“Ek sawal ke do do jawab, Mrs. And Mr. Sharma Sahab…Bhains badi ya akal tumhaari, dono par ye padenge bhaari…Dil ke bade bhole bhaale, Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabad wale…” and suddenly Mrs. Sharma takes out an electric iron (press) from her bag and says, “It's ‘Press' conference! How could I come without a press?” Mr. Sharma cuts her short. “Oh! ‘press' means ‘newspaper' and ‘conference' means when you whisper something in the ears ( kaan ) of a friend, similar to what you call chugli in Hindi”.
Mrs. Sharma poses another googly, “These press persons need to be honoured as they write daily in so many newspapers in the same hand-writing.” The media bursts into laughter. This comical moment unfolded at the press conference to announce the launch of a new comedy serial, Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabad Wale on SAB TV.
Starting May 17, the 104-episode series depicts the shift of a middle-class family with small-town values and beliefs to the city of Mumbai. Drasht Dyumn Prasad Sharma (Rajesh Kumar) is a man grounded with his own set of beliefs and customs. He is happy with his family and job. His wife, Rashmi Sharma (Divyanka Tripathi) is a typical housewife, who has blind faith in her husband and who has never seen the charms of a big city. With the prospect of a better future, Drasht accepts the offer to go to Mumbai. When they shift to Mumbai from Allahabad, the conflict between their value system and lifestyle result in comic situations.
“When most of the channels are making audience cry, we are doing the opposite,” says Anooj Kapoor, Business Head, SAB. He explains, “Original and differentiated content continues to be the key foundation of our strategy. In order to increase our reach in the Northern region we have roped in Divyanka Tripathi, who has a substantial fan following, and one of the finest actors on television, Rajesh Kumar, as Mrs. and Mr. Sharma Allahabadwale”.
Kapoor says the uniqueness of SAB's shows is that they express the positive values of joint families. “Not only we are entertaining our audiences but are also spreading optimistic social messages.”
Rajesh says, “In this show I am in a completely new role, very different from the characters I have played earlier. I find the concept of a small town family coming to a metro and the day-to-day comical situations that arise while they face the challenges of adjusting to a new environment very relevant and I'm sure a lot of people will be able to relate with it.”
Divyanka, who is known for her stellar performance in Banu Main Teri Dulhan, is delving into comedy for the first time and is quite excited. “Mrs. Sharma is a typical housewife and throughout the track my character will keep the audience in splits. I have been given a very different look in the show and my onscreen chemistry with Rajesh is simply hilarious.”
