Review: ‘Yeh Moh Moh Ke Dhaage’ gives a fine ‘Modern v/s Desi’ tone!

Yeh moh moh ke dhaage, Teri ungliyon se jaa uljhe.
Koi toh toh na laage, Kis tarah girah ye suljhe.

When this song was first given life, the nation fell in love with the melody. However, this song is just not a beautiful art of voice touching various chords of emotions but is something even bigger.

Sony TV’s fiction show, ‘Yeh Moh Ke Dhaage’ piqued our interest when the promos hit the screen each highlighting that ‘urban sophistication’ is not the definition of having progressive thoughts and actions.

And now that ‘Yeh Moh Ke Dhaage‘ is on-air, we took the opportunity to review the show.

Show: Yeh Moh Moh Ke Dhaage

Channel: Sony TV

Genre: Family Drama, Romance

Production House: Ochre Moving Pictures

Release Date: 21st March 2017

Timing: 7.00 pm Monday – Friday

Cast: Eijaz Khan, Niyati Fatnani, Ananya Khare, Benaf Dadachandji Jia Mustafa, Mugdha Shah, Kenny Desai and Neha Narang among others.

We are sure that every Gujarati, who lives an urban life will be revisiting their roots with the beginning of the show, which shows the vibrancy and richness of Gujarat. Men roaming around wearing ‘Kediyu dhoti’ and women in ‘Chanya choli’ with their heads covered gives us the quintessential flavour of being in a village.

Soon, the villagers proudly announce that ‘Amrica wale’ are coming to marry Mukhi’s (Eijaz Khan) sister and that the to-be-in-laws should know that Mukhi is a respected ‘Mukhiya’ (head of the village), who has been awarded by the nation.

Cut to another character entry, who at the first glance reminded us of Supriya Pathak from the film, Ramleela. She introduced herself as “Ainya Haveli ma hava ane khabar mukhi ni ben Rami ne puchi ne jai…” As cunning and strict Rami (Ananya Khare) sounds, she seems to have a soft corner for her niece.

Then comes in Mukhi who looks fierce and powerful riding a camel in the Rann. Apart from the scene being a visual delight, Eijaz looks his charming best. Dressed in traditional attire, the actor looks like a typical Gujarati rooted man from a village. His performance is natural and simply flawless!

And the moment of tension arrives when Mishri strikes a deal with her brother Mukhi. There is some tension in the air amidst her wedding proceedings. But as we witnessed in the promos, the guess is rather easy that she wants Mukhi to get married before her. The sibling bond that Mukhi and Mishri share is simply adorable!

The show then travels to Ahmedabad, the urban city in Gujarat where this pretty girl Aru (Niyati Fatnani) lives! She is a career-driven girl, whose dreams are at peak as she wants to beat the likes of Dhirubhai Ambani and become a multi-millionaire. A multi-tasking specialist, her flamboyance lights up the setting. Her equation with Mukhi is and would continue to be an unconventional one as we already know!

And now comes in ‘THE’ moment when Aru and Mukhi meet! And we must say, that it was full of unintended tashan. Niyati Fatani and Eijaz Khan give a fabulous performance, especially when it comes to distinguishing the modern v/s desi flavour of the show.

Aru who seems to be a happy-go-lucky person also endures some family problems, which she balances with grace. Aru works with a matrimonial website and time for a second encounter with Mukhi, but this time, the loggerheads battle is replaced with some light-hearted humour. The relationship has already witnessed different shades and its a treat for the viewers.

While everything seems to be working fine, Mukhi faces societal pressure too. He feels the dilemma when when he gets a call from his to-be in-laws who tell him about how his 50-year-old brother got married and it is an absolute disgrace. Mukhi is indeed sandwiched between his sister’s demand of getting him married and the way society thinks.

On the other hand, Aru ticks one item from her bucket list of buying her family a new house and parallelly, a confused Mukhi finally decides to take Aru’s help in searching a suitable bride for him.

The Verdict

All in all the show keeps up with its promise of presenting an endearing ‘love’ story of an unconventional couple. The episodes are scenic which makes us want to watch more of the show apart from the well-narrated storyline.

The background music has an earthy feel to it and the amalgamation of Gujarati and Hindi in the dialogues are fairly executed by every character in the show.

Eijaz does carry himself as a ‘Mukhiya’ and a family man very well and so does Niyati Fatani Aru whose chirpiness brings out the best of humour required to spark a chemistry with Mukhi.

What we do not like about the show is the overplayed emotions by Aru, Mishri, and Mukhi. Initially, they come across as individuals who became ‘besties at first sight’ and the story build-up to that is predictable. Though the narration is pacey, we would have liked if it did not look like destiny’s plan to make Aru and Mukhi bump into each other randomly.

Going by the looks of it, we feel that the show will primarily highlight Mukhi’s rational thoughts overpowering a regressive mindset.
Verdict: ** 1/2 (2.5/5)