Hmmm…This seems to be the right way!

Well last Friday I watched the season finale of a hatke show and well I behaved a little hatke after that…but sadly that isn’t my topic matter…

The show was Mahi Way and its hatke because the protagonist is –

1. Not ‘perfect’ in a physical sense.
2. She isn’t the moorti of an emotionally intact in all-possible-situations person.
3. She does not act like the brightest tube light in the world at all possible times.
4. She is normal. Yes, normal like a normal person…with quirks of course…but that’s what normal is – just like you and me.
5. She does not get a makeover at any time.
6. And she is independent just like most of us girls are – in the sense that we may be living with our parents and soliciting their advice and all but we still have a mind of our own and a decision making mechanism which actually functions.

She makes mistakes and she pays for them and she learns from them – just like any of us. There are awesome people in her life and there are the not so awesome people in her life – just like our life. She acts like a complete moron at times and she acts completely selfless at times – just like us. There seems to be no incongruence between our lives and the life of Mahi Talwar, albeit the problems may not be the same but the character traits – all of us possess them.

What I liked about the show (other than the above and in continuation with the above) is the fact that I can connect with her, I can hate her, love her, be amused by her, be livid because of her and at some corner of my heart know that all these emotions of mine may very well be directed towards that person in the mirror and I do not have to necessarily feel horrible while facing these feelings.

Mahi Way’s other characters too leave an impression on you – be it her quirky Dadi, her weird Mum, her awesome Dad, her sometimes annoying brother, her khatti-meethi sister, her pillars of support – her friends, her not very nice choice of men and Shiv – her ‘chaddi buddy’ whom we all want to see as her significant other.

The show provides you with an outlook of life and people and how easily we judge them or take them for granted. For example, I for one hate Ishan but in the last epi…I did feel sorry for him and questioned by dislike towards them – sure he did some wrong stuff but maybe he really changed and I was not willing to accept it – maybe that shows what’s wrong with me – I don’t want to trust him again till the very last moment and then too just as a passing comment. Or maybe I took a Shiv for granted somewhere in my life and well…I may be missing him/her but my ego stops me from calling out to them again…hence Mahi Way steps beyond just being another show and makes you gently question certain things, reflect on some things…

One more thing I love about this show is that there was no makeover which resulted in Mahi transforming into a Kingfisher model! This kept the theme real and did not mislead the viewers in the sense that they started off believing that physicality is not the only consideration in life and its your nature which attracts people to you but were actually at the end of it slapped in the face with the story that well physicality matters over everything else. For this I am eternally grateful to the writers of Mahi Way. They did not make up a sense of personal comfort in their viewers just to shatter it later on.

Coming to the acting aspect – the whole cast was brilliant and very aptly selected. Pushtiie as Mahi Talwar was fabulous, confused when need be, unconsciously something akin to vicious when required and cute, adorable and helpless when there was a demand and unbelievably headstrong and fearless when the opportunity arose. Viraf Patel as Shiv Desraj made a place in every girl’s heart, whatever be their age. He seems to be the perfect choice for the sweet, selfless, adorable and supportive dream that Shiv is. Waiting and hoping to see him in a new show very very soon! Siddhart Karnick as Ishan was again excellent. He made the viewers sufficiently loving and sighing and angry and disgusted and confused and finally sorry towards and for his character. Monica and Mark as Mahi’s friends were awesome! Sufficiently quirky, supportive and sometimes as irritating as required…audiences shall remember the awesome twosome for a long time! The other people were great too! Amrita Raichand as the sister was extremely lovable (at times) and hate-able (many a times! Lol!).

The production values were beyond excellent and the use of actual Delhi locations made the Delhiite in me very happy!

In conclusion, I would like to thank Sony Television and Yashraj Television and the whole team of Mahi Way for giving us this one great show in which the values it had started with did not change in the end, instead it made us richer than what we, as audiences, started with. And heres hoping that we shall see a second season of Mahi Way soon because 1. I want to have some sensible Hindi show to watch on TV with good production values and real characters and 2. The romantic in me wants a proper end to Mahi and Shiv…And heres also hoping that we see more shows such as this one which enrich our thoughts and attitudes without being preachy!

Cheers!

-Rae