Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai: Nostalgia And Cuteness Makes This New Serial A MUST Watch
Show Title: Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai
Channel: Sony TV
Timings: Monday to Friday 10:30 pm
Sony TV’s controversial show Pehredaar Piya Ki has been pulled off air and has been replaced by Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai which is produced by the same production house i.e. Shashi Sumeet Productions. The show stars Ashi Singh and Randeep Rai. The serial promises to bring back the 90’s era through a teen love story. I watched the first episode and here is its written update and review.
Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hai (2017)
Episode 1
The show starts with a voiceover by a lady (the voice is of Sadiya Siddiqui’s but the girl is the female lead of the show) who narrates about the changes in the city of Ahmedabad over the past three decades. She says that city used to be her house and in the last 30 years she has changed and so has her school, Pragati Vidya Ka Mandir Hindi and English School.
As the lady strolls through the school she recalls the good old days that were spent in that school. She walks through the school compound and in a flashback we see a cheerful young school girl named Naina Agarwal (Ashi Singh) make her way to the school on a bicycle. The narrator then reveals that today she has become a successful writer has won several awards but all those awards look dim before the board that contains her name along with several other toppers of her school. And we see a board where Naina’s name features as the topper for two consecutive years in 1988 and 1989. (Two years? How many times did she appear for board exams?) She says that 1989 was the last time she topped and it was also the first time she lied. She then says that her story actually starts from the year 1990.
She reminisces the time when she would leave for school listening to her favourite song that would play on the old transistor radio since back then people did not have free torrent downloads. On her way to school, Naina would see people make a beeline outside STD shops because back then people did not have free video chats and would have to use local STD’s to make a call before 9 am to save some money. Naina fondly recalls her days in school and we then see Naina gasp in shock as her friend opens her hair to show her her new hairstyle. Naina looks admiringly at her friend’s step-cut just like Madhuri Dixit in her films but is terrified when her friend suggests she do the same. Naina instantly dismisses the idea saying that her family will not be happy seeing her with that haircut. The two girls then head towards their class.
Cut to, in the classroom enters a beautiful teacher and the boys drool over her. Naina says that Shanti teacher teaches Maths but a boring subject like that has become interesting for the boys in her class not only because she was beautiful but also because she taught the subject well.
Miss Shanti then tells the class that she will be revealing the name of the student who has stood first in the exam and Naina promptly stands up. But Miss Shanti asks Naina to sit back as she has not topped the subject this time. Students laugh at Naina’s blunder as she dejectedly takes her seat. Miss Shanti then announces Sanjay Tibrewal as the subject topper and everyone including Sanjay himself is stunned with the result. Naina takes her paper and quickly starts calculating her marks to check if the teacher has made any mistake in calculation. (Geez, reminds me of myself as I used to do the exact same thing hoping to find a mistake and get some extra marks.) Naina manages to find a calculation mistake and she runs to the teacher who rectifies it and declares Naina as the topper of the class.
In a voiceover, we hear Naina say that when she used to die for one mark, there was a boy who cared little for his life. In Nainital, we see a boy named Sameer plunge on skates as people cheer him on.
In Ajay Devgan style, Sameer (Randeep Rai) then stands between two motorcycles on his skates and holds them from behind as his friends drive on. They advance on the road and see a car moving towards them. Sameer urges his friends to drive faster but they refuse when they realise that it is their principal’s car that is approaching them. The two motorcyclist go in separate directions while Sameer moves straights in front of the car. He loses his balance and crashes into his principal’s car cracking his front glass. The principle looks highly annoyed as Sameer grins sheepishly before wishing him ‘good morning’.
Naina then introduces her family members starting with her paternal aunt who is getting ready to visit a neighbour to have a look at their daughter’s dowry display. Naina asks her aunt why she is interested in seeing someone else’s dowry despite knowing that giving and accepting dowry is a crime. Her aunt starts to say something but her cousin interjects that her mother wants to check out their neighbour’s dowry so she can get an idea of how much she has to give her own daughter during her marriage. Naina then happily tells her aunt that she once again stood first in her exams. Her aunt looks happy but says that a girl’s real test is when a boy comes seeking her hand in marriage. She says that her daughter Pooja is pretty so she will have many suitors, unlike Naina who neither looks good nor has a rich father to offer huge amount of dowry. She pities Naina’s luck saying that only God can help her. Naina then gleefully says that God helps everyone and just like how her uncle married her, she too will find someone who would be interested in marrying her. Aunty glowers at Naina who is oblivious to what her comment meant.
Naina and her cousin Preeti go to their room where Preeti reveals that she failed her test. She then tries to changes her marks on her report card by manipulating the figures. Preeti tries to convince Naina to not divulge her secret to her parents and Naina refuses to help her in her lie. However, she changes her mind and then suggests Preeti to change the figures with a ball pen instead of an ink pen as the teacher must have written the marks with a ball pen. Preeti hugs her sister and says that lying may be against her principles but the day she decides to lie she will excel at it. Naina confidently states that she will never need to lie.
In a voiceover, we hear Naina say that back then she wasn’t aware of how her life would change soon and how for a boy she would not only lie but also do things she never imagined doing.
In Nainital, Sameer is in the Principal’s office where the Principal tries to make him tell on his friends who were riding the bikes. Sameer protects his friends by not divulging their names and the Principal calls his father.
Sameer runs away from the boarding school and he goes to his maternal grandparents in Ahmedabad. That same day Naina’s family brings a TV home. However, her aunt looks displeased as she objects the kind of songs that the girls dance on while playing on TV. Her uncle and aunt create a ruckus over her dance and Naina narrates that back in those days, dancing was not looked upon favourably by people. Naina then says that that evening her uncle took their family for an outing to the market. Sameer too has arrived in the same market. He buys mineral water and some gum from a general store and strolls through the market. As he walks he stumbles against a rock and accidentally spits off the gum which lands directly on Naina’s hair who is eating pani puri at a roadside stall. He stares at her hair is abject terror and Naina too feels something on her back.
She turns to look but Sameer quickly looks away. He then inconspicuously walks away and catches a glimpse of Naina before hailing an auto rickshaw. She then draws something on the back of the bubble gum wrapper and asks a little boy to hand it over to Naina. The boy gives the wrapper to Naina and points out in Sameer’s direction who only waves out his hand from the rickshaw as it moves on. Naina then looks at the drawing where Sameer has written sorry with an image of her hair from behind with the gum stuck in her pony tail. She checks her pony tail and is horrified to find the gum stuck to in. She glances back at the rickshaw that has now gone beyond her reach.
First Episode First Impression (FEFI)
Awwww…..!! This show is so freaking cuuuuuute. I Love it! I Love it!! I LOVE IT!!!! Right from the narration to the lead characters to the soothing background music to the 90’s set, I liked everything about this show. I cannot comment on the acting of the cast as 22 minutes is not enough to judge. However, the show exudes so much sweetness that I fell in love with it right away. The first episode was an absolute delight and I hope it continues to deliver more such good episodes.
What looked nice?
The whole 90’s look and feel made me nostalgic. I grew up in the 90’s and the video cassettes, and transistor radio brought back some good old memories. The female lead Ashi Singh looks cute as a button with her two ponytails while Randeep Rai looks like a mix between Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan of the 90’s. The serial may be about life in the 90’s but it looks and feels fresh and appealing.
What did not look nice?
Nothing. The first episode was too cute for me to notice its flaws. I just hope the show does not become preachy with Naina fighting against old customs and traditions. I hope it sticks to its theme of a 90’s love story. Also, I hope it does not go the stupid family drama way because its unique plot is too endearing to be lost.
Yeh Un Dino Ki Baat Hain brings back the nostalgia and cheerfulness of the 90’s. I loved the first episode and I would highly recommend this sweet teenage love story.
You can watch this show online here and here.
Also Read:
You must be logged in to post a comment.