DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

In my 10th grade I won my school’s first-ever personality competition. It was a total shocker to say the least, I never wanted to participate but was pulled in – thanks to an over enthusiastic class teacher. Needless to say, whenever I think about that evening I am filled with certain “bubbly” emotions. Though the competition was tough, I guess my “introduction speech” is what clicked with the judges. More than talking about me, it was centered how and why I aspired to be Kalyani Singh.

Back in those days, I was totally influenced by Kalyani Singh – you know the lass who managed to zap the nation with her “never say die” attitude in tele-series Udaan. And even long after the show ended, it for many reasons never faded from my mind.

To describe her I can’t help but use one of the most clichéd lines, “A woman of substance” and yet she fits the bill so perfectly. Doesn’t she?

From the beginning Kalyani felt the need to help her father get back their ancestral land that was wickedly taken away from her family. A complete romantic at heart, she surprises everyone with her decision of joining the police force.

With the required encouragement from her father she manages clear thru arduous IPS examinations inspite of being faced with even tougher trials and tribulations, at times. Remember the scene of her training camp where she is not able to crossover the high-brick wall and the officer in-charge wouldn’t stop taunting her over it. Still not affected by failure, she continues to test herself till she triumphs in getting across. Painstakingly she comes through the training program in flying colors.

But this is not the end of her testing time.

She is posted to a remote area where “trust” was hard to come by. But still she manages to make a name for herself in the police force, which couldn’t help but notice her sheer determination. Though success was in the foreground, she continued to re-live the humiliation and distress her family went through on losing their land.

Her persistence, fierce loyalty to her nation and law, strong work ethics and affectionate attitude towards the unfortunate – all this and much more earned her praises from the society but did not go down well with the corrupt minded. Kalyani did not judge a crime by its magnitude; to her they all were equal and required to be wiped out. She deals with various situations like dowry deaths, domestic crimes, women trafficking, etc with utmost care and righteously. And on many occasions we were treated with some awesome butt-kicking and punches which made watching Kalyani beat-up the baddies even more inspirational.

The show not only focused on the IPS officer and her work struggles but also made us familiar with her emotional and personal side. On realizing her affections for an IAS officer, she finds herself elated but still continues to live in denial. Equally committed towards his duty, they are more a like than imagined. But as they say “love is not always easy to understand”, she totally misunderstands his intention which leads to further turmoil and sadness.

Later on the misunderstanding is cleared and he rises even higher in her esteem and she realizes her follies and finally confesses her love.
However her decision of giving up police force for marriage bliss did not go down too well with me but I guess society pressure and expectations somehow manages to grip the best of us - and Kalyani was only fictional.

Still I would pick this resolute, romantic, idealist lady from the lot of Tulsis, Parvatis and Kashishs – any bloody given day.