Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani Review: Measured pace of magical moments outlines an extraordinary love story

Zee TV’s Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani started on 27th August 2015. It brings a story which is never seen before. The story is set back in the old era and is retold by the time. The story is about a royal prince Rana Indravardhan Singh Deo and an ordinary girl Gayatri. She is the daughter of the state’s biggest moneylender Gopal Seth who eventually helps Rana Indra after he faces huge misfortune. The story brings few magical instances between Gayatri and Rana ji. She speaks her heart out and gives her opinion infront of Rana ji which impresses him. His sincere take on the matter impresses Gayatri and yet she fails to see his face.

The hit and miss moments between Gayatri and Rana ji in the initial episodes created a magical instance. Gayatri is a commoner who wished to see a glimpse of the royal prince of her state. She then discovers that she is going to become the queen of the state. Gayatri is shown as manglik whose future is not known to herself and her family. She transforms from an ordinary girl to the queen who makes her own place in Rana’s heart and manage the lands of the state, to get back Rana’s fortune back in his stride. The love between Gayatri and Rana becomes a epic tale which will be remembered by generations.

Main Characters:

Gayatri:

She is a simple, homely and bold girl who is very courageous to speak her opinion infront of the world. She is rich by her birth and still down to earth. She adapts to the environment and is like mould which can shape anyone’s life. She is a good luck charm for Rana Indravardhan. She becomes part of his life and changes his destiny. Gayatri is smart, unrestricted and lovely girl. She is manglik and faces problems in getting married. She then becomes the queen of the kingdom by her fate. She has a gem heart. She is a girl whose footsteps changes the dominance of Rajmata in the palace.

Rana Indravardhan Singh Deo:

He is a honest, humble and righteous man. He has retrained himself by the guilt he has hidden in his heart. He was a happy, fun loving and carefree man before. After his wife’s death, he has changed himself by limiting himself in the walls of the loneliness. He has fought in the world war after his wife’s death, and have seen many deaths and sufferings in the war. It affected him so much that he became very dutiful towards the people of his state. He cares for the poor people and holds righteous virtues, which makes him win Gayatri’s heart.

Rajmata Priyamvada:
She is classy, clever and a dominating lady. She is the sole caretaker of the palace. She rules over the kingdom and also dominates Rana. She manages the current affairs of the state Ameerkot. She holds the legacy of the palace. She likes to spend money to get best dressed and have vintage accessories with her. She is manipulative and gets angered seeing things going against her favor by Gayatri’s entry in Indravardhan’s life. She tries keeping the image of the royal family and hides about the misfortunes.

Gopal Seth:

He is a loving father and a good businessman. He is proud of his daughter Gayatri and loves her a lot. He knows the financial status of the royal family and holds his anger towards Rajmata. He is sure that royal prince will come to lend money from him some day. He gets to know of Gayatri’s bravery to talk to Rana ji at their home. He finds his strength in Gayatri and gave her good values. He is confident to face any situation in life, after being helpful to many people by lending their money on time. His profession of a moneylender makes him stand out in royal family.

Cast:

Siddhant Karnick as Rana Indravardhan Singh Deo
Drashti Dhami as Gayatri Seth
Anita Raj as Rajmata Priyamvada
Darshan Zariwala as Gopal Seth
Surekha Sikri as Dadi
Akshay Anand

Story So Far:

The epic tale of Gayatri and Rana Indravardhan’s love is set in 1940s. Rana ji is shown as an intense prince of Ameerkot who has dedicated his life to his state after his wife’s death in an accident. He recalls having fought in England war and seeing sufferings of the people. He gets a new outlook towards life and restricted his heart only to serve the people of his state. Gayatri hears a lot about Rana ji. Rana is shown just commuting with his past insight. Gayatri is shown as a bubbly and carefree girl, whose nature matched to Rana’s past behavior. Gayatri’s family is shown next. Her parents gave her good values and made her an honest girl who bravely speaks her thoughts in defense. Rana ji comes to his state and his procession is seen by many people. Gayatri wishes to see his face and stands on the terrace along her mum and other girls. She misses to see his face and mistakenly makes a flower pot fall over before his chariot. The guards take it wrong that someone was intentionally hurting Rana ji. They get inside Gayatri’s home and ask her to come out.

Gayatri clears the matter with her innocent words and defends her actions of his eagerness to to see Rana ji. She did not figure out that Rana ji is also hearing her. She does not let the guards search in her house. Rana ji decided to let go the matter and leaves from her house. Gayatri’s mother tells her about Rana coming to their house. An excited Gayatri runs to see Rana ji and smiles just seeing his side pose. She wishes to meet him some day. Rana ji comes to his royal palace leaving the chariot and Rajmata welcomes him in the palace. She asks him about his arrival on the horse and he does not tell her about the incident happened. Rajmata gets to know by Rana ji’s men and gets angry. She decides to punish whoever made the flower pot fall. He dismisses it and asks her to relax. He shows his acceptance towards death and Rana’s loneliness is seen. Gayatri gets scolded by her mother for pushing the flower pot before Rana’s chariot.

Gayatri sings a devotional sing and prays to God in morning. She goes to wake up her father Gopal Seth and finds him awake. She asks the reason of his not sleeping all night. Gayatri gets to know his anger towards the royal family. He tells her that he has known about the incident and is proud of his brave daughter. Rana Indravardhan asks Rajmata to come for breakfast and stops seeing a room open. He has his beloved wife’s memories safely weaved in his heart. Gayatri and Rana ji have a unique meet, where she drives the car and stops before colliding with his car. Rana ji feels women should not drive. His men start scolding Gayatri. She takes a pen and writes a note for Rana ji. He also replies to her by writing a note.

Our Take:

The show’s grand vintage set adds a visual treat for the viewers along the leading actress Drashti Dhami. A good comeback for Drashti in the epic journey of a commoner to Rana ji’s wife. Drashti does her role beautifully by bringing the required innocence to pull off Gayatri’s character. Her smile and expressive eyes take over the scene and she leads the scene by her grace and poise. She has amazing screen presence. Siddhant Karnick is equally awesome as Rana Indravardhan. He acts well to show the character’s restrained nature. He does not overdo the role by many bits and just expresses by his amazing screen presence and subtle dialogue delivery. He pulls off the royal prince’s role effortlessly. Anita Raj looks classy and suits the role of Rajmata. Her elegance and heavy jewelry makes a good combo to bring the vintage look. Darshan Zariwala is wonderful as Gopal Seth, bringing many variations in his character. The supporting cast is good in their roles respectively. The palace set creates the period drama look of the 1940s and vintage cars, chariots and antiques create the era with ease. The screenplay does not lag much and going on a good pace. Though the chemistry between Gayatri and Rana ji is yet to be seen. The far off scenes between them are the highlight of the show. The way Gayatri was curious to see Rana ji added a magical moment. The show will definitely be more watchable when Gayatri gets married to Rana ji, to solve his financial crisis.

Overall:

It is a good family entertainer show. But viewers can get bored seeing the supporting tracks mostly. More depth in lead characters sketch is yet to be seen. By the initial week, just Drashti saved the show by her graceful presence. Being on Zee tv at the 9.30 PM slot, the show has high chances to be loved by fans of historic shows. This one is for the viewers who have much patience to enjoy the slow pace of epic stories unfolding secrets and mysteries. There is much more to explore in the love story.

Our Rating:

3 out of 5

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