Ikyawann Review: Thoughtful story with appealing performances

Star Plus’ Ikyawann premiered on 13 November 2017 at the 8.30 pm slot. The story revolves around a girl, Susheel, who happens to be the 51st child of the Parekh family. All the female members of Parekh family die in an accident. Susheel’s mother Avni survives for a while. She delivers the baby and dies. The accident was planned by Leela. Leela wanted revenge for her daughter. Satya is the grandson of Leela. Satya and Susheel fall in love while overcoming their personal and family issues. The show stars Namish Taneja and Prachi Tehlan in the lead roles. It highlights a simple question whether its justified to judge a girl by her looks and mannerisms, while concluding if she is Shaadi material or not.

Main Characters:

Susheel:

Susheel is a sweet, loving and simple girl, who is more masculine in her mannerisms and interests. She is very mischievous. She is advised to have feminine personality and habits. She is remarked to be more like a boy. It gets tough for people to call her a girl. She doesn’t have feminine traits. Susheel has a golden heart. She is much pampered at home. She loves being called different. She finds tough to mould herself like other girls. Susheel wears boyish clothes. She doesn’t know any household chores. She is cheerful, bold and righteous. She can’t tolerate anything wrong. She is often bullied for her height. She has no interest in becoming a typical girl.

Satya:

Satya is a smart, handsome and arrogant guy. He is much loved and valued by his family. He is Leela’s grandson. He is proud of himself. He often thinks he is the best. He overestimates himself. He likes to throw attitude. He can’t see anyone better than him. He doesn’t want to let down Leela’s expectations. He can do anything to keep his ‘winner’ image in Leela’s eyes. He mostly fails by his overconfidence. He doesn’t like Susheel initially. Satya falls in love with Susheel. He is not aware of Leela’s enmity with Susheel’s family.

Cast:

Prachi Tehlan as Susheel Parekh
Namish Taneja as Satya
Priyank Tatariya as Mehul Parekh
Puneet Panjwani as Susheel’s uncle

Story So Far:

The story begins with the Parekh family, who are waiting for the 51st child. The family meets with an accident, planned by Leela. Leela is a cunning and revengeful lady. She wanted to take revenge from Mehul for rejecting her daughter Kiran. She didn’t wish Mehul to have a child. The accident kills the women of the family, except Mehul’s wife. She suffers from pains. She delivers Susheel just before her death. The family gets their new member.

The baby gets four fathers in her Dada ji, Mehul and two uncles, who make her their world. Mehul finds Susheel auspicious. Parekh family decides to move to a new life. They shift to Surat. They try to avoid Leela. The four men start raising Susheel with love and care. Leela is on a lookout for Mehul. She still wants her revenge to get completed. The show takes a few year leap. Susheel is seen as a cute and naughty girl who is much loved by her family. Dada ji loves her a lot. He constantly asks her to have some feminism.

Susheel enjoys staying cool like the men in her family. She behaves similar to them, while learning their mannerisms since her birth. Leela decides to visit Surat. She doesn’t know Parekh family is residing in Surat. Susheel and Satya meet at the temple. Their meet gets unpleasant. Susheel chases Satya. He gets hurt. Leela gets another reason to take revenge from Parekh family. She doesn’t want to leave the girl who has hurt her grandson. Leela tries hard to catch Susheel. She doesn’t know that Mehul’s child Susheel is still alive. Parekh family decides to shift to Ahmedabad.

The show takes a major leap of 16 years. Susheel is now a grown up. She looks pretty, but tomboyish. Satya’s introduction happens. He runs on a bridge and jumps down into a river, while his friend tells him about the Dahi handi competition. Satya has been winning the competition all these years. He gets overconfident and takes a late entry. Susheel runs to make it to the top in no time. Susheel reaches the Dahi handi first and succeeds to break it. Satya gets to see a girl breaking his records. He gets upset. Susheel dances and celebrates her victory. Susheel wins the trophy, an idol which is regarded to be very auspicious. Satya decides to steal the trophy from Susheel.

Our Take:

The show has heartwarming moments, while the four men raise the girl well. They never let Susheel miss out her mother. Susheel finds her mother and father in Mehul. Little thoughtful moments leave a big impact. Watching the men doing their best to give Susheel a wonderful life becomes a delight. The show breaks stereotypes around raising a girl child. Though Parekh family has different ideologies depending on generation, it showcases how they respect each other’s perception and doesn’t oppose in any way. Susheel’s Dada ji wants her to act like a girl, while Mehul doesn’t care for what people think about his daughter.

Dialogues are written very thoughtfully. Story is something very fresh. Performances are light and graceful. Leela’s character is bit stretched. Her dialogues, looks and nagging doings goes over-the-top. All the actors do justice with their roles. Susheel’s characterization is sketched beautifully. Prachi Tehlan and Namish Taneja shared the screen in the Dahi handi scene. Their sparkling chemistry can be expected. Prachi is perfect for Susheel’s character. She brings freshness in her role. She holds much grace even in her tomboy looks. Susheel’s character is very lovable. Her unique qualities stand out to entertain. Namish has more to show up in coming episodes. The show should sustain the interesting concept.

Overall:

The show is a good family drama. A clean and entertaining piece with natural performances. The show aims to change the society’s thinking about a girl really necessitating to be girly.

Our Rating:

4 out of 5

Feel free to post your reviews in comments below. All off-topic comments will be deleted.