Kartik Purnima review

Kartik Purnima is a new show aired on Star Bharat. The cast includes Harsh Nagar, Poulomi Das, Meenakshi Verma, Ravi Gossain , Har Preet Singh, Nidhi Shah.

The promo stars the main leads of the shows. It’s shot on a street where kids are playing cricket. The ball accidently hits one of the windows on the street. Purnima (the female lead) is quick to snatch the bat from the kids , implying that she hit the ball. In return she receives the same old ‘ kitne kali hai, rang kaisa hai’ crap.  This however, has no impact on purnima as she is shown smiling after returning the bat. Kartik is shown amused by the incident.

So when I first saw the promo, I thought it was promising. It was raising concerns over shaming people based on their colour of the skin. So I started watching it(I mean, bohot kam options hai Indian television mein toh what’s the harm).

After watching a few episodes I was extremely disappointed by how the character Purnima was projected. Purnima belongs to a middle class family in a town in Punjab. she is dark skined. She is extremely well mannered , naive , intelligent, kind, always ready to help others ,soft spoken, the so called ‘sarv gunn sampann’. The only ‘flaw’ in her is her colour.

So what’s the problem exactly? Problem yeh hai ki she is shown as a perfect person with no hint of flaws. The message that comes across is that people with darker skin are so nice but bicchare kya kare…. The world does not acknowledge it.  The only reaction this show will receive is that of sympathy. AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULES.  “Bicchari itne acchi hai par kaali hai”. This is against the whole idea of spreading awareness about the issue.

One would argue that she is from a small town where girls are generally soft  spoken and shy. But her step sister , who is fair, is pursuing her career in modeling. So are only the people with fair complexion  allowed to choose a career and not others ?

People with darker skin(which is like most of us…..all of us don’t have chittiya kalaiya) are also normal. They are not so naïve, so kind all the time. They too have days where they are mad about something. They too go through phases where they are not so nice. They are not like Asin from Ghajini ki jaha problem dekhi waha help karne chal deyeh.

I feel if they had to address this issue they would have done in better ways. The female lead should have been shown in an empowered position and not as some bicchari (I am not even sure if I am spelling this word right). That would have added strength to the character and the whole plot.

The other lead is equally perfect. He is a doctor from a rich household. He too is extremely kind, ready to help others and other crap. But most importantly he does not judge people based on their colour. Just kidding that’s not the most important thing….the most important thing is… yep you guessed it…ladka gora hai.  I mean kon hai yeh itne acche log? Kaha se aate hai yeh.

So I guess now they will fall in love with each other and fight against all the stereotypes in the society. Did I mention that Kartik’s mother is super dark colour phobic?  Her interactions with Purnima are super irritating. She is always insulting Purnima because of the ‘ kaala rang’ and Purnima listen’s to her without even raising her voice. I would have punched her in the neck.   

Another problem with this show is that all the characters are so typical. The leads are the nice guys. The step sister is a gold digger and absolutely mean. The step mother is evil. The father is naïve. The mother in law to be hates the girl. I mean seriously yaar they have converted this important issue into whole bullshit family drama .