Ek Hasina Thi (TV series)

Ek Hasina Thi
Title sequence intertitle of the series
Genre	Suspense thriller Crime drama Mystery
Created by	Cinevistaas Limited
Written by	Sameer Arora
Creative director(s)	Siddharth Malhotra
Starring	Sanjeeda Sheikh Vatsal Sheth Simone Singh Ayub Khan
Opening theme	"Ek Hasina Thi" by Sunidhi Chauhan[1]
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi (primary) Bengali and English (minor)
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	216[2]
Production
Producer(s)	Prem Krishen
Location(s)	Kolkata (setting) Mumbai (filming)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	20 minutes
Release
Original network	Star Plus Urdu 1
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	April 14 – December 20, 2014
External links
Website

Ek Hasina Thi (English: There was a beautiful woman) is a Crime thriller television series created by Cinevistaas Limited for the channel Star Plus from 14 April 2014 to 20 December 2014 getting replaced by Tu Mera Hero.^[3] Produced by Prem Krishen, Ek Hasina Thi is loosely based on the American series Revenge.^[4] The series has Sanjeeda Sheikh and Vatsal Sheth as leads and, Simone Singh and Ayub Khan in supportive roles.^[5] The show is set in Kolkata, but is filmed in Mumbai.^[6] The series was earlier titled Daag.^[4] Simone Singh's performance has been lauded.^{[7][8][9][10]}

It was dubbed into various languages: into Telugu as "Durga", into Malayalam as "Oru shishirathinte ormakku" and into Arabic as "Laheeb Al-Huqd / لهيب الحقد" (English: Flames of hatred) on MBC Bollywood.It was also dubbed into Sinhala as "Sulanga wage avidin".^[11][12]

Summary

The plot opens with Durga Thakur (Sanjeeda Sheikh), an ambitious and confident young woman who has recently returned from the United States and encounters with Goenka family who are the crème de la crème in Kolkata. Rajnath (Ayub Khan) and Sakshi Goenka (Simone Singh) are the parents of Shaurya Goenka (Vatsal Sheth), a very good-looking spoiled brat and a womanizer who is besotted by Durga. After talking with his friends, they decide that Shaurya has to win Durga for a bet for a one-night stand and he is willing to go to any extent for it. Durga, however, has some other plans and is the caretaker of Payal Mitra (Teena Chopra), a mental patient who has a mysterious past with Goenka family and loses her mental equilibrium whenever she sees Shaurya. Shaurya and Durga go on a series of dates and spends maximum of their time together upsetting Sakshi. Sakshi feels restless near Durga because Durga has a growing influence on Shaurya, who does not consciously realizes this fact. Also, Sakshi speculates that everytime Durga is near her son he gets in some kind of trouble.

It is revealed that Durga is actually Nitya (Aditi Sajwan) who got her face changed through a plastic surgery operation after she was hit by the car of Dr. Dayal Thakur (Bhupinder Singh). Through a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that two years ago, Shaurya and his friends had raped Payal to avenge Nitya. The sisters (Nitya and Payal) lost the case against Shaurya as all of the proofs and witnesses were in Shaurya's favor. Now, Durga has come to seek revenge. Later on, Dev (Bhuvnesh Mann), Shaurya's cousin, returns from America to know about the happenings two years ago.

After a series of events, Durga realizes that Dev is in love with Nitya, but keeping her objective (to destroy Goenka family) in her mind, she distances herself from Dev. To get closer to her revenge, Durga creates a situation where Shaurya professes his love for her by faking a suicide attempt. Durga and Shaurya get engaged to each other but Durga and her dad orders Akash (Mihir Mishra), Sakshi's employee (actually Durga's companion who was spying on Sakshi), to hire some goons to paralyze Shaurya in which they succeed.

The two are to get married but Shaurya walks out of the marriage on wedding day due to his mom's extreme manipulations. To impede further insult, Sakshi suggests Dev's name as the bridegroom but Dev refuses to marry Durga. Dr. Thakur gives Dev an offer of faking a marriage with Durga and in return he will tell him the whereabouts of Nitya to which Dev agrees; and the two pretend to be married. Meanwhile, Rajnath impersonates Akram Rehmat Khan (aka Akash), Sakshi's step-son, to get the video tape (revealing that Rajnath shot his brother Arnav, Dev's father) through which Sakshi blackmailed Rajnath to marry her, killing her husband -Rehmat Khan; who was the only witness of the incident- to clear all the obstacles.

Things take a turn when Sakshi learns that Raj and her best friend, Raima (Kishwar Merchant) are having an affair. Sakshi confronts and shoots Raima in which she goes to coma. Sakshi frames Dev for the murder. Because of the fear that Raima will testify against her in the court, she bribes a nurse to change her medicines which will worsen her health. Durga tries to prove Dev innocent and he eventually gets acquitted from the murder. In the meantime, Shaurya finds out that D. Thakur was involved in his paralysis attack, and shoots him. This provokes Durga for her revenge, in which she tries to create rift between Goenka family in which she doesn't succeed.

Sakshi fakes Shaurya's death in an accident which is executed successfully. Shaurya tracks down Payal and kills Akash and Rishi in the process; however, it turns out that they are alive. Having strong evidence against Goenka family, Durga gets the family arrested. The judge convicts Shaurya and Karan. However, the show has an open ending with Shaurya calling Durga hence demonstrating that he was never in jail. The last scene ends with Durga hearing Shaurya whistle. ^[2][13]

Cast and characters

Among the cast members, Singh's portrayal of Sakshi Goenka has been appreciated. A review carried by The Indian Express noted that "her attitude and elegance comes across distinctly in her character".^[4]

• Sanjeeda Sheikh portrays Durga Thakur / Nitya Mitra / Durga Dev Goenka. The real Durga is in fact dead, Nitya Mitra had a facial plastic surgery under the supervision of Dr. Thakur (father of the real Durga Thakur and Nitya's adoptive father)^[14]
• Vatsal Sheth portrays Shaurya Rajnath Goenka, the main male lead, a rich, womanizing heir of Goenka family. Being under the influence of his family, he can get anything he want and is not used to hear the word "no".^[15]
• Simone Singh portrays Sakshi Rajnath Goenka, the main female antagonist who is beautiful, powerful and has a dynamic personality. She enjoys being the center of attention in Kolkata. She can go to any length to protect her two children—Shaurya and Kangana—her only weakness.^[16][17][18]
• Ayub Khan portrays Rajnath Goenka, the second male antagonist who is extremely ambitious and ruthless man who is amongst the elite in Kolkata business and social circles. To maintain his social status, he can go to any length.^[19]
• Aditi Sajwan portrays Nitya Mitra, the best friend and lover of Dev. (Before facial plastic surgery)^[20]
• Kishwar Merchant portrays Raima Maheshwari, the best friend of Sakshi who has an extramarital relationship with her husband, Rajnath.^[21]
• Bhuvnesh Mann portrays Dev Arnab Goenka, the cousin of Shaurya and the best friend of Nitya. He comes back from US to find out what happened 2 years back. ^[22]
• Jyoti Gauba portrays Suchitra Arnab Goenka, the mother of Dev who is a kind-hearted woman and believes in social work.^[23]
• Diyali Chauhan / Poonam Preet portrays Kangana Rajnath Goenka, the only daughter of Goenka family. The character is inspired from the Indian actress Kangana Ranaut's role in the 2014 comedy-drama Queen.^[24]
• Mihir Mishra portrays Akram Rehmat Khan / Akash Roy, the step-son of Sakshi whose father was killed by her. Akram Rehmat Khan returns as Akash Roy to seek revenge on Sakshi and is accompanied by Durga in his revenge.^[25]
• Teena Chopra portrays Payal Mitra
• Vicky Arora portrays Karan Basu
• Vikram Singh Chauhan portrays Rishi
• Aliraza Namdar portrays Girish Basu
• Bhupinder Singh portrays Dr. Dayal Thakur
• Amit Behl portrays Navin Mathur, the loyal man of Goenka family who is accused of betrayal and is jailed.^[26]
• Aamir Ali portrays Dr. Neil Bhattacharya. Ali made a special appearance; he portrayed Neil who has a false engagement with Durga.^[27][28][29]
• Shalmalee Desai portrays Sagarika Ganguly, a girl whose mother is the victim of spousal abuse.^[30][31]

Awards

STAR Parivaar Awards 2014

• Most Stylish Sadasya (Male) - Vatsal Sheth
• Most Stylish Sadasya (Female) - Sanjeeda Sheikh^[32]

Indian Telly Awards 2014

• Best Actress in a Negative Role - Simone Singh^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Indian Television Academy Awards 2014

• Best Series - Drama - Ek Hasina Thi
• Best Actor in a Negative Role - Ayub Khan
• Best Actress in a Negative Role - Simone Singh
• Gr8! Performer of the Year (Female) - Sanjeeda Sheikh
• Nominated for Best Actor (Male) - Vatsal Sheth^[34]

Footnotes

1. Tied with Ashwini Kalsekar for Jodha Akbar.^[33]

References

1. "Sunidha Chauhan sings for Ek Hasina Thi". The Times of India (TNN). 25 March 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
2. "Ek Hasina Thi - 20th December 2014". Star Plus. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
3. "Star Plus to replace 'Meri Bhabhi' with 'Ek Hasina Thi'". afaqs!. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
4. "Ek Hasina Thi / Needs to be more convincing". The Indian Express. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
5. Ankita R Kanabar; Priya Adivarekar (28 March 2014). "Sanjeeda Sheikh to team up with Vatsal Sheth for a show". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
6. "I'm sure that 'Ek Hasina Thi' title track will be appreciated: Sunidhi". IBN Live (IANS). Retrieved 16 December 2014.
7. "Major revamp on small screen as older shows make way for new". Mid Day. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
8. "14 TV shows get axed this year". The Times of India (Shruti Jambhekar). 16 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
9. "‘Ek Hasina Thi’ is about women empowerment: Siddharth P Malhotra". The Indian Express (Express News Service). 18 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
10. "Interesting premise, but actors fall short in much-delayed show Ek Hasina Thi". Daily News and Analysis (Chaya Unnikrishnan). DNA. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
11. "Shahid MBC - Laheeb Al-Heqd (شاهد.نت - لهيب الحقد)". Retrieved 17 November 2015.
12. "MBC - Laheeb Al-Heqd (لهيب الحقد- MBC Bollywood - MBC.net)". Retrieved 17 November 2015.
13. "EK HASINA THI". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
14. "Story of Ek Hasina Thi is gripping: Sanjeeda Sheikh". The Times of Indiaa. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
15. "Vatsal Seth on Playing the Baddie in ‘Ek Hasina Thi’". India-West. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
16. "Simone Singh makes comeback on small screen after nine years". NDTV India (New Delhi: Press Trust of India). 3 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
17. "Had no apprehensions playing a mother to Vatsal: Simone Singh". The Times of India (Vijaya Tiwari). 12 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
18. "PICTURES: Meet Simone Singh of TV show Ek Haseena Thi". Dainik Bhaskar. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
19. "Ayub Khan and Simone Singh get together after nine years". The Times of India (Hiren Kotwani). 25 March 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
20. "Star Parivaar Awards 2014: Aamir Khan and wife Kiran look inseparable (see red carpet pics)". India TV. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
21. "When dreams take flight". The Tribune (Chandigarh). 23 August 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
22. "Bhuvnesh Mann to embark his journey in Ek Hasina Thi". The Times of India (TNN). 17 May 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
23. "Vatsal Seth's chachi in 'Ek Hasina Thi' was his Maths teacher in school". The Times of India (Iti Shree Misra). 17 September 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
24. "Poonam Preet's role in 'Ek Haseena Thi' inspired by Kangna Ranaut". Mid-Day (The Hitlist Team). 4 October 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
25. "Mihir Mishra – The Mystery Man on Ek Hasina Thi". The Times of India. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
26. "Ek Hasina Thi : Durga's secret room". Daily News and Analysis (DNA). 2 May 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
27. Indo-Asian News Service (18 July 2014). "Aamir Ali, Sanjeeda Sheikh to Romance On Screen". Ndtv. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
28. "TV couple Aamir, Sanjeeda to romance on `Ek Hasina Thi` show". Zee News. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
29. IANS (18 July 2014). "Real life couple Aamir Ali, Sanjeeda Sheikh to work together in 'Ek Hasina Thi'". IBN Live. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
30. "‘Ek Hasina Thi’ is about women empowerment: Siddharth P Malhotra". The Indian Express (Express News Service). 18 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
31. "Interesting premise, but actors fall short in much-delayed show Ek Hasina Thi". Daily News and Analysis (Chaya Unnikrishnan). DNA. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
32. "Star Parivaar Awards 2014: Complete List Of Winners". Filmibeat. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
33. "13th Indian Telly Awards 2014 - Winners List; Harshad, Preetika, Karan, Divyanka Shine Bright!". Filmibeat. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
34. "Indian Television Academy Awards 2014". MSN. Retrieved 16 December 2014.

External links

• Official Website on hotstar