Ekhane Aakash Neel (2008 TV series)

Ekhane Akash Neel is a Bengali Serial which is telecasted on 7:30 PM on the Free-to-Air Channel Star Jalsa. The serial is themed on a nursing home, and is themed on the love between Dr. Ujaan Chatterjee, a respected and talented young Doctor, and Hiya, a who is the central actress of the drama. Ujaan is played by Rrishii Kaushik and Hiya is Aparajita Ghosh Das.

External links

• Star Jalsha Official Website

http://www.screenplayfilms.com

There should be no qualms or doubts to easily brand Ekhane Aakash Neel as a beautifully made television series which gave a very successful start to the Free-to-Air Channel, Star Jalsha – the bengali language channel of the STAR TV Group. The Production House of this serial - Screenplay Films[www.screenplayfilms.com ] is a kind of exclusive boutique Film Production House and also an integral part of "Opus Communications Private Limited (162/A/93,Lake Gardens,Kolkata-700045,India) headed by Aniruddho Roychoudhury, National Award winning film director. The entrepreneur owner & his production house had gone through some real acid tests before the series finally took off because, the theme, nether the artistes nor the director were run-of-the –mill. As mentioned by the first Director in an interview “ it was at the explicit request of the channel for a " FRESH LOVE-STORY " that this kind of story was conceived. The same Director in an interview at the ending of the serial has expressed that they never could imagine the unexpected & insurmountable popularity that this serial achieved for itself . A very fitting result to a path-breaking initiative of the new channel with the by-now famous iconic slogan " Chalo Paltai " - Let's make a change !

The Artists:

The Protagonists : Rrishii Kaushik as Dr.Ujan Chatterjee, Aparajita Ghosh Das as Hiya

Others : Dr.B.D.Mukherjee as Dr.Amolendu Chatterjee, Arindam Sil as Dr.Shamoresh Ganguly,Saswati Guha Thakurta as Mrs.Elina O'brien, June Malia as Annie O'Brien,Kamalika Banerjee as Bashabdatta the Dietitian, Mithu Chakraborty as Matron Eva Das,Tota Roy Chowdhury as Dr.Romit Sen,Priya Paul as Manjari, later replaced by Sneha Chatterjee, Shantamashi- Manjari's Mother, Chandrayee Ghosh as Dr.Deepa,Sasawata Chatterjee as Dr.Moinak Roy and Debolina Dutta as his wife Dr.Barna Roy,Dr.Neeta, Ushoshi Chakarabarty as Dr.Swati Raha, Ashok Kapoor,Anindyo Banerjee as Vicky,Pishimoni,Col Hiranmoy Sen & Mrs.Sen, Bayna the maid. Child Characters Mithai, Imli, Tithi, Kuttush, Diya

Junior Doctors: Kaushani Roy,Shahana Sen,Ranjan,Saurav,Tukai, Nayona[],Gogol[],Uma,and supported by other Doctors, Avro and Ayan.

Nursing Staff : Shrabonti, Brishti, Ritu & Lisa

Admin Staff : Ekavalli Khanna as Receptionist Pooja, Romenda , Swapanda, Pobitroda , Muniya,the '(wo)man friday'of "Tulip"

Directors: Anindo Banerjee & Joydeep Mukherjee

Story,Screenplay and Dialogues: Anuja Chatterjee Aditi Majumdar Joy Mukherjee Kaushik Bhattacharya Joydeep Mukherjee Sayantani Majumdar Nambiar Joy Dasgupta

Title Music: Jeet Ganguly

Singer: Monali Thakur

Camera: Suman Kumar Das, Bapi Seth

Executive Producers Indrani Mukherjee, Nishpal Singh

Producers: Aniruddho Roychoudhury, Jit Banerjee

Executive Producer from Star Jalsa: Aratrika Bhoumik

Story:

The tag line of the series was "A Sweet Love Story". It was a love-story but of a different genre, in parts it was like "Mills and Boon" but the similarity ends there. A psychological undertone had given the story a different lining to its otherwise silk smooth texture. The male protagonist Dr. Ujan Chatterjee, an Oncologist by profession who lost his best friend and mentor, his mother when he was barely a boy and grew into an egotistic, rude, solitary man who preferred to remain cocooned in his own world, welcomed solitude to the point of extremity that he shunned out his own father and considered him an intruder. After successful completion of his medical studies in UK, he returned home and joined the 'Tulip' Nursing Home in Kolkata where once his father Dr. Amolendu Chatterjee-the renowned Neurologist, used to work and was one of the pillars of its growth .After passing away of Dr.Richard O'Brien , the founder of the Nursing Home, his wife , Elina, took over the responsibilities of running 'Tulip'and subsequently handed over charge of Tulip to her competent & efficient doctor-duo Dr. Moynak & Dr.Shomoresh and moved to the hills.Ujan joined Tulip and came to be known as one of the best surgeons of Kolkata. The Nursing Home was small; its facilities were limited; but it was one of the most reliable places in the city because of its dedicated staff and professionally advanced Doctors.One day, in one of his solitary jaunts, to be with himself, Ujan went to Kurseong where,he saved a person's life by giving him timely medical treatment.The news spread in that sleepy little hill station.The priest of the local Church was Friend-Philosopher-Guide to Elina and in search of a Doctor, he heard of Ujan’s feat and took him to Elina who had suddenly fallen seriously ill.. Ujan decided to shift Elina to Tulip as he found her in a pretty bad physical condition and in need of an immediate and complicated surgery—neither the patient nor the young Doctor realized that they and their families knew each other since years. Elina had two daughters: her biological daughter, Annie and her adopted daughter, Hiya.Ujan first sighted Hiya in Kurseong when she was running in the hills with her kid friends and incidentally singing (a la Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music) his mother’s song. They had a tiff later when Hiya's gang of buddies were taking a feel of Ujan’s Binocular and as usual, he did not like that. What attracted Ujan towards Hiya was her beautiful voice. He found his mother in Hiya's songs, because his Maa was a prolific singer and “full of life” – which is what was mesmerising about Hiya . In Kolkata, Elina's condition did not immediately improve even after the surgery; and as Hiya was lonely without her 'Monima'(Elina), she came to Kolkata to be with her and then as if a magic happened: Elina started to respond to the treatment . Thus Hiya started her search of life in the concrete jungle of Kolkata.The foster-mother and the daughter had such a connection of their souls which even blood-connection many times can not have. Inspite of continuous angry arguments & clashes over various issues in Tulip, the apparently visible antagonism was just a cover for the inward undeniable magical attraction that Ujaan & Hiya kept feeling for each other. It was as if all the events lead to their meeting/facing each other again & again.Hiya's search ended with her most beautiful tryst with Destiny - she fell in love with the outwardly rough-n-rude but inwardly caramel-kernel like soft Ujan and they had a “Mills & Boon inspiring dream-come-true” relationship. Ujan got attracted to her open mindedness and Hiya, to his abrupt-straightforward - principled approach to life. The magical bonding between the two, happened because of their shares of solitude in life which they lived through and the bonding intensified when Hiya had a near-fatal accident in which she had a nasty head-injury and slipped into comatose state. Knowing that paralysis was unavoidable, Amolendu performed a complicated surgery and saved her life . Post surgery seeing 'his sunshine' lying on a bed and wheelchair-bound Ujan was depressed and heartbroken .He finally pushed himself up just for her-- not only to instill a zest for life in Hiya but moreover so to keep his “life-source” Hiya forever with him, he decided to marry her. Shortly before the Wedding, Hiya “walked again !” – thanks to Ujan’s untiring efforts that his life (Hiya) lives a full and complete life again.A Hindu groom for a Christian bride. It was a wonderful wedding where vows were exchanged and garlands, too. There were no chanting of hymns or exchange of religious vows. Only songs of love and joy of life, only vows to love & cherish each other always. Angels too tiptoed in to bless them. On their wedding day, Manjari, daughter of Ujan's mother's friend reached Ujan's house.As expected, Ujan was astonished to see Mon[Pet name of Manjari, given by Ujan] after so many years because she remained only as a very special childhood friend to him with whom his mother’s precious memories were associated; though long back when they were kids, Aporna, Ujan’s mother, wrote in a letter to Mon’s mother her wish to see Mon as her daughter-in-law.Now, Mon had sought him out after so many years due to her mother’s serious condition.Her mother’s condition worsened and Ujan had to go and operate her, leaving Hiya at home, in the middle of their Fulshojjya. Even after the operation she passed away and Ujan took the responsibilities of taking care of Mon. Here the story took a twist. Mon’s desperate and unfulfilled desire of being Ujan’s wife was unknown to both Ujan and Hiya; they accepted her as their friend and ‘daughter’ of the Chatterjee Family;but all these good intentions did not have any meaning to Manjari. She wanted Ujan's love and Hiya's place in his life.So, Manjari started scheming and creating all sorts of practical problems in Ujan & Hiya's happy conjugal life; but her schemings did not have any effect; she started to feel frustrated and lonely .As a foil to Manjari, there was Dr.Romit Sen or Romit (Ujan’s colleague at Tulip), who was always there as single man support system to Hiya and Ujan. He loved Hiya but never expressed it till he was about to leave the world because of Leukemia . Romit left his only daughter to his best friend Hiya and Ujan and they too accepted her as their child; but then, Romit's uncle appeared on the scene and took away Romit's daughter, Imli,with him to Kurseong. Hiya shared a very special bonding with Imli because Imli saw her own mother Sabina in Hiya;but when Imli went away, Hiya felt a deep void within her and she wished to become a mother, in the real biological sense..Imli had arisened parental feelings in Ujan too & he also felt Hiya's agony; both of them started to plan about a family of their own.Their Honeymoon was long overdue; so, they went to Pelling just after Christmas. They had a wonderful time, both mountain-lovers as Hiya was from the hills and Ujan was a trekker by hobby, they enjoyed the breathtaking scenery and relived their good old days , far away from the madding crowd's ignoble strife .By that time in Kolkata, scheming Manjari had a co-hort in Vicky, Ujan's cousin brother and the two started to make plans to keep Ujan and Hiya in perpetual trouble .As if these two were not enough,in came established induatrialist Ashok Kapoor with his sinister plan of either to take over “Tulip” or to start a whole new Nursing Home with all sorts of modern medical facilities, to be a tough competitor of “Tulip” which was by then synonymous with Health-Care in Kolkata.What Kapoor did not realize and was incomprehensible to business-minded folk like him, was that the secret of success of "Tulip" was not just its facilities but its cheerful and homely atmosphere, created by its dedicated staff and a bunch of ever energized junior doctors who were there to face any kind of emergency situation at any time of a day or night. As individuals, they used to enjoy their shares of good things of life but while on duty, they were untiring:Drs.Avro-Ayan-Saurav-Ranjan-Gogol-Madhushree-Kaushani-Nayana-Shahana: everyone of them were impatient to learn something new from their seniors; ever ready to assist each other and when Hiya came, they were the ones who befriended her and later became her loyal "knights-in-armour". If "Tulip" was the lifeline of wellness then these Doctors were the lifeline of "Tulip". Elina, because of her absolute faith on her staff and Doctors did not bend to Kapoor's subtle offer of buying her dream "Tulip"; then Kapoor showed his true colours and involved Vicky-Manjari to convince Ujan to come to his Nursing Home: “Zeus" because he knew that Ujan was the main stay of "Tulip". Ujan saw through Kapoor and did not accept his offer . Again Manjari was forced to play a pivotal role to drag Ujan to "Zeus" and this time Ujan did not doubt his childhood friend's intentions:and agreed to her request to join Zeus as a confirmation of wanting to help her because previously ,he reproached Mon antagonistically when she expressed her bleak desire of love from him. Ultimately, the secret game of Kapoor came out in the open during the course of a path-breaking surgery, successfully done by Dr.Ujan Chatterjee, in "Zeus", and everyone's conscience came into play: Manjari came to know about Kapoor's real intention of keeping Ujan at any cost; Ujan came to know about Kapoor's wrong ways of running a Nursing Home and Vicky-Manjari both came to know how Kapoor was using them to win this game to further his own ill intentions and grab all the limelight. Dr.Madhusree, who joined "Zeus" from "Tulip" to earn some more money for her Mother's treatment, and was the single witness to Kapoor's dangerous game plan, had a “face-off” with the planner himself. Her razor sharp comments and Ujan's refusal to accept any money after the surgery, awakened that hidden conscience in Kapoor who was a contemporary antagonist and was the real catalyst of all the murky & controversy embroiled situations. Though created by him nothing was ever proved against him rather these incidents became eye-openers for many. But nothing made any difference in that belief and love which was there between Ujan and Hiya.One fine day, it was known that Hiya was pregnant; Hiya, a "child- woman" who never knew her parents and was nurtured and loved by her foster mother, was happy beyond anyone's imagination; Ujan’s love and affection showered on her at this happy hour and Elina’s gift of the responsibility of "Tulip", inspired Hiya to bring out of her mind’s closet, that calm and matured woman who could gracefully handle both the responsibilities. But suddenly all those happy moments came to a grinding halt as Hiya had a miscarriage. It was traumatic not only for Hiya but for Ujan, also.And this trauma brought a sea-change in Manjari, too.She took the initiative to bring Hiya back to her normal self; she accepted Vicky in her life. In the meantime Hiya was diagnosed as having Myotonic Dystrophy-a genetic disorder, by her Gynaecologist Dr.Deepa who opined that it could be fatal for Hiya to conceive.Hiya's dreams dashed; but still she stood up because she wanted their child. While Ujan did not want to take any risk on Hiya because of the disorder, Hiya was desperate in love to gift back Ujan his lost childhood in the form of their baby. So she went away from Ujan to undergo treatment and make herself physically fit to conceive, obviously without leaving any trace to find her which again made Ujan dejected & life-less, as he was, before meeting Hiya. While Hiya was away, her look alike,a 10/11 years old girl was admitted in "Tulip" and attracted Ujan’s affection; she was a patient of amnesia and during the course of her treatment, it was known that she had lost her parents in a road accident and her only family now was her aunt.Ujan named her Diya; took her to her aunt’s home but when he came to know that her aunt’s family was going to send her to an orphanage, he decided to adopt her as his daughter. Ujan with Manjari’s help announced his 2nd marriage to Manjari, a ploy to bring Hiya back. Hiya came back from her self-imposed exile, accepted Diya as their daughter and after the birth of Hiya and Ujan's baby boy, they had their feel of a complete happy family:it was 'love is in the air' at the end of the series.

Use of Music and Poems:

"Ekhane Akash Neel" is a journey and this journey was more beautiful because of the perfect and sequence-synchronized use of Poems and Songs. It's not very common to use Poetry in such Television series but here, it was used not only to enhance the expressions of the characters but also to add a poetic touch to a scene.Renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray's grandfather Upendrokishore Roychoudhury's and his father Sukumar Ray's writings were the frequently referred to sources. Their Poems, Limericks and the quaint phrases & expressions used in their inimitable style found frequent inclusion in the dialogues to bring that much wanted effect of comic relief even in serious scenes. "Katukutuburo"-"Ghyanghyanshur"-"Gomratherium"-"Kumropotash" are a few such notable examples. A noteworthy scene of this kind is when Imli describes everyone in Ujan's house as "Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra-La" (the bengali equivalent of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland). It was unique in her own way and perhaps totally new to the viewers also to hear about this once popular children's book interpreted in such a manner.Simple games, simple everyday habits, daily habits, a small word/gesture of affection/solidarity could be a source of the simple pleasures of life were shown with such elan in this story. Music was an integral part of it, too. Tagore songs were used and interpreted in a contemporary set up but without losing any of its fervour, appeal and flavour. The innovative & stylish use of poignant Tagore songs which are pregnant with thoughts, enhanced the feelings & expressions of the characters and at the same time inspired the viewers to think, too. One folk song which created quite a sensation in the music world because of its lilting tune and philosophical meaning, has been used in the series to portray a character’s inner thoughts  : "Amar Bhitaro Bahire Antaro Antarey Achho Tumi...". It used to touch that deep quietude of the viewer's heart whenever it was played or sung in the course of the story. A few modern Bengali songs were also used to show the effect of it in young hearts and it ended in creating flutters. All these added colours to the imaginations.

The Directors and their Directions:

Two different Directors handled the story of "Ekhane Akash Neel" in two different ways. Both were unique in their style of story-telling. If one created the Fairytale atmosphere, the other one brought out those fiendish characters, very important in a Fairytale to show the prowess of the main protagonists. The use of two Directors brought about the transition of the Fairytale Prince & Princess to Real-Life Prince & Princess within the same tale. The viewers accepted them both. After all , it's one seven coloured wonderful rainbow, both ends of which were closest to their hearts.

References:

Songs and Poems of Rabindranath Tagore: Rabindranath Tagore.

Upendrakishore Roychoudhury: http://www.parabaas.com/translation/database/authors/texts/upendrakisor.html

AbolTabol: Sukumar Ray

Wordygurdyboom!The Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray
Translated into English by: Sampurna Chatterjee
Published by: Penguin Books India(Puffin Classics)
With a sparkling new Introduction by: Ruskin Bond   
http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/puffin/category/Classics/Puffin_Classics_Wordygurdyboom_The_Nonsense_

World_of_Sukumar_Ray_9780143330783.aspx

Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra-La: Sukumar Ray

Translated into English by: Jayinee Basu

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HaJaBaRaLa

Sukumar Ray :Sukumar Ray

Folk song: "Aamar Bhitaro Bahirey...." Link:http://www.esnips.com/doc/d103baf7-3ca0-4736-9dcc-2e9429690557/Amar-Bhitore-Bahire-Acho-Tumi

Directors of "Ekhane Aakash Neel"---

Joydeep Mukherjee: http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile?uid=11277004934448171462

Anindo Banerjee http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile?uid=13620940599768869223

"Ekhane Akash Neel" Community in Orkut: Link:http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community?cmm=56612090

Title Music: Jeet Ganguly [1]

Monali Thakur : Monali Thakur

Tota Roy Choudhury:Tota Roy Choudhury [2]

Aparajita Ghosh Das Link:http://aparajitaghoshdas.blogspot.com [3]

Anindya Banerjee: http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile?uid=13296855706850704048

Arindam Sil [4]

Saswati Guha Thakurta [5]

Chandrayee Ghosh [6]

June Malia [7]

Mithu Chakraborty [8]

Sasawata Chatterjee [9]

Rrishii Kaushik [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Film_Journalists'_Association

Newspaper Articles on "Ekhane Akash Neel":

1.Obtuse Angle:Blue Sky,Fresh Air

 By:Manojit Mitra.
 Posted on: Friday.Jan 16.2009 at 04:19:49 p.m.
 Link:This is Google's cache of http://www.kolkatamirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=10&contentid=2009011620090116161949678ef630753&sectxslt=. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 23 Apr 2010 10:05:24 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. 

2."Rrishii and I look great on screen":In conversation with

  Aparajita Ghosh Das
  By:Ruman Ganguly. TNN.Jan.18.2008.12:00a.m.IST
  The Times of India, Kolkata,Entertainment
 [ 2708335.cms.htm ]
  Link:http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/
  articleshow/2708335.cms

3.Looking Ahead

 By: Amrita Roychoudhury.TNN.Aug.22.2008.12:11a.m.IST
 The Times of India,Kolkata,Entertainment
 [ 3390024.cms.htm ]
 Link:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3390024.cms 

4."I'm too lazy": Anindo Bandyopadhyay

  By: Ruman Ganguly.Dec.11.2008.12:55a.m.IST
  Times of India,Kolkata,Entertainment
  [ 3819159.cms.htm ]
  Link:http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xrA8PSz0XmYJ:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Im-too-lazy-Anindo-Banerjee/articleshow/3819159.cms+old+articles+on+ekhane+akash+neel+in+times+of+india&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in 

5. Entertainment Unlimited: Gen Y is the current flavour

  of the season
  A Report
  Apr.26.2009.12a.m.IST.
  Times of India,Kolkata
  [ 4448533.cms.htm ]
  Link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
  Entertainment/Entertainment-unlimited/
  articleshow/4448533.cms

6. Straight Talker

  By: Supreeta Singh
  Monday.Aug.31.2009.
  Kolkata Mirror-City Diary-Interviews
  Link:http://kolkatamirror.com/index.aspx?page=article
  &sectid=9&contentid=2009083120090831110513703572075
  c9&sectxslt=

7.Curtain falls on the set of Ekhane Akash Neel

 Kolkata, May 28th,2010
 Star Jalsha-Television
 www.tollyworld.com beta

8. And they lived happily ever after

  May 31.2010.TNN.12:33a.m.IST
  Times of India,Kolkata,Entertainment
  [ 5990900.cms.htm ]
  Link:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...they-lived-happily-ever-after 
  /articleshow/5990900.cms -  

9. The M-Class quotient

  The Telegraph,Calcutta(Kolkata),India,Metro
  Sunday,February 7,2010
  Link:www.telegraphindia.com/1100207/jsp/
  calcutta/story_12074441.jsp

10.Campus calling T'town stars

  By: Priyanka Dasgupta
  Jun23.2010.TNN.12a.m.IST
  Times of India.Kolkata.Entertainment
  [ 6079280.cms.htm ]
  Link:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../news.../articleshow         
  /6079280.cms - 

11.Lucky transition

  By: Soma A Chatterji
  May22. 2009.
  Link:www.screenindia.com/news/lucky-transition/463506/ -

12.And They Lived Happily Ever After

  Times of India. epaper.
  Link:http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.
  aspx?article=yes&pageid=27&edlabel=TOIKM
  &mydateHid=31-05-2010&pubname=&edname=
  &articleid=Ar02703&format=&publabel=TOI

13.Wind in my hair

  India Today.in
  Supplement.4th February.2010
  Link:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/82422/SUPPLEMENTS 
       /Wind+in+my+hair.html