I don't know why I watch TV soaps. I have been planning to quit. I don't
remember why I started in the first place. Yes, they are entertaining,
devoid of logic or consistency in characters or those who play them. The
thing is, I have a night job and I wake up late. As a result, it is
noon when I have my breakfast and there is nothing interesting to watch
on TV except the re-runs of these soaps. I repeat, they are often
entertaining.
It was one such noon, when I first watched the re-run of Kya Hua Tera Wada. I had seen the promos and had no intentions of starting it, but unfortunately the re-run came at 1.00 and at that time I am full of food and too lazy to move. My cousin had said that Mona Singh who plays 'Mona' and Pawan Shankar, who plays 'Pradeep' were excellent actors and so the show must be good. And so I started watching it off-and-on. But now the story has reached to a point where I am reminded why exactly I don't like these serials.
The ex-girlfriend of the husband returns in his life as his boss and helps him in his career and they both have an affair. When the affair comes out in open, the husband breaks off relationship with his wife of 11-years and his three kids with a promise to support them financially. And what does the wife do? She goes and begs the girlfriend to return her husband who is her "whole life". The girlfriend (Anushka, played by Mauli Ganguli) says that taking care of home and rearing children is job of a maid and that Pradeep needs to go after his dreams and so-on. Mona then tries to commit suicide, but is saved by her mother-in-law, who convinces her to work towards winning her husband back and show him the difference between "gharwali" and "baharwali". And how does Mona do it?
She files for divorce and says that her husband has to take care of the kids. Anushka, who stays in pent house has to shift to 2BHK flat and take care of three kids and from the looks of it, she is done with.
My problem with the serial is that it stereotypes roles. A career oriented woman, who has made it big, is not a good news.A housewife has no identity without her kids and husband and hence she must get her husband back.
Now, why would an unmarried career-oriented woman not understand importance of family? Sometimes it is the thing you don't have that you value the most. Besides she liked the guy from college and wanted him because he had loved her when she was a nobody. The attraction was normal. The guy liked her too. His wife "never understood him, never supported him in front of others and nor did she take out time for him". So he drifted towards his old love. Fine. But that doesn't mean they will not find happiness. Or that Anushka can't learn to take care of the kids and love them too. She needn't be the classic "stepmother".
And why should Mona want her cheating husband back? Is it her love or financial insecurity? Would she try to find out the reason he left her (usually they don't, not on the soaps that is)?
My guess is that the girlfriend, finding it hard to handle the kids, will try to send them to a boarding school. The husband may oppose the move. The wife would learn ways of the world and present herself in a different light to her husband. Meanwhile, the husband and the girlfriend will keep fighting and he would miss his wife, or not. Eventually, the two will be reunited. The wife will either forgive or let him back "for kids' sake". That is the usual trajectory such serials take.
It is true that in our society it is difficult to live as a woman whose husband has left her. She is certainly vulnerable and the state institutions provide no comfort for such women. Given that she is merely a graduate and has no work experience it will be hard for her to get a job and even when she does the scope of growth would be limited. Such woman are also easy target for criminals and if anything happens the police will blame her for it. The expose by the Tehelka magazine into the mindset of the Delhi police substantiates my point. Even when a woman is murdered the first thing that cops do is to slander her character. However, this doesn't mean she has to go back to her husband.
The situation in Balika Vadhu is far more realistic and well, complicated. (Although Avika Gor, who played young Anandi, is now working in a nauseating serial called Sasural Simar Ka, where she plays the role of a married teen).
But Mona, unlike Anandi, is from a liberal family. She can become financially independent (though that will be difficult as I've mentioned before) and perhaps find herself a new man. At least I hope that happens.
I really wish these soaps try to break the social stereotypes of woman rather than reinforcing them.
It was one such noon, when I first watched the re-run of Kya Hua Tera Wada. I had seen the promos and had no intentions of starting it, but unfortunately the re-run came at 1.00 and at that time I am full of food and too lazy to move. My cousin had said that Mona Singh who plays 'Mona' and Pawan Shankar, who plays 'Pradeep' were excellent actors and so the show must be good. And so I started watching it off-and-on. But now the story has reached to a point where I am reminded why exactly I don't like these serials.
The ex-girlfriend of the husband returns in his life as his boss and helps him in his career and they both have an affair. When the affair comes out in open, the husband breaks off relationship with his wife of 11-years and his three kids with a promise to support them financially. And what does the wife do? She goes and begs the girlfriend to return her husband who is her "whole life". The girlfriend (Anushka, played by Mauli Ganguli) says that taking care of home and rearing children is job of a maid and that Pradeep needs to go after his dreams and so-on. Mona then tries to commit suicide, but is saved by her mother-in-law, who convinces her to work towards winning her husband back and show him the difference between "gharwali" and "baharwali". And how does Mona do it?
She files for divorce and says that her husband has to take care of the kids. Anushka, who stays in pent house has to shift to 2BHK flat and take care of three kids and from the looks of it, she is done with.
My problem with the serial is that it stereotypes roles. A career oriented woman, who has made it big, is not a good news.A housewife has no identity without her kids and husband and hence she must get her husband back.
Now, why would an unmarried career-oriented woman not understand importance of family? Sometimes it is the thing you don't have that you value the most. Besides she liked the guy from college and wanted him because he had loved her when she was a nobody. The attraction was normal. The guy liked her too. His wife "never understood him, never supported him in front of others and nor did she take out time for him". So he drifted towards his old love. Fine. But that doesn't mean they will not find happiness. Or that Anushka can't learn to take care of the kids and love them too. She needn't be the classic "stepmother".
And why should Mona want her cheating husband back? Is it her love or financial insecurity? Would she try to find out the reason he left her (usually they don't, not on the soaps that is)?
My guess is that the girlfriend, finding it hard to handle the kids, will try to send them to a boarding school. The husband may oppose the move. The wife would learn ways of the world and present herself in a different light to her husband. Meanwhile, the husband and the girlfriend will keep fighting and he would miss his wife, or not. Eventually, the two will be reunited. The wife will either forgive or let him back "for kids' sake". That is the usual trajectory such serials take.
It is true that in our society it is difficult to live as a woman whose husband has left her. She is certainly vulnerable and the state institutions provide no comfort for such women. Given that she is merely a graduate and has no work experience it will be hard for her to get a job and even when she does the scope of growth would be limited. Such woman are also easy target for criminals and if anything happens the police will blame her for it. The expose by the Tehelka magazine into the mindset of the Delhi police substantiates my point. Even when a woman is murdered the first thing that cops do is to slander her character. However, this doesn't mean she has to go back to her husband.
The situation in Balika Vadhu is far more realistic and well, complicated. (Although Avika Gor, who played young Anandi, is now working in a nauseating serial called Sasural Simar Ka, where she plays the role of a married teen).
But Mona, unlike Anandi, is from a liberal family. She can become financially independent (though that will be difficult as I've mentioned before) and perhaps find herself a new man. At least I hope that happens.
I really wish these soaps try to break the social stereotypes of woman rather than reinforcing them.
