Kasautii Zindagi Kay First Episode Review: TV's Favorite Romance Starts On A Gorgeous Note

So the wait is finally over, Kasautii Zindagii Kay is finally here. The first episode aired on Star Plus and what can we say apart from, we are hit by a wave of nostalgia.

The episode starts the typical Ekta Kapoor way, with a lot (a lot!) of shots of temples and gods. Prerna’s family is shown doing the Ganesh Puja while Anurag is busy doing the ‘aarti’ of Ram. We are introduced to all the characters one by one through the ‘aarti’ and we get to know that Anurag is a little ‘over-practical’ and is very punctual and Prerna is a little ‘dreamy ’ who is a little more chilled. also, let us take this opportunity to marvel at how amazingly beautiful Erica Fernandez looks as Prerna and how regal Parth looks in a dhoti kurta as Anurag Basu. It is also revealed that unlike the first part where both were working adults, this time they study in a college together and even though they know each other as their fathers have been friends for long but they mostly exchange pleasantries in college and discuss the weather, more specifically ‘toofan’. Actually, throughout the episode, people seem too concerned about 'toofan' a lot.

The character traits of all the other characters are also established in the first episode and we are introduced to the fact that Mohini Basu, is hella snooty and elitist and does not like to mingle with middle-class people and is quite the social butterfly, and like every Bengali mom is partial to her son Anurag much to the dismay of her other children. 

During the Durga Puja ceremonies, Prerna and Anurag come together once again and as usual, the wind blows and things happen and they are covered in a ‘laal dupatta’. the episode ends with an interesting where we are shown the silhouette of a man drinking with the suggestion that this person is going to be the villain in the lives of Anurag and Prerna. Honestly, we are a little disappointed that we did not get to see a glimpse of Komolika is the first episode.

While the cultural and time discrepancies are a bit too conspicuous, but it has all the trapping of a typical Ekta Kapoor serial, that might seem a little ‘up to the mark’ for us Netflix generation, but for people like us who have grown up watching lengthy aarti sequences, women sleeping in chikankaari kurtas, women dressed up like Paro in Devdas and middle class people being very ‘khuddar’ it is just a piece of our childhood back on TV with two leads who seem to have a genuine chemistry and the usual visual grandeur that we have come to associate with Ekta Kapoor and her daily soaps.