It’s over a month now since I left Bidaai that I have been writing story since Episode No. 5…
It was sometime in August 2007 when I got a call from Mr. Rajan Shahi…I didn’t know him personally nor did he know me…An actor friend of mine [Meghna Malik who is playing the Ammaji in Laado on Colors] recommended my name and I got a call from Rajan ji…
At that point of time I didn’t want to write but there was something in Mr. Rajan that made me say yes and when I met him I saw a passionate guy who was turning producer but at the same time creatively he was totally hooked on to the project. Then on the second meeting I was quite surprised to see him having interactive sessions among all the writers and directors on board…Earlier since the time daily soaps had arrived a writer couldn’t get a chance to meet even the director of the show…If one writer is writing story he used to be totally unaware of who is writing the dialogues…Such was the scenario of daily soaps…Rajan ji brought back the times of weekly serials where writers and directors used to have discussions…A writer had the say on casting as well as on the sets and looks…
I was thrilled…there was the working atmosphere I was comfortable with and I really got hooked on to see Mr. Rajan bringing back the old days of creative exercise…
Through the initial hiccups, I went on writing BIDAAI for more than 350 Episodes till the time I quit…
Today I feel nostalgic about the project because writing Bidaai has been truly learning as well as enjoyable experience throughout…Not only I tasted great success along with all the people associated with the project, Bidaai somewhere gave me the space to explore real emotions which was almost fading out from serials…
I and Mr. Rajan share an unspoken liking towards each other…We never go gaga over each other’s work but yes there is mutual respect and a silent admiration…And that is the reason I am doing his new show SWARG for colors…
Coming back to BIDAAI, I have a few things to share…
When I introspect, I strongly feel that it was the great vision of Mr. Vivek Bahl [Creative/Programming Head of Star Plus] that worked for Bidaai…And I am really grateful to Vivek who gave me full freedom to explore the story and at the same time he guided me to mount the story to a point where audience should wait for the crescendo…Where to pump in emotion and where to release it…I simply followed his vision and I took incidences from real life, from the household experiences of my own relatives and put through the characters of BIDAAI…
Then there was great execution…Rajan’s directors’ team has a great sense of capturing emotions, little nuances and they do have a keen eye on packaging as well…
In short, Bidaai has given me immense creative satisfaction and today I can sit and proudly remember the show…!!!
Last but not the least, apart from some great performances by Alokji, Vibhaji, Angad, Sara and Parul I must thank God to have Anamikaji on board as the dialogue writer, Garima Goyal/Virendra Shawney as the screenplay writers and Shefali Lal as the Creative Head on the show…Shefali has put her heart and soul into the show and the entire team is still going great…HAIL BIDAAI…
And from here I have to move on…The next project I am doing with Mr. Rajan Shahi is called “ MAAT PITA KE CHARNO MEIN…SWARG” !
It’s a tribute to our parents…the show deals with the sanskaar what we have learnt from our parents…Values, Roots and Culture…The serial deals with the relationships…Relationships we are born with and the relationships we choose to live with…Every relationship matters in life though it may go through some testing times…
If I have to sum up the serial in one line I will quote Emily Kimbrough - Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
