The aura of Indian soaps and serials have continued to the present times from the days of Hum Log. With the pressing situation of atrocities against women, most of the soaps have tried to incorporate those in their plots in an attempt to create awareness among the masses. But the truth I find is quite contrary. While crime against women is highlighted, there are numerous instances where the status of a woman disintegrates and degenerates.
And yes I mean in those Ekta Kapoor serials too, where the image of a woman in those shimmering chiffon saris or cool western wears makes us caste them into prototypes. The female protagonist MUST be a sanskari girl who wears only Indian dresses most of the time. Her culture must be reflected through her demeanour and often she must be the one sacrificing for the whole family. I mean what are the men doing in the drama then?
Oh I forgot, the men show their chiselled figures and arrive just in time to save the damsel in distress. In today’s age when feminism voices equality of rights then I don’t understand why it always has to be a girl who is to be saved from a host of problems by the man. Can’t it be the other way round? Like a man in need of help from a woman??
And if by chance the protagonist happens to come from a rich family and the lead hero from a poor financial background then she is quickly stripped of her position and wealth. Oh no no no…! She cannot be richer than him..! It is she who will always look up to him for support financially and emotionally. It is she who will voluntarily give up the material world for him to be his better half.
The man has to look coming straight from the gym, with a typical main tera hero look perennially glued to his face and he must possess the divine quality of breaking into a fight with whoever argues with him and hardly receiving a scratch in return. Even if he does so the woman will rush behind him to tear her pallu and make an instant bandage out of it. The woman must not then look directly in his eyes but pull up a show of her love by pretending to be coy with occasional smiles. She must run to her hero whenever she is in danger and no, she cannot protect herself. Even in supporting her to achieve her dreams, it is he who is to be praised for being the ideal husband and not to be seen as a woman’s equal right to pursue her aims.
If you see the vamps of such shows you will notice they follow certain rules and regulations which have to be diametrically opposite to that of the pure sanskari girl. For once and all they must wear western clothes (as if women who wears western dresses are automatically against the Indian culture)and if not then they MUST have a dark brown or black or any other dark coloured eye shadows as a proof of carrying evil in their bosoms.
They must always be driven by a jealously for the sanskari girl and by the twist of the plots if they manage to engage in an extra-marital affair with the leading hero then God help them. Because they are subjected to the category of a fallen woman, it is they who are solely at fault and never the hero. It is she who lures the man to fall for her and is later given a lecture(preferably by the female protagonist) on how pure is her marriage and how dare that she try to capture her man. Yeh ladka hain ki football..? kisi ke bhi goal mein chala jaata hain..!!!
The figure of a woman is divided into absolutes. She must either be purely divine barring all negativities of life or else she must be wholly evil. There are no grey shades to her character. The irony is that how these telly soaps manage to generate such high TRPs even if they show such clear gender divide. Such shows are viewed by millions and this divide gets more and more integrated into the society. We are surely entertained but the expenses are too high for that. Progression and equality for women must be generated through the mass media where shows and serials should promote them. After all our country needs to be run both by a man and a woman, and one cannot exist without the other.
