Adding to its immense portfolio of Hindi fiction, Zee TV has launched its latest show titled Meri Saasu Maa. PRAKRITI ROY met the makers and the cast to find out what the show is all about
Saas-bahu sagas have been an intrinsic part of Hindi TV shows and it seems they will continue to be so. The newest offering by Zee TV, Meri Saasu Maa, also revolves around the relationship between a saas and a bahu.
Although the name itself suggests that thi s is the most important theme of the show, the makers insist that this show is not a saas-bahu saga, the likes of which we are used to seeing on TV. What will make it stand apart from other daily soaps with the saas-bahu relationship is the way in which the story will unfold.
At the launch of the show, Zee TV Business Head Pradeep Hejmadi said: “For years, we have seen shows on television explore the stereotypical relationship of a saas bahu where the two are placed at loggerheads, constantly scheming and plotting against each other. Times have changed and so have relationships. Meri Saasu Maa is our attempt to showcase the changed relationships in society. This relationship is very central in our society and can never lose its relevance.”
Based in lucknow, the show revolves around protagonist Pari (played by Hiba Nawab), a bubbly 22-year old girl who lost her mother at a very young age and has had to deal with a wicked stepmother throughout her life. Her biggest hope and dream in life is that she will find a mother in her saasu maa once she gets married.
However, she falls in love with Sattu (played by Pearl V Puri), the most eligible bachelor in town who literally worships his mother, Bhawna Devi (played by Anindita Kapileshwari). Unfortunately for Pari, Bhawna Devi or Maa sahib, as she is addressed, is the strictest mother-in-law around who firmly believes “bahu kabhi beti nahi ban sakti.” (A daughter-in-law can never be a daughter).
Anindita Kapileshwari is already a big name in the Bengali entertainment industry, but this is her first Hindi, or as she says “my first national show”. For Hiba and Pearl, these are unlike any roles they have previously played on screen. Stepping back from their ultra-modern avatars in their previous shows, becoming ‘jhalli’ to play Pari and donning the dhoti to be Sattu is definitely challenging for this lead pair.
Producer and writer Saba Mumtaz, who has quite a body of work to back her (like Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai) says that the inspiration for this story came to her from her “cousins and sisters who always complained about their mothers-in-law. However, when I got married I was blessed with another mother. This show has glimpses from my personal life! Pari is a Cinderella troubled by her step-mother and siblings, but the only distinction is that she is looking for a mother in her marriage rather than Prince charming. She wants a world where her mother will embrace her with open arms every time she enters the house. Pari’s positive thought and belief in finding a mother in her mother-in-law will drive her actions. Meri Saasu Maa will be a highly relatable show and every woman out there will empathise with Pari.”
The show will go on air from January 26, 2016 from Monday-Saturday at 7:30 pm.