First off, I would like to start with informing that I am a fan and I do watch these shows everyday. That is the reason why I am writing this article. Also, Anyone who is a die hard fan of the shows and cannot take criticism, I would suggest you don’t read this.
Ishqbaaaz and Dil Boley Oberoi are, frankly one of the most popular shows from Star Plus and from whole Indian Television in general. But, in many ways, the two shows represent what we can term as, the worst characteristics of Indian Television. Now, with some path breaking shows, Indian Television has been making great achievements. Shows like Kya Kasoor Hai Amla Ka and Shakthi, that highlight the new thinking that India needs, while there are also shows like Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh Piyaji which dignify forced marriage and more backward ideologies.
In comparison to these shows, however, Ishqbaaz and Dil Boley Oberoi stand to be probably the worst examples. Let us seem them show by show.
Ishqbaaz :
Ishqbaaz has many problems in it’s run. But, it also has many positive sides. When it premiered, I simply loved the show. As someone who have never been in a relationship, I was tried of seeing every show deal with Jodis and focus only on them. Ishqbaaz started as this refreshing change when it set out to showcase the story of three cousin brothers who manage to keep a strong bond in a dysfunctional family. That is the most innovative plot I have seen since 2013 (When Yeh Hai Mohabbatein started.) Straight of the bat, i was a huge fan. And I did love the fact that a head strong man like Shivaay is paired with an equally head strong proud woman like Anika who has the exact opposite values to that of Shivaay’s. However it didn’t take long before the show went down the dark path that it frankly never recovered from.
It all started with Omkara and Ishana. Remember her? Well, Ishana and Omkara was the most perfect thing I felt for a Jodi in a progressive show. A man who never lies, being targeted by a Con Woman whose job is to lie. And look how they handled her story. Complete waste of so much character development. I mean, sure… The chemistry for the two characters weren’t perfect, but they could have worked much better with the ending.
And coming to Rudra. Now, Rudra is a splendid character. Just wonderful when used properly. In the start of the show, all they had him be was this dumb bodybuilder who got stuck between an over feminist girl and a technical villain. Everything about that arc was wrong. From the drugged marriage to the shitty reason for divorce and separation. It is completely pointless.
Shivaay and Anika are probably the better used character in the start of the series. Right until the point Shivaay forced her into marrying him, just because his bride ran away. I mean, seriously? What time period is this show in? 1990? Fine… Even if we say that the forced marriage was okay, then why did they turned the whole show into story of Shivaay and Anika? I came onto this show to see a story of three brothers and their love for their family, not a love story. Okay, even after letting go of all that, the show still had lot of problems. Terrible villains and slow plots.
Now, the show recently celebrated 300 episodes and I do accept it is not an easy feat. But, honestly though, Ishqbaaz cheated a lot to reach that mark.
I’ll illustrate. This is the summary of all the important stuff that happened in the 300 episodes, almost going to a whole year. A whole FREAKING year!
Shivaay Meets Anika, Omkara meets Ishana while already dating Riddhima. Rudra meets Soumya. Anika is employed by Oberois. Anika saves Oberois quite some times. Omkara learns Ishana is a fraud and soon, breaks up with Riddhima too while Rudra gets accidentally married to Soumya. Psychopath Daksh shows up and He and Anika get engaged. Tia runs away and Shivaay forces Anika to marry him. Tia comes back and begins plotting against Anika. Anika and Shivaay develop feelings while they learn Rudra’s marriage and deal with it. After a long wasted run, they finally get rid of Tia who turns out to be related to Svetlana which no one knows about. Tej applies for divorce and to stop him Omkara engages to Svetlana to stop that, moving on to his show. Meanwhile, after Tia leaves, Anika and Shivaay get closer as they plan Ranveer and Prinku’s wedding and soon exposing Ranveer for a fraud. In this gap showed up a twin who did nothing but confuse the family for a long time. After exposing the twin, Anika finds out that the twin is Shivaay’s brother while Pinky is jealous of Anika and plots against her. Shivaay accepts Anika’s past and the two are almost in love with each other while Pinky confesses and threatens Anika to leave. Anika Leaves
One Paragraph and we covered pretty much everything that happened through the whole year of the TV show. And that is without including the spin off which is more worse.
I do admit that the show had really amazing characters and great scenes. But, if you think carefully, the show it exploiting those two factors way too much.
Dil Boley Oberoi:
Compared to Dil Boley Oberoi, Ishqbaaz is a fast show. Doing the same as above, here is the summary of four months of a show.
Omkara meets Gauri. Omkara misunderstands Gauri while Gauri is forced to marry Kali. Gauri escapes Kali and while she is caught by villagers, Omkara saves her by marrying her. He refuses the marriage and leaves while Gauri devotes herself to Omkara. Gauri comes to Mumbai and gets a job, turning into a boy, coincidentally becoming friend with Omkara. (All this happened in the first two weeks.)
After that, for the rest of the four months, they literally dragged out Svetlana, each night going inches close to the secret and taking back, literally toying with us for 3 months continuously until three weeks ago, when Svetlana was revealed. After all this we finally see a meaningful story where Rudra meets Bavya.
There are barely 5 sentences in this summary and this is all that happened in the four months. See the problem? The show literally has nothing going for it except the fact that the Omkara character is good looking and Gauri’s language is fun to see.. Other than that, only Rudra is a watchable character in both the shows.
Common Problems:
As I pointed out in all the above points, there is only three main problems. Those problems are…
1. No Story – Ishqbaaz and DBO have no story. The writers have what seems like a block. As if they can’t think of anything until they make the Jodi married. The only exception right now would be Rudra and Bavya who are frankly the only Jodi that feels normal. If you notice carefully, they pretty much do the same story for any couple. The template is basically, ‘Man meets Woman. The two hate each other. The two are forced to be husband and wife. The girl is in love with the guy while the guy misunderstands the girl for something he saw/assumed before their wedding. The girl saves the Oberoi Family repeatedly.’. Think carefully and you would see this is basically the story of both the main Jodi, Shivaay-Anika and Omkara-Gauri. Rudra-Bavya is the only exception as they are a couple where the guy is head over heels in love while girl is trying to not fall in love but not sure if she can.
2. Ruining Characters – With the characters, the show tend to make them so amazing in the start, and ruin them by the end… Shivaay, a man of principles, is forced and emotionally blackmailed by his wife to give up his ideologies. Anika, a strong woman who is never dependant on anyone in her life being self-made, takes every chance to cry even for the most simple reasons. Omkara is a honest man who is carefree and most smart of the three, turns in a ruthless man who doesn’t know how to respect women, especially his wife. The only two main characters that are still how they were, are Gauri and Rudra.
3. Third and most important, Viewer manipulation: Let’s face it. The show loves to tease us with huge episodes only to cheat us into a mediocre one. They keep two teasers, one in the start and one in the end/ Why/ What’s the purpose of that?
After all this, I am tired fo the show and frankly, I am watching only Dil Boley Oberoi, only for the Rudra parts. Hopefully the show will learn from their mistakes.
I hope you all liked the article. Leave a comment on your thoughts. Thanks again. ?