Naya Zamana is the serial of Zee TV, telecasted Wednesday, at 9 PM. It is written, produced, and directed by Rajesh Kumar Singh under the banner Vyoma Communications.

It is the story of common and not so common Indians.It is about issues, questions and moral dilemmas that are raised by the changing political, cultural, social, economic and technological environment around us and their inevitable impact on our day-to-day existence. And since the family forms the core of any social structure, this episodic TV series revolves around an upper middle class urban Indian family with rural roots and its struggle to cope with changing times.

There is a supporting cast of interesting and identifiable characters of different hues and colours, representing a cross-section of society, the accent being on youth. The series covers a whole range of issues. Topical, significant issues like acid-attack, nude modeling and religious intolerance. It examines them through the eyes of its characters. It is an honest, humane and powerful portrayal of their joys, sorrows, tensions, anxieties, passions, politics, ambitions, hypocrisies, life-styles and dreams. It is also about the clash of their mutually divergent perspectives of life. It thrives on intense human interaction and conflict, within and without.

At times it uses hypothetical but credible situations for dramatic communication of a point of view, deftly employing necessary ingredients of first rate storytelling, combined with high voltage drama. A meaningful, absorbing and entertaining viewing experience, the series has the emotional, intellectual appeal of an Oprah Winfrey show and the drama of Krantiveer. And above all, it stirs the viewer emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

A bold look at the happenings around us

Naya Zamana looks at human relationships differently. It does not differentiate between good and bad and desirable and undesirable. It is so because the serial's content is drawn from our own lives and if we look at our lives objectively we find it difficult to make value judgments. However, we take our respective ideological, moral, political, socio-cultural, and economic stances and evolve our own mechanism of justifiable existence. In this process we fail to see things from a different point of view, knowingly or unknowingly. This leads to dramatic conflicts and dilemmas. A good story thrives on these elements. Naya Zamana is one such story. And it is not a fantasy, it is very real and the experiences of Naya Zamana characters are very real too.

For instance there is this character of Shubhda Singh, played by Zarina Wahab, a mother and a teacher who finds it difficult to deal with her students as they refuse to accept her approach to life as the only approach. Her own daughter Suman, played by Sonali Pandit, rebels against her as Shubhda tries to convince her to be proud of her own traditions and not to be influenced by others. Suman feels otherwise. She does not find anything wrong in permissive and inhibition-free behavior of her friend Kiran, played by Ashwini.

Likewise, Akshay, played by Salim Shah, an art director in Image Maker's Advertising Agency disapproves of an advertisement using nude models but his boss Malati Verma, played by Kavita Kapoor, feels he has grown old and that is the reason he is scared of the good work being done by young visualisers. Akshay feels otherwise. He thinks Malati is starting a trend without knowing the consequences of it. There is a personal angle to it too. Malati is coming in her own now and she is not dependent on Akshay any more. Neither is she prepared to accept the whims and fancies of Akshay. She has options available and Akshay is dispensable in her scheme of things now. She feels one has to be professional in one's approach to work as well as life. Like, a woman must have her separate bank account otherwise she will remain dependent on men and will not be able to live with self-respect. Akshay abhors this kind of professionalism. He thinks emotions are more important.

There are other tracks too that represent a cross section of society. There is this girl Laxmi, played by Sadia Siddiqui, who is ashamed of being the daughter of a maidservant Ramabai, played by Suhita Thatte, as it brings down her market price.

All these tracks move within the broad parameters of the core issue- Market vs. Morality and explore its various facets. They throw up questions that may not have definite answers. The serial intends to initiate honest and frank discussions on issues of all hues and cries that confront us today. Nothing is sacrosanct here and though some of the views of the characters sound sensational, the intention is not exactly that.

This serial will also be remembered for the brilliant performances delivered by some of the finest actors and actresses of our country. They have truly excelled in Naya Zamana and have done full justice to the characters played by them. The basic direction approach makes sure that the actors and actresses get a chance to give out their best. camera follows the action and not otherwise. Camera operation had had to play a very important role here. Shot divisions were worked out in such a way that the intensity of the performances was recorded as closely as possible. The use of Close Ups have been made to the hilt to capture the nuances of the performance.

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