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Magazine
MEDIA MATTERS
Out with the 'in-laws'
SEVANTI NINAN
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North or South, TV fiction seems to thrive on women.
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pti
... what's in is a woman-centred serial, like "Karishma".
FEMALE protagonists are Indian television fiction's life blood. Take them away and prime time TV will collapse. Whether it is the relentless melodrama of the Southern channels or of the Hindi ones, TV fiction thrives on women. Not particularly progressive characters, but who is looking for role models? All that the Faceless Female Audiences out there in middle India want is their evening fix of Balaji Telefilms to watch with mum-in-law and the kids. Or so we were told.
Over the last two years, the saas-bahu genre became a cliché, but one that media planners were very happy with. Tulsi of "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" became almost better known than the sacred plant. More importantly, she brought in the television rating points (TRPs). But even good things run their course, and so it is with the output of Mumbai's most powerful redhead, Ekta Kapoor. Her convoluted melodrama still brings in the maximum TRPs, but we are gradually being weaned away from the sobbing, simpering or conniving damsels in Kanjeevarams, as she begins to experiment. The ratings are showing only a very teeny weeny dip, but thank your stars, the saas- bahu genre is finally on the decline. And just look at what we are getting in its place. A Bollywood princess and an endearing little ugly duckling, pre-destined to become a swan. A third new entry last fortnight was "Kahin Na Hoga", a tale of a widower and five daughters dished out again by Balaji Telefilms. The sisters all look the same age, more or less, but you are not supposed to fuss about authenticity when you are being entertained by India's reigning TV drama goddess.
One is happy to report however that La Kapoor has competition. Businessman Subroto Roy of Sahara, who has just helped launch a new chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, has also launched what is being described as the first ever blockbuster on Indian television. In fiction terms, because that label was also richly deserved by "Kaun Banega Crorepati". In both cases, it has taken a Bollywood winner to make the difference.
"Karishma — the Miracles of Destiny" is a florid name for what is shaping up to be a beautifully shot, completely woman-centred, serial. Karishma Kapoor is its central strength. Not just on account of her performance but also because she has to play so many roles. She is simultaneously playing an elderly woman, and the same character in her youth, she also plays her daughter. That's three roles and no wonder her newspaper interviews have her complaining about too many costume changes.
This is a high spending serial for the right reasons. It is slated to cost more than "Devdas" did to make, at Rs. 60 crores. But that is because of outdoor locations including foreign ones, and period authenticity. A zamindar's home is recreated and exquisitely filmed. Kapoor is very good in her role, though her grandmother avatar involves no aging at all other than grey hair. The first couple of weeks had so many scenes with her daughters-in-law that it seemed as if we were headed for another saas-bahu saga masquerading under other pretensions. But now the flashback to Devyani's youth has begun and it is beginning to resemble the Bengali novels that were fictionalised on Doordarshan very long ago. Only, we have it on Barbara Bradford's allegation that this is no Bengali novel but her fiction that is being plagiarised.
Kapoor's debut has been hyped by Sahara every bit as much as Bachchan's was by Star. Hoardings in many cities, and intrusive ads that you could not miss in the country's biggest dailies. The first ratings are yet to come in at the time of writing, but one is simply grateful for the fact that this TV drama is different. Devyani, the woman she plays, is an industrialist with no-good sons, and unlike the mothers of erring sons in Balaji soap operas, she is steely in dealing with them. Her son is also plotting to kill her, something Balaji sons are unlikely to do to their mummy dears. Karishma is a lovely actress, and her performance as well as the camera work lift the serial out of the ordinary.
No sooner was Karishma launched than Sony wickedly pitted another refreshing offering in the same slot — 9.30 p.m., Mondays to Thursdays. "Jassi Jaise Koi Nahi", is worth catching. The story is not original to this production, it is taken from a foreign soap opera. But it is the tale of a Plain Jane who gets a job in a fashion house, and it is what women-centred serials on Indian television almost never are: fun to watch. The men and women here are glossed-up hothouse creatures, preening and bitching, all very different from the pallu draped mistresses of melodrama on the other serials.
New entrants apart, female characters on TV are becoming far more nuanced. Dialogue writers are turning out less clichéd stuff. Women in extra marital relationships are given dignified lines to speak, and mothers-in-law are challenging the stereotype. "Kittie Party" on Zee TV, Shobha De's contribution to female solidarity of the swinging kind, has Tina leave because her husband is having a child by another woman. The other woman speaks up for herself with quiet dignity, and even as Tina leaves, her in-laws urge her to stay back. He can leave, they say of their son, you stay with us, this is your home. Wow, you want to say.
Sahara has an episodic series called "Kadam" on Fridays which did a story on a Mumbai bar girl the other night. Residents in the building come to her flat to ask her to leave when they discover what her work is. And the woman draws herself up and delivers a stirring dialogue on her right to stay there and earn an honest living. She confronts the man in the gang who has made a pass at her earlier. The residents slink away, and women among them come up to her and tell her they will defend her right to stay there.
"Kadam" also features real people in normal looking homes, a commodity in very short supply in prime time satellite fiction today. Given the cloying regression peddled over the last few years, these are certainly welcome departures.
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