#HappyDussehra: 10 Evil Things On Indian Television That Need To Be Burnt Right Away

After all, the good should be victorious over evil everywhere.

Published: Saturday,Sep 30, 2017 18:27 PM GMT-06:00

Sanchita Jhunjhunwala

Today, the 10th day of Navratri, marks Dussehra, where we remember the end of Ramleela and Lord Rama's victory over the evil Raavana.

This day holds a lot of significance in Indian ethos, and hence is celebrated with all vigour. While good and evil are both present in every aspect of our lives, the Indian Television industry is no exception. And we at India-Forums thought we'd list down 10 evil things that are happening on Indian TV and should be put to an end right away.

Read as we list them down for you!

1. Stereotyping women

The portrayal of women on Indian TV is quite stereotyped and typical for an audience that is slowly moving to accept more of progressive content. Shows still showing a girl putting up with all the drama from her mother in law, or how a girl would always give up on her own wishes in order to cater to her husband's, is something that has been glorified on TV time and again.

Not to forget, even in the 21st century, independent women remain a myth. If we manage to find some on Indian TV, we will also have to accept the 9 yards of saree wrapped around her. The only time we see a woman go glam and fab is when she turns into a vamp. That needs to stop.

2.The Invisible role of men

Quite in sync with the first point, while it is no doubt that women are stereotyped and yet remain the key characters in almost every daily soap, it is also no hidden fact that men are often used as mere props with very minimal or no stand of their own at all, and nothing much to do. Even a show like Ishqbaaaz that started off with a sole concept of showing the bromance of the three Oberoi brothers has now gone the 'Indianized' soap way.

3. Glorifying angry men and their behaviour

There is a lot that has happened and progressed as well, but certain things have gone up the graph but only to make it all the more worse. It started with Maan Singh Khurrana aka Gurmeet Choudhary in Geet Hui Sabse Parayi, when the viewers fell in love with his character which was supposed to be angry and arrogant. However, what also came along was the immense love and all the worship that he received, and it continues even today in the form of Raman (Karan Patel), Advay (Barun Sobti) and others being loved for being the angry young men.

4. Exploiting the audience in the name of votes

A reality show should be kept just that, all reality. Manipulating the votes, or pre-scripting the entire show isn't what we want to see. While such rigging and manipulating is often spared when the contestants are commoners, when celebrity reality shows are concerned, there is always a flaw involved.

5. Reusing and abusing the same tracks

There was a point of time when almost every single TV show was showing the kidnapping drama and how the hero turns his ladylove's saviour. And of course, if repetitive tracks aren't enough, then there are shows like Kumkum Bhagya, that resort to the same track in different ways. We wouldn't be surprised if there's an accident again followed by a loss of memory and of course, marriage.

6. Ridiculing marriage and motherhood

Both marriage and motherhood are two of the most sacred relationships that we humans have, to cherish. The Indian TV on the other hand pays no heed to those ethos and has time and again made a mockery out of it. Abortions and multiple marriages on various shows is nothing but a game for them.

7. The treatment meted out to children

This has been a major issue these days, given how the children are being used for TRPs and are being exploited to a whole new level all together. A child working in any daily soap is being introduced to things and situations that he/she probably might face sometime in the future, but, the treatment that they are given on TV makes the entire scenario worse.

8. Contaminating the historic and mythological tracks

There is no doubt that there is always scope for fictionalization in any story, but doing that to a historic or a mythological one is something that does need a lot of care and the intricacies have to be kept in mind. In the first week of this month, we came across one of the instances in Star Plus' Chandra Nandini where accidentally, the mehendi on the bride's palm is imprinted on another girl's palm just about perfectly with the initials of the former's husband. While this makes just no sense at all, what irks us all the more is using it as an element to add drama in a show of historic significance.

9. Following the herd mentality

If I had to divide the shows currently running on Indian TV into different genres, it wouldn't take a lot of my time because of the very few exceptions we have. Doing something that one is good at is a different thing, while doing something that everyone is doing is naive. It was once the trend of supernatural thrillers that had taken a front seat, but with time that faded away.

Currently it is all the mythos and historical shows that are the forerunners. The herd mentality is so strong that two shows, with a same name, (Prem Ya Paheli - Chandrakanta and Ek Mayavi Premgata Chandrakanta) aired on two different channels. While there isn't much that can be done because the content driven stories fail to make an impact, we can only hope that things change for better.

10. Deviating from the core concept of the show

This is one major problem that we think Indian TV industry faces. On one hand the viewers as well as the makers talk about good, meaningful, content driven shows while on the other, the makers look out for TRPs and the viewers for drama. Most of the shows start off on a totally different pretext and over time, go somewhere totally different. Talk about Sasural Simar Ka or Ishqbaaaz, no comparisons drawn, but while the former wanted to talk about the life of two sisters but later turned into some supernatural drama, the latter wanted to showcase the camaraderie and the bond between three brothers but turned into a love saga. Oh and of course, how can we miss Udaan, Uttaran, Naamkarann - they created a total blunder out of their storylines.

Though purely entertainment, what we see everyday does have a lot of effect on our brains. And, these things do need a full stop at the soonest possible moment in order to make content progressive for both us and the industry.

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Comments (26)

janvi0513 @janvi0513

+ 3 ⋮

@PremeerDiwani, I don't think getting married at a age like 21 is wrong, especially since you are in love with the person and want to spend your life with them. She is not getting blackmailed or forcing herself into a marriage.
They did have a track related to dance academy, where Naira participates in a competition, in fact two tracks, one before marriage during Akshara's time, the day when Akshara and Naira reconciled and the other track after marriage, where Karthik Naira ended up performing together. Yes after that till now they have not spoken of it yet but between the first academy track and second dance academy track there was also a lot of gap.
Plus during one episode Surekha had said about a complaint coming from Luv Kush school, so they definitely go to school, they can't use my screen space unnecessarily just to show them sitting at school.
Yes they have never cleared about what Naira's education level (or for that matter anyone's, Karthik, Naksh, Gayu, Kirti, as far as I can remember). They had showed some track on Naksh education after the cape town leap, but then Krishna track came and they showed him focusing on that, don't remember exactly what happened did Naksh complete his education or not.

6 years ago

Sana A Sarwar @abd_20

+ 2 ⋮

sahi pakde hain all the shows start with a concept which is new but with time they start to make blunderous mistakes like repetition of tracks leaving certain tracks incomplete or just don't care if what things they are showing is true to life or not or atleast a bit relatable.

6 years ago

pakpearl @pakpearl

+ 2 ⋮

Point 1-3-4 ...
can't agree more..
Nice article !!!!!

6 years ago

heera1702 @heera1702

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One of best articles n thoughts by IF after a long time. Keep coming up with such thoughful articles often. Well another stereotype which the followers of IF look forward to,plzz stop favouring only some actors,producers n shows n stop gloryfying the same tracks of shows which U have mentioned here to b evil,make it a point to keep condemning these tracks ,then only the objective of this writeup will make sense. Plz seriously try to look beyond ur favourites n look n praise talent who truly deserve mention n applauds.

6 years ago

4 Reply

mushiroxx @mushiroxx

+ 3 ⋮

One of the best articles I have read lately (Y) Kudos to the writers. The shows that start off as something different end up being the same as other due to trps I guess. It's high time this thing stops plus one more point the trps should include the online audience aswell.

6 years ago

2 Reply

priya @JugniPH

+ 7 ⋮

One of the best article of IF. agree to the all 10 points. its high time for indian television to change and bring something different. and this different doesnt mean soaps like PPK , WH and beyhad (current beyhad, show was superb in season 1). theer are so many unexplored areas.
Will we ever see a heroin working even after wedding along with husband? and a hero who does something other than business? like a professor? will we ever have a story with office background in real way? not the one in which a vamp trying harm heroin by locking her in storeroom. but the actual office atmosphere?
it is not like audience wont accept them. they will. if you present them by putting 150% effort they will defo accept. the trp of show everest arent that bad. the current shift of audience towards reality shows are also an indication.

@anu023.. id dont think the author meant in that way. they are hinting the heroins who used to wear salwars and other modern dress before marriage suddenly changes to saree all the time. normal people wont change like that. esp an IPS officer wearing saree and keeping pallu on head at home is too much. saree is def a respectful dress but its about comfrt mre.
@jhanvi0513.. naira might not be regular heroin. but defo not an example for the change.. esp the naira after marriage. why they got married at 21-22 year? who does it now? now she is spending all her time to solve family problems and setting her brother and SIL's marriage. what about her education? what about her career as dancer? leave naira.. even luv-khush seems to be in home full time rather than going to school and study

6 years ago

4 Reply

s631607

@s631607

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6 years ago

4 Reply

anu023 @anu023

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Dimwits of india forums saree is the most stylish garment if draped properly. Saree is an Indiam garment and we live in India. Western dresses can be worn but change ur cheap mindset of defining a modernist by the kind of clothes she wears

6 years ago

2 Reply

Pragnya @1stluvshantanu

⋮

Amazing article! On point totally! I'm glad u mentioned few things like "angry young man" guys being loved. I hated that trend of sati savitri female and angry young man jodi. I wondered and still wonder how girls drooled over such a character! Like would you ever go out with a guy who is so rude and plain arrogant? Be practical! Plus that reality show asking for votes drama. Why ask for votes if the show is pre scripted or votes are going to be manipulated! We all know how Divek won nach baliye and Teriya won JDJ!

6 years ago

3 Reply