Sumit Sambhal Lega: Our thoughts on the first episode

Star Plus has done something a lot of Indian networks hadn't experimented with for a long time. The channel has given the prime time spot of 10pm weekdays to a comedy show (unless you count Sony's CID as comedy which it more or less is). Sumit Sambhal Lega released on Monday and is an adaptation of the much loved American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

It may be too early to come up with a judgment with just one episode out so far but we will just go ahead and say that the show does look promising. It is definitely different than what is being shown on other channels and brings a breath of freshness with light, harmless comedy.

Namit Das and Manasi Parekh Gohil as Sumit and Maya.

At 10pm, Sony airs Maharana Pratap and his never ending 'sankats' (god knows how many he will have to go through), &TV airs Begusarai with innumerable family tensions, gun-slinging, yadda yadda yadda; ZTV airs Satrangi Sasural (the word 'Sasural' tells you what to expect) and Colors airs Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi where the guy loved the girl but was broke then he somehow got rich but doesn't love the girl anymore or maybe he does but doesn't want to show it (we gave up on it a long time ago).

Everybody Loves Raymond ran from 1996 to 2005.

Amid all this chaos, a comedy show doesn't hurt. Sumit (Raymond) is any other guy caught between the tug of war between his wife and kids and his parents and brother. The parents don't give them enough space and the wife doesn't like it one bit. And Sumit is usually the one at the receiving end of it as he struggles to keep all of them happy.

Namit Das as Sumit looks like any 'husband-next-door' but needs to brush up his comic timing. Manasi Parekh Gohil is Maya, the wife and plays her part well. Bharati Achrekar plays the mom who doesn't know the word 'privacy'. The funniest one however is Satish Kaushik who plays the forever-hungry father. If you have watched Everybody Loves Raymond, you would agree that the funniest one was Robert, Raymond's jealous brother. Here, however, Vikram Kochhar had just three lines in total but all three were funny.

But is it as good as the original? Absolutely not. Is it as good as Khichdi or Sarabhai vs Sarabhai? Absolutely not. But that doesn't mean that it isn't worth watching.

The show needs better plots and funnier dialogue writing to win over the audience. In a country which had good comedy shows like Tu Tu Main Main, Hum Paanch, Khichdi or Sarabhai vs Sarabhai we have waited long enough for another good one. Please don't let us down this time guys.