Here's how Vinta Nanda's show 'Tara' ft. Alok Nath-Navneet Nishan broke stereotypes

By Rohit Bhatnagar

on October 09, 2018

#MeToo campaign has emerged as one of the most successful movements in recent times. With actress Tanushree Dutta’s accusation of sexual harassment on actor Nana Patekar, producer Vinta Nanda has also come on the forefront and accused his once upon a time friend Alok Nath.

No matter, Vinta made a brave attempt by making a show like Tara back in 1993 (she had written and produced the show) but in the age and time of social media today, it is easier for her to come out of the closet. Vinta, who recently accused TV personality and her show's lead star Alok Nath of sexual assault, wrote a long post on her social media account. She wrote such bold female characters which caused a storm on the small screen.

Here are the reasons why Vinta Nanda's Tara was a path-breaking show in the 90's.

Breaking RECORDS

During the 90’s, there were many television soaps which were ahead of their times and Tara is one of them. Directed by Raman Kumar, aired on Zee TV from 1993-1997, Tara was a story of an urban businesswoman that revolved around her joys and sorrows.

Navneet Nishan as TARA

The titular role was played by actress Navneet Nishan. Industry’s Babuji Alok Nath played a pivotal role in the show named Deepak Seth. Popular actors Ratna Pathak Shah, Amita Nangia, Neha Sharad, Deven Bhojani, Shefali Shetty also played some of the primary characters in the show.

It was one of the most successful shows in the 90’s which ran for about 500 episodes. It is a lesser known fact that the makers planned to run the television series for 52 episodes but the massive popularity of the show touched 500 episodes. The best part of the show that the audiences left intrigued at the end of every episode.

Unapologetically bold

The show highlighted the issue of infidelity which is still a taboo in Indian society. In the show, Tara had an affair with Deepak and had a child with him. On the other hand, Deepak was already married to Devyani Seth played by Grusha Kapoor and the two had a teenage daughter.

The controversial kissing still from TARA

One of the highlights of the show was Naveent and Alok indulged in the first ever on-screen kiss on television. During mid-90’s, on-screen kiss used to be a big thing even for films.

Defining modern women

Through this show, Navneet broke all the stereotypes of an ideal woman in the society as there was not much noise about such issues as it is today through social media. The actors back then were courageous enough to take up such challenging roles and were keen to do something notable. Navneet’s short crop hairstyle also became a talking point and soon it became a style statement during the show was on-air.

L-R: Navneet Nishan and Amita Nangia

Navneet believed that she and the team weren’t aware that they were making something path-breaking when they started rolling. She strongly felt that it was difficult for actors to break the image of the characters they played on television. Interestingly, Navneet wasn’t keen to play Tara initially rather she wished to play Sheena who was alcoholic played by her contemporary Amita Nangia. We wonder producer-writer Vinta Nanda, who made such a controversial show two decades ago was silent until she got a platform and a movement like #MeToo to accuse the culprit Alok Nath.