenance is a farce. What happens when these two individuals with contradictory ideologies clash?

If you've read the synopsis I've provided in the previous paragraph, two thoughts might arise in your head- the first being that the plot sounds a tad generic and trite. After all, haven't we seen similar 'opposites attract' stories before (notwithstanding Shaurya's profession, of course. I don't think there's ever been a hindi soap where the male lead is a teacher in any capacity. They're almost always spoilt-brat rich boys or ruthless businessmen or one transitioning to the other)? The second is that it seems to be an awfully simple plot for a show since nowadays every new daily soap needs to have a sort of 'x factor' to differentiate itself. For example, Ishq mein Marjaavaan's USP was its thriller storyline (even though the last time I'd watched it, I'm sorry IMMJ2 fans, it was quite a load of poo, for the lack of a better analogy). Another example is 'Story 9 Months Ki' that used the practice of IVF and the topic of being a single mother as its distinguisher. So, what's so unique (or anokhi. Sorry I couldn't resist) about this show?

The short answer is 'nothing'. But this, by no means, is a point of censure. Even the most rote storyline can work wonders if it's well-acted, well-scripted and on the whole, competently executed. And that's exactly what works in SAAKK's favour. SAAKK is largely a character-driven story rather than a plot driven one, so much so that the set up (or initial exposition, as one would call it) takes up nearly 30 episodes. This can be viewed as an advantage or a disadvantage of course. I'll admit, the first time I tried watching the show, I quit after three episodes.

The first thing that put me off when I saw episode 1 was Anokhi's speech about gender equality in a debate competition. Most of you know that I'm not a fan of overt feminism, so naturally I was a little annoyed at the preachiness of her lecture. Moreover, the pace of the show was rather slow and I (and many others I'm sure) am one of those daily soap viewers who want the leads to bump into each other as quickly as possible and observe the dynamic between them as a sort of litmus test to see whether I should keep watching. If I like the chemistry between them, then I continue. If I don't, I usually move on to something else. And much to my chagrin, I was kind of disappointed when I observed how unremarkable the scene where they 'bumped into each other' was. There were no squabbles, no one fainted, no line of fire separated them, no car spun furiously defying physics, and no one bashed the other's windshield and threw cowdung on the other (yes, this has happened in Ishqbaaz). There was only a bit of name calling and hardly any dialogue (Anokhi apologises for bumping into him, Shaurya calls her a 'pindoo' in distaste and that's about it).