Soap opera of the absurd

Soap opera of the absurd

  I was surfing the television channels the other day, searching for something to ‘pass time’, as they say. While I could not find a single serial worthwhile to even stand for a few minutes, I was dumbstruck with the quality of what is shown on the idiot box in the name of entertainment.

Regressive, I thought, are today’s serials. But then, regressive would be a tame word I guess. These are atrocious, lousy and diabolical – a throwback to the loud and bad Hindi movies of the ’80s – and do justify the tag ‘idiot box’ given to television.

In this 21^st century when we are all standing up against superstition, here was a TV serial showing the protagonist challenging a daiin (witch) and taking on a nagin before that. Absolutely ridiculous! My seven-year-old son who was watching innocently asked. “Mamma, does this happen in real life also?” Even he understood that this can’t be real. I replied, “No they are just doing theatre just like you do in your theatre class.”

Then there was another serial in which a young widow is made to follow all the rules of a rigid conservative Hindu society. And we all thought widow remarriage is no big deal these days and the focus is on economic self-reliance of women.

In another serial, the lead character married so many times that even viewers lost count. Once while my mother-in-law was watching that serial and a marriage sequence was going on, my husband asked who was getting married. She replied the lead character, to which he said “Oh no, Not again!” and there were bouts of laughter.

One soap is about a girl who is the subject of ridicule day in and day out. The reason -- believe it or not – is her stammering. The whole world right from her neighbours to her office colleagues to her in-laws is after her to make her life hell. They insult her again and again, calling her ruk ruk ke bolne wali. I wonder if anybody behaves like that today.

In many serials, the mom-in law is shown plotting against the daughter-in-law and the later doesn’t utter a word. I don’t think today’s girls are so dumb and so tolerant. Why can’t they focus on not tolerating such behaviour and lodging complaints against domestic violence? In our self-defence classes with Delhi Police, we were told even emotional torture is a crime and action would be taken if complaint is lodged. Or will they wait for the daughter-in-law to die and take rebirth for revenge? Going by our present day stories, even that is possible.

In yet another story, the father-in-law is the hell breaker in the household and makes the lives of all the women in the house like jail inmates. They are not allowed to go out and even wear a saree of their choice. My, my, isn’t that a bit too much?

All this reminds of our childhood days when DD was the only channel and cable network was yet to enter our lives. The serials came once a week and we used to wait for a whole week to know what would happen next. The storylines were simple and real and we would instantly connect with them. The characters were so like us and we would laugh and cry with them and understand their feelings. The stories had a logical ending. Serials like Humlog, Buniyaad, Katha Sagar, Ye jo hai zindegi, Rajni, etc., that we can never forget. Serials that were so popular and even today people talk about them. May be that is why when Zindagi channel entered our homes, it instantly struck a chord with the viewers as they found its storylines similar with the old DD days.

Even today some serials start with a good theme but under the daily pressure, they lose track. Writers are forced to stretch the storyline to such an extent that it becomes boring and people lose interest. They bring twists and turns every now and then by entry of a vamp or rebirth angle or double role and even plastic surgery. Even actors start quitting the shows and serial makers have to replace them with new faces, confusing the viewers all the more.

Serial makers often reason that they add masala to the soaps to attract housewives. Please give me a break. Today’s homemakers are educated so why feed them with such stories? If people stop watching such shows, TRPs will automatically go down and the channels will be bound to pull the plug on these serials.

But I also feel there must be are a lot of viewers who regularly watch such serials. Even I failed to convince my mom-in-law not to watch such serials. Her logic is “what else do I watch?”

Isn’t it time for serial makers to give us something worthwhile and tell the world that TV is more than just an idiot box?