Maharakshak Devi superheroine lands on Indian TV

With an aim to bring topics like women empowerment and finding inner strength to fight social evils with a backdrop of Indian mythology into spotlight, Zee TV in introducing a small screen 'superheroine' with a new Maharakshak Devi fantasy show.Its trailer was launched here on Tuesday. The show, which is the second part of the Maharakshak trilogy after Maharakshak Aryan, narrates story of a girl with divine powers, who is unaware about them and lives in isolation.

It is about how her life changes when she finds a mentor, played by Rohit Bakshi, who helps her connect with her inner strength and that is when the fight between ‘good versus evil’ starts.The evil side in the show is led by actor Indraneil Sengupta, who portrays role of Shukracharya. His pack of ‘asuras’ (demons) include actors like Ankit Gera.

The concept of the show was narrated in a very intriguing manner as sand art was used to draw out the circumstances that led to the birth of 'Devi'. While the trailer was packed with adrenaline pumping stunts and stunning visuals, what caught attention was that the female lead of the show, Umang Jain, didn't have a single dialogue in the clip. She displayed her martial arts and expressed her emotions through merely her eyes.

Umang, who has acted in films like ‘Love Breakups Zindagi’ and has a long list of endorsements in her kitty, says the 'challenging factor' of the show made her pick it. It marks her comeback on the screen after almost eight years. Umang had put her acting career on hold to complete her studies, but is now back to entertain the audience with her talent.

“My character is very different from who I am in real life. I am chirpy and bubbly while my character in the serial is very serious, that acted like a challenge and lured me in. The show has a social message attached to it and that is each and every woman has inner strength, which we need to find,” Umang said at the trailer launch.

On doing a negative role, Indraneil, who looked suave in an all black outfit, said he feels “negative characters have wider scope".“I’m selfish as an actor. I feel there is a wider scope in negative characters than a positive role,” he said. The actor, who did a cameo in serial Tumhari Pakhi, termed the show as his comeback on the small screen.

“It’s like my comeback on the small screen and it would be great if I could do justice to the character,” he added.The trailer gave a glimpse of the action, drama, thrill packed in the show. Umang said that she had to undergo rigorous training for the show, which tested her physical capabilities. “I took special training and learnt a mix of martial arts. It was difficult. I had taken training in karate and that eased it a bit,” she added.

The channel's programming head Namit Sharma mentioned that the female lead of the finite series is a "sign of hope and power".“We are interpreting the stories of our Indian mythology in a modern world. Along with contemporary social evils, we will talk about crime against women,” Sharma said.The show will beam on March 14.