Today begins the journey of the new show Mariam Khan - Reporting LIVE. This is from the Somersault Productions and has Deshna Dugad playing the titular role. The show also has SM Zaheer, Sheena Bajaj, Avinash Mishra, Priyanka Khandwal, Khalid Siddiqui and Lubna Salim playing significant roles. The show comes as a breath of fresh air amidst all the family uproar and drama doing rounds in Star Plus. The show takes over the 7:30 pm time slot which was for a long time now taken by Yeh Hai Mohabattein.

The show maps the life of three sisters and is set in a typical Muslim household backdrop. The titular role as of now played by child artist Deshna is said to played by a newbie. Deshna plays a dyslectic child who seems to have a very simplified outlook towards people and situations, making it almost difficult for the elders to ignore her point of view entirely.

Plot:

The show takes off with the sombre and simple Bhopal as the location. Mariam is seen walking to a Darga in the attire of little Krishna. She now relates her issue to God from whom she demands justice and also promises to visit him every day even if he does not listen to her. The child takes the most of our attention as she goes around the house as she is unwillingly woken up for school by her maid. She runs around the house trying to hide from her and also taking us through the house and its occupants. She has two sisters Meher and Mahira who are opposites -one being a simple sombre and religious one while the other is an angry bird. She has a friend in one of the stones placed in her house which she imagines to be a tortoise Ghalib.

She has her father who seems to be the only one aligned with her likes and dislikes as he encourages her questions and answers them all with patience. He is seen to be an honest journalist who writes and promotes only what looks right to him. We also see trouble brewing as we see someone threatening him on the phone. Now we have Mariam mother whom she also dislikes because she seems to be perpetually angry. Mariam imagines two red horns on her head. Finally, we have Mariam's grandfather who still believes he is royalty. We see he meets a rival on the road as he is on the way to drop Mariam to school and they both refuse to give way to the other leaving Mariam with no choice but to walk out on her granddad as she asks him a straightforward question which leaves him speechless.

Mariam's school, her friends, are the other world she lives in and she like her father is seen to abide by some rules as she encourages her friends to return a purse they get on the road. Returning home we see a sad Meher who has just met her prospective groom. Mariam knows her sister is worried and tries to find out more by the way she knows best-reporting live. We see Mariam watch her mother shocked as she reads a court's notice- we see her thinking that even while she hates her mother, she does not like to see her sad.

Mariam overhears what went wrong and from what she gathers the house in which they dwell belongs to one of the sisters of her father who has relocated to Pakistan and this makes the house no more theirs as the government has taken it. Her sister's marriage is broken, and she watches her parents fight as her mother blames her father. Mariam is seen walking to the Darga as in the first sc, and now she demands just that the house is theirs and her sister gets married too. It is also revealed that Mariam's father wants to fulfil something which he never could through his daughter Mariam and this her mother detests.

Review:

As we stated, this show does come as a breath of fresh air amidst all the chaos going on in TV right now. This show takes on life through the eyes of a child who has dyslexia. Entirely unknown to her father though who has enormous dreams for her which she herself shares. The show does not showcase any over the top drama or emotions -at least as of now. The entire flow seems relatable to the extent of interesting. If it retains the charm it has currently and takes off the right route, then the show does have a chance to go down as one of the best shows on the star in a while.

Deshna is quite a charmer, and she has won all our hearts with her chirpy, mischievous ways. Today was actually all about Deshna, so we have minimal interactions with the other characters except of course Khalid Siddhique who plays Mariam's father. The verdict for the day being the show gets all hearts from us for the day, and we hope and wish to see it retaining the aura further.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2018 09:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).