Raisinghani Vs. Raisinghani a tiresome serial masquerading as web series

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It’s confusion—big-time!—between a TV serial and a web series, as we know them. SonyLIV’s Raisinghani Vs. Raisinghani has stretched beyond 21 episodes already, with new episodes releasing at the rate of three a week! Having no idea about this blitzkrieg, I watched the first six and was not sufficiently intrigued or interested to watch the next three. As the new episodes stream on certain weekdays, I moved on to other shows. A casual look online after a few weeks (as new episodes were to come in mid-week) gave me the shocking info mentioned above. And now, without any doubt, I have lost interest!

Now why do they convert a TV show into a web series??!!

As a serial that can go on and on (and on!), Raisinghani Vs. Raisinghani has it all: the intrigues, the ups and downs, the emotional turbulences and family and office politics that go on ad infinitum on the small screen. On the other hand, a tight web series, even if it ends on a cliffhanger for a new season, has a finite storyline.

And with the way things were paced even in the first 6 episodes, I should have seen it coming! On the whole, there was no movement in the plot! The characters, a daughter, Anushka, who wants to be ethical in the profession of law (Jennifer Winget) and a father, Rajdeep (Sanjay Nath), who likes to be ruthless, are at loggerheads in this matter. We are given frequent look-backs at Anushka’s childhood, where her father had pampered her in no mean way. Virat (Karan Wahi), Anushka’s ex-flame, is a prominent player in the drama, especially when Rajdeep goes into a coma following a seeming ‘accident’ that is actually attempted murder, and Anushka is deemed the new chairman. And of course there are obnoxious relatives, an intern who is on a mission, cases to be fought, staff members to be assuaged or tempted, wins and defeats in court…et cetera, et cetera.

Jennifer Winget as Anushka is alright, except that her expressions tend to be both limited and a tad irritating. Karan Wahi as Virat is shown to be a brat of sorts, and does it well. Sanjay Nath as Rajdeep is predictable, and Ankita Shorey as Reem Sheikh, the intern with an agenda, is an interesting character, and thus, gives a performance to match.

All in all, a basically interesting plot goes haywire as it is stretched endlessly.

I sincerely hope that this is not the way web series will go in the future. Apart from the scale and polish (a great web series takes on any big-screen blockbuster in merit in these aspects), a show must be finite, streamed all at once for a possible binge-watch and thus must be of reasonable length per episode and should not ramble, at least not to this interminable extent!

Otherwise, why not release this protracted show on Sony TV openly as a serial?

SonyLIV presents SOBO Film Holdings’ Raisinghani Vs. Raisinghani  Produced by: Harvinder Arora & Smriti Shinde  Directed by: Aniruddha Rajderkar & Bhavna Sresth Written by: Anuradha Tewari  Starring: Jennifer Winget, Reem Sameer Sheikh, Karan Wahi, Sanjay Nath, Anita Kanwal, Joy Sengupta, Ashita Dhawan, Jay Zaveri, Deepak Parashar, Nancy Gill, Sharmishtha Raut  , Kaizaad Kotwal, Kiara Sadh & others