Chiffons give way to rustic cottons on prime time

Chiffons give way to rustic cottons on prime time

15 May 2009, 0408 hrs IST, Meenakshi Sinha, TNN

NEW DELHI: Noodle straps and shimmering chiffons have given way to rustic cottons in earthy hues. Parched fields and mud huts have replaced opulent drawing rooms and chandeliers. A spate of stories from rural India is dominating television primetime slots on general entertainment channels (GEC). Most are set in Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar with stories centred around the rainbow of rural life.

The immensely popular 'Balika Vadhu', which started on Colors in July 2008, has started off a trend that seems to be getting stronger by the day. Another serial on the same channel showcases the ills of child marriage: 'Na Aana Is Des Laado' (NAIDL) deals with female infanticide of rural Haryana while Zee's 'Agle Janam Mohey Bitiya Hi Kijo' (AJMBHK) talks about selling of girls in Bihar on Zee TV. Popular serial 'Kyonki...Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai', shown on prime time DD1 thrice a week, is set in Rajpura village and deals, among other things, with issues like maternal health and child mortality.

Channels are too aware of the appeal these serials have. "Child marriage and female infanticide are a reality for people of rural areas, which nobody voiced on mainstream media," says Ashvini Yardi, programming head, Colors. Back in the early 1980s, when India was still a single channel television nation, DD soaps often offered a peepshow into rural India. With the onset of cable television, serials became increasingly urbanized and rural India was eased out of the small screen.

Undoubtedly, serials like 'Balika Vadhu', NAIDL and AJMBHK have brought rural traditions, character and culture into drawing rooms. Perhaps the lives in remote, rural areas raise the curiosity quotient of the urban audience disconnected from those settings.

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