India: A Love Story (2009– )

For those who enjoy a soap opera, Brazil is fertile ground, as the overwhelming majority of general TV channels in the country transmit, on average, four soap operas daily. Invariably, much of this material eventually goes around the world, being bought and broadcast in other countries. One of the most permeable markets for Brazilian teledramaturgy is, of course, my country, due to its cultural and linguistic proximity. I watched "Caminho das Índias" twice, the first when it debuted in Portugal around 2010, and the second was about three years ago when it was reprised.

The whole plot is between India and Brazil but the focus is the forbidden love story between Maya and Bahuan, a boy who belongs to the lower Hindu castes, the "Untouchables" or "Dalit". She ends up marrying, in an arranged marriage, with Raj Ananda, son of a wealthy merchant named Opash. This love triangle will feed almost all soap opera, which makes good use of the Indian exoticism and traditions. In fact, the biggest attraction here is the environment where everything happens and the exotic cultural context, different from the normal one in a Brazilian soap opera. But this isn't totally innovative, in that it follows a recipe that had given right earlier in "O Clone".

Juliana Paes held the lead role with great talent and was very good until the end. Tony Ramos also stood out for the best reasons. Rodrigo Lombardi was equally good, perhaps better and more regular than his "rival" Marcio Garcia, who was highlighted by the inconsistencies of his character, deeply marked by the prejudice he was observed as "Dalit". Other actors that deserve a positive note are Cleo Pires, Laura Cardoso, Bruno Gagliasso (perhaps one of his best works to date), Humberto Martins and Letícia Sabatella. On the other side we have the bad performances of Christiane Torloni, Débora Bloch and Eliane Giardini, all in characters too histrionic, sometimes so hysterical as caricatures. Even so, this soap opera captivated the audience and deserves to be regarded as one of the best of the decade.