Review: Sony TV's Jee Le Zara

Some TV shows are hard to fathom…and some are simply nonsensical. However, Sony Entertainment Television’s Kehta Hain Dil… Jee Le Zara doesn’t tick either of the above boxes. Produced by Shristy Arya and Goldie Behl (Rose Audio Visuals Pvt Ltd) Jee Le Zaara’s launch episode did impress us. The setting of the hills lends a balmy effect and it certainly woos and not woes you. To begin with, the episode starts with the old ladies of the house (played adorably by Sulabha Deshpande and Meenakshi Sethi) worrying about their ghar ke beti being 34 and yet not married. Their sole motto in life is to see Saanchi take the overrated saath phereas. The plot moves from there with introduction of all characters, Saanchi played by Sangeeta Ghosh, Delnaz Irani (Dilshad), Nabeel Ahmed (Advait Prabhu) and Priyanka Sidana (Prachi Prabhu). Nothing earth shattering unfolds in the first episode, but yet it had the grippiness which is seldom found in today’s daily soaps. Here are the pointers that clicked for us. First of all, the show has a high production value with the creatives having an eye for details. The setting is superbly and refreshing colourful. The walls of the houses, furniture, the interiors of both the house and the office, and even the clothes worn by characters are well designed and add to the overall colourful ambience of the surroundings. The background score strikes an emotional chord but is evident that has taken a heavy influence from Barfi!. We would suggest to keep a bit low on the harmonica and experiment with other melodies. Yet, it’s soothing to the ears and far far better than the usual dhan tana tana beats and tones doled out in daily soaps. Here we would like to point out that the cinematography is crystal clear with lot of close up shots of characters which lend an instant connect with the viewers. Thank God that Indian television is moving on from the redundant Ekta Kapoor style of shooting with zip zap zoop panning of camera showing extreme and abhorrent faces of the characters. Moving on…when it comes to performances, Sangeeta looks extremely confident and it’s a shame that such a commendable actress like her stayed away from screen for such a long time. Saanchi lost her parents at a young age and since then has taken the responsibility of her family and thus has become strong and authoritative. Scenes of her with office secretary is reflective of her “being in control” attitude. Yes, she is tough for the world, but has an undercurrent of affable geniality when it comes to nurturing and responding to her family members. Delnaaz acts with a natural flow and even the newbies do a good job. Creatives have sketched each character pertinently and rather than focusing on the leads, the skills of everyone are woven seamlessly, which is a rarity in today’s TV plots. Jee Le Zaara…will have romance, emotion and the warm touch of family bonding. We especially liked the scene when after a hard day’s work and a long drawn conversation pertaining to her wedding, Saanchi hits her bedroom, all tired and emotionally drained. The very next moment…aaji (Sulabha Deshpande) comes to her and says, “Sar par tel lagadu”. What follows is a family moment with Saanchi agreeing to meet a man for marriage purpose and everyone hugging each other, all happy and content. And before the final cut, comes the imposing entry of Dhruv (Ruslaan Mumtaz) in a sexy blue car…all smiles, young and ready to set the world on fire. It would be interesting to see how the worlds of a serious and focused Saanchi meet and merge with that of flamboyant and fiery Dhruv. Upcoming episodes look to be promising and we definitely would watch them. However, we still feel that the plot could have moved a bit faster as too much time was spent talking about Saanchi’s wedding issues, when the idea was established in the first few minutes itself. Anyways, we would like to let go the glitches and give a big thumbs up to Jee Le Zara. Sony has always come up with interesting and diverse shows in terms of content, but sadly most of them did not do well at the ratings front. Hopefully, with Jee Le Zara, things will change for good!!!