Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar Explained

Runtime:30 minutes
Music:Abhijeet Hegdepatil
Director:Rakesh Sarang
Rajan Shahi[1]
Starring:Rajshree Thakur
Opentheme:"Saat Pheron Mein" by Shreya Ghoshal
Country:India
Company:Sphere Origins
Network:Zee TV
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:854
Language:Hindi

Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar (International title: Saloni) is a Hindi television serial that was broadcast on Zee TV from 17 October 2005 to 28 May 2009.[2] The story focuses on Saloni, who faces social discrimination because of her dark skin.[3] The series starred Rajshree Thakur and Sharad Kelkar.[4]

Plot

The story revolves around the life of Saloni, who despite being dark-skinned, sets out to prove that it doesn't matter what skin colour you might be. She marries Nahar and begins her journey fulfilling the seven rounds she took at her marriage. Saloni faces many problems, particularly, discrimination for her skin colour.

However she is talented and sets out on a journey, to create an identity for herself. She faces many enemies such as Kaveri, Karan, Kuki Kaki, Padam, Chandni / Devika, Urvashi, Abhi, Varun and more. The series is titled Saat Phere in the context of seven rounds a couple takes at their wedding. This is Saloni's journey and after generation leap, her daughter Savri also faces many obstacles, in the end Saloni is reunited with her family and her daughters get married.

Cast

Production

In November 2008, the shootings and telecast of all the Hindi television series including this series and films were stalled on 8 November 2008 due to dispute by the technician workers of FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) for increasing the wages, better work conditions and more breaks between shootings.[6] [7] FWICE first took a strike on 1 October 2008 when they addressed their problems with the producers and production was stalled.[8] A contract was signed after four days discussions and shooting were happening only for two hours content in a day then after which differences increased between them while channels gave them time until 30 October 2008 to sort it out. Failing to do so lead to protests again from 10 November 2008 to 19 November 2008 during which channels blacked out new broadcasts and repeat telecasts were shown from 10 November 2008.[9] [10] On 19 November 2008, the strike was called off after settling the disputes and the production resumed.[11] The new episodes started to telecast from 1 December 2008.[12] [13]

Lead Sharad Kelkar was supposed to shoot for only 30 episodes for the series. But, good response for the series made him to continue until he quit before the generation leap.[14] [15] However, he returned to the series for the finale episode.

In October 2008, lead Rajshree Thakur confirmed quitting the show to spend time with her family and quit along with Kelkar when the series took a generation leap in April end of 2009.[16] In April 2009, the series took a generation leap with addition of new casts, with story focussing on lead character Saloni's children when Rachana Parulkar was cast as Saawri.[17]

The series which was one of the top rated show for a long time with more than 6+ TVR. Later, when the ratings dipped, a generation leap was taken which was also unsuccessful in increasing the ratings as before which made channel to end the series in the same month after it.[18] Speaking about ending the series, Producer Sunjoy Wadhwa said, "Saat Phere was Saloni’s story. The leap meant regenerating a story from scratch, which isn’t working for us. So, it’s best to end it now" and stated its ended on 22 May 2009.[19] However, it ended on 28 May 2009.[20]

Reception

Critics

India Today described the plot of the series as simple.[21]

Ratings

Initially, it ranged between 1.8-2 TVR. Within a month it started averaging 2-3 TVR and then gradually increased until ranging 6+TVR during 2006 becoming one of the most watched Hindi GEC.[22] In April and May, it averaged 4.44 TVR overall.[23] In December 2006, it garnered 5.1 TVR.[24] In week ending 17 March 2007, it garnered 1.59 TVR.[25] As in July 2007, it averaged 3.4 TVR.[26]

The highest rating garnered in its runtime was 6.61 TVR during May 2006.[27]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Leap of faith. The Indian Express. 3 September 2010 .
  2. Web site: To die or not to die?. The Telegraph.
  3. Web site: Two new shows propel Zee TV back into the soap game, unveil new traditional woman. India Today.
  4. Web site: Fair in love war. The Telegraph.
  5. Web site: Rajshri quits Saat Phere. 2008-10-23. Tellychakkar Dot Com. en. 2020-05-10.
  6. Web site: Cine technicians go on strike. The Indian Express.
  7. Web site: Charming Kunwar. The Indian Express.
  8. Web site: Work hit as 1.5 lakh cine workers strike work. Outlook India.
  9. Web site: Strike off, TV shooting to resume. The Indian Express.
  10. Web site: No more repeat of TV soaps as TV industry strike ends. India Today.
  11. Web site: No more repeat telecast of TV soaps as strike ends. Live Mint. 20 November 2008 .
  12. Web site: New look return. The Telegraph.
  13. Web site: Zee TV comes with a bang after the strike. Indian Television dot com.
  14. Web site: Sharad Kelkar's goodbye on 'Saath Phere'. The Times of India.
  15. Web site: Leap year. The Indian Express.
  16. Web site: I am quitting the show. The New Indian Express.
  17. Web site: Rajshri's look-alike on Saat Phere. Hindustan Times. 20 April 2009 .
  18. Web site: Saloni's 'safar' ends. Daily News and Analysis.
  19. Web site: Saat Phere to go off air. Hindustan Times. 8 May 2009 .
  20. Web site: Saat Phere goes off air. The Indian Express.
  21. Web site: Two new shows propel Zee TV back into the soap game, unveil new traditional woman. India Today.
  22. Web site: Saat Phere: The dark girl theory. Indian Television dot com.
  23. Web site: Sony, Star One bid to get back on narrative track. Indian Television dot com.
  24. Web site: How Zee scripted its own success story. Rediff.com.
  25. News: Soaps continue to have a ball despite World Cup . The Economic Times. Sharma . Samidha .
  26. Web site: In the name of the father. Business Today. 17 July 2007 .
  27. Web site: Being second best isnt easy. The Financial Express. 25 June 2006 .

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