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Taking a step backward
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Maine
Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,
Hum Saath Saath Hain... whether you loved them or hated them,
what is definite is that they were all box office successes.
And over the past year, the success formula has now entered
television down to the ever-so-long manes (Kyunki Saas Bhi
Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Babul Ki Duayen Leti
Ja...).But it’s more than just the long names that bind
these serials together. Though the extended family structure
is on the decline (especially in metros where most of these
serials are situated), many revolve around business families
with all the brothers (and occasional sister) living together
with their respective wives and children. The action takes
place in the spacious, modern decorated homes, amongst the
women married or to-be-married: always impeccable in starched
saris, glinting jewellery and prominent sindoor. And the only
time the plots seems to move beyond household politics (revolving
from bed-tea to a new bride), is when the family business
is involved a cocooned and rather comfortable world, where
the crises move around in convulated circles. This at a time
when Indian women are heading governments, planning corporate
take-overs and winning Olympic medals!
But you
certainly wouldn’t think so, when flicking through the
channels. Good daughter-in-laws vie for attention by cooking
up feasts and bad ones attend kitty parties. Even really ambitious
women stick to ‘women’s professions’: fashion
designing, dance schools, flower shops. And when one woman
dares to venture into the family business, hubby-dear advises
against it: It would lead to ego clashes with him. Besides
doesn’t she have enough work with cooking and ironing?
And yet,
they seem content in these compartments. In fact, apart from
serials like Saans, Heena and Kora Kagaz, the women are content
in their marriages and the tension lines stretch between them:
mother (Babul...), mother-in-law (Kyunki...), sister-in-law
(Kahani...). The characters are often one-dimensional, sketched
in colours of good, bad and ugly. And this attitude is carried
forth in the issues that are referred to: pop music vs bhajans,
English vs Hindi, super-rich vs not-so-rich, son vs daughter.
Thus even in unusual circumstances, one can almost predict
how the plot will move. So a soon-to-be great-grandma has
to turn into an internationally renowned fashion designer
(Kyunki...). A rejected wife has to marry her husband’s
best friend (Heena). A divorced women has to get back with
her husband, instead of the rather sensitive ‘other man’
(Saans).
While
the situations may veer from the mundane (household chores)
to the incredible (the return of a long-forgotten illegitimate
daughter Kanyadaan), the dialogues remain cliched and completely
unimaginative. Do we really need to be told that a woman without
a man’s protection always appears available; or that
a woman’s lot is full of sorrow; or that a wife is never
beaten if she refrains from arguing with her husband! And
a hilarious peculiarity of Kyunki... is its regular plugging
of STAR Plus and the channel’s serials (like KBC).
What is
most ironic, is that these serials which centre around and
target women are strangely insensitive to their problems.
The mother-in-law’s insecurity about the new bahu, the
wife’s suspicions about the attractive secretary, or
the young girl’s doubts about her fiance. Tiny irritants
may be blown out of proportion, yet vulnerability is scoffed
upon or exploited.
So as
we enter into the real millennium, one can only wonder at
the directions television soaps are taking. Definitely not
pathbreaking, they are only taking a step backward in time
and tradition.
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