Review of Sony TV’s Dil Ki Nazar Se – Khoobsurat

Most people have average looks.Despite this the male and female protagonists of TV shows are generally very good looking. Madhav, the male protagonist of Dil Ki Nazar Se – Khoobsurat has plain looks for a change. It’s indeed a positive trend that the average looking central character is gradually gaining predominance on Indian television.

In Zee TV’s Afsar Bitiya, the heroine Krishna was simple looking but highly intelligent. She was at times taunted for her dark skin. In Sony TV’s Amita Ka Amit, the heroine Amita has extra pounds and a common placed countenance- people often don’t notice her inner beauty which is that of an extremely honest, ethical and forthright girl.

Likewise in Sony TV’s Dil Ki Nazar Se – Khoobsurat (Shashi Sumeet Mittal Productions )- Madhav who was shown in the first episode as a very bright kid who can recite complicated play dialogues with élan is sadly given the role of the prince’s horse just because he has ordinary features and a dark brown complexion. His friend Rahul who is a cute and fair kid is promptly given the prince’s role though he can hardly articulate the dialogues. The fat boy of the class is delegated the role of a rock.

In real life we also often treat not so good looking people with a bias. Fair and good looking kids are thronged by admirers who pull their cheeks. Plain looking kids often tend to be cruelly ignored despite their talents. The creative team of Dil Ki Nazar Se – Khoobsurat in its debut episode brought to the notice of the viewers that this kind of discrimination is unfair and wrong.

Just like the parents of little Aradhya, the parents of a beautiful child often instill in their offspring’s mind a superiority complex. Aradhya’s mom openly tells her that a little princess like her can be paired with only a prince. Nor is she admonished when she doesn’t like to see an ugly face on TV, nicknames dark complexioned not-so-pleasant faces as ‘the brown ghost’ and goes to the extent of even being terrified on seeing them.

It was praiseworthy when they showed a lady firmly telling Aradhya’s indulgent parents that they should be ashamed that they are applauding their doted daughter instead of scolding her when she taunts Madhav on stage as the brown ghost. The fact that Aradhya’s parents also got a call from the principal may make other principals aware of the fact that they need to take prompt stern action for cases like these. The anguish of Madhav who tries hard to wash off his dark complexion with soap after been insulted on-stage was touchingly done.

The writers did a good job while delineating the child characters in the first episode. Primary school kids were realistically portrayed. It was slightly disappointing though that the characters grew up in the end of the first episode.

The title of the show Dil Ki Nazar Se – Khoobsurat aptly conveys the essence of show which says that we should focus on inner beauty rather than the outward appearance of a human being. Inner beauty often falls on the blind spot in this world. Outer beauty often sadly camouflages undesirable traits of a person to a superficial beholder.

Connecting the plot points of a child Aradhya growing into a teenager was done well. The little girl pins on the soft board of her room a sorry card- in the next shot the board metamorphoses into a board for teenagers on which it’s etched ‘one of these days I am going to get myself organized’. In the same room a grownup Aradhya is shown applying makeup.

In the forthcoming episodes we will see Aradhya falling in love with a radio jockey so enamoured she is by his voice. This radio jockey is however the dowdy looking Madhav. In real life too many young girls fall in love with radio jockeys assuming them to be knights in shining armours.

The sweet kids who played Aradhya, Rahul and Madhav have done a good job. However kids on most TV shows are artificial instead of spontaneous when they act. The directors need to have workshops with kids training them to act naturally. The child who played Madhav was the only child who was very spontaneous while executing his role. The part where his eyes light up when in the last moment he is asked to play the prince was done with finesse. Later the red ball falls from his grasp when he is deeply grieved on being rebuked by Aradhya in public for his looks.

The art direction is quite up-to-the-mark. The school interiors resembled an uppity ambience. The stage on which the school’s play was performed was very colourfully decorated. The nursery in Aradhya’s home was sweetly furnished. She was dressed in very pretty dresses which went down well with her character of that of a daughter of well-to-do parents.

The show had had a nice opening. Let’s see if this serial which is based on the immortal fairy tale The Beauty and the Beast turns out to be a good modern Indian version imparting the age-old moral that inner beauty should be regarded as the real beauty.