In the midst of huge sea of content being released online, I found the two seasons of this particular series as a fresh breeze with subjects having something important to say related with our divisive social structure and the typical robotic life. Giving a pleasant surprise it took me back to the days of rich Doordarshan serials, when we had such an amazing variety on only one TV channel being aired for a limited hours in a day. The serials of those times not only introduced us to many classic creations of Indian literature but also taught us a lot about the concerning issues of our society related with various age groups beginning from the adolescents.
Created by Biswa Kalyan Rath and directed by Abhishek Sengupta, LAAKHON MEIN EK exactly follows the forgotten format and gives us an insightful view of the problems faced by its protagonist in its two unrelated seasons.
SEASON ONE
The first season is about an average teenager student who is forcibly sent to a coaching center for preparation of IIT entrance exam, when he actually wished to do something else of his interest. The boy gets admitted to the section D, that has students with the least ranking and befriends two of his roommates who are well familiar with the institute and its hidden operations.
Most likely based on Biswa’s personal experiences in such coaching centers, the 6 episodes of this first season give us a realistic account of the life spent by particularly the average students in such institutions, who are not really capable of competing with the brighter or the more scoring ones. It gives the viewers an insight into the divisive system followed by the institutes where the non-performers are treated differently and even humiliated in front of the entire batch. Giving a glimpse of their hostel life it also focuses on the other issues faced by them dealing with the faculty and lower staff members.
The season has its limitation of getting dragged at times and not moving ahead at a brisk pace, but it successfully makes you feel for the suffering boy and ends at a thoughtful note raising many valid questions. It features Ritwik Sahore in the lead along with Alam Khan and Jay Thakkar as his friends, plus Biswas Kalyan Rath also enacting the role of a professor.
First Season Rating : 3.5 / 5
SEASON TWO
The second season is actually the main reason why I recalled the good old days of Doordarshan enlightening serials, as its an almost perfect depiction of the alarming scenario in our non-metro and rural regions even in this second decade of the new millennium.
It revolves around a young doctor Shreya (in the final year of her training) who decides to fight with her superiors and the entire system while conducting a cataract operation camp in a remote village. It’s a region where the people have lost faith in the Government hospitals and have a firm belief in a non-qualified local doctor practicing illegally. It gives us an alarming view of the system prevalent in such isolated government hospitals where the supplies don’t reach at time or are never there and the staff is least interested in treating their few patients.
Beginning with an official enquiry and then moving into flashback, the 8 episodes of this second season is a sheer treat to watch exposing the nexus between the greedy practitioners, government officials, medical suppliers and local politicians.
Supported by a talented cast ensemble, the narration is brilliantly led by Shweta Tripathi as the trainee lady doctor and she just kills it with her subtle or understated emotional act making an instance connect. The direction adds just the right amount of tension as the story progresses and the presentation is highly realistic as if it has been shot during an actual camp activity in a village.
The writing is great and the narration is gripping right till the last episode but it will certainly appeal more to the viewers who are willing to watch something dark, real, meaningful and inconvenient coming out of their set comfort zone.
Apart from the talented Shweta Tripathi, the series also features Sandeep Mehta, Milind Joshi, Ishan Mishra and more, along with Biswa Kalyan Rath playing a small role of a journalist and they together put up a really good show. So if this short description excites you, then do watch it as a must as the theme is still relevant to our present times and such tragedies are still being reported in the inner pages of the national newspapers despite all the promises of the growth and development around.
Second Season Rating : A Must Watch and Should Not Be Missed.
