Posted:
Mature love stories, divorces, remarriages — the small-screen has been dealing
with all these hitherto taboo topics for the
last two years. The latest issue to catch
the fancy of makers is the battle for child
custody between warring partners. Punar
Vivaah on Zee has protagonist Aarti's ex-husband
Prashant fighting for the
custody of his son Ansh.
In Bade Acche Laggte Hai
(Sony), Ram and Priya are having a tug-ofwar over who will take care of their daughter Pihu and in Parichay, Siddhi and Abhay
have been at loggerheads over the custody
of their twin boys.
Prashant Bhatt, weekday programming
Head, Colors says that it's a reflection of
the real world. "It's not just the theme of
child custody gaining importance on television, this is happening all around us. TV is
only a medium to relay the story. We are trying to highlight real life situations through
our shows like Parichay. There are many
homes where parents have separated and
are fighting for custody of their children.
We want to highlight the state of the child
trapped between feuding adults. Viewers connect easily with children and that
helps build context." Sumeet Mittal who is
producing Punar Vivaah and has just shot
a melodramatic court scene avers, "We
are dealing with a socially relevant subject
where this kind of marital disharmony is
common, specially if a child is involved
in a broken marriage. We are trying
to convey a message that children's
emotional stability is most important and they must not be traumatised."
Pyschologist Seema Hingoranny is all for television creating
awareness about sensitive issues.
"The medium is picking up what I call lifestyle issues that audiences can relate to. It
is good to the point of raising awareness
but in most cases it becomes melodramatic.
The negativity and mud-slinging between
the protagonists can send a wrong message
because viewers look at them as role models," she warns.
However, Vivek Bahl, Chief Creative Director, Sony, assures that while the aim is
to reflect society, "the effort is to underline
hope, learning and positivity through the
same." We hope so too!
chaya.unnikrishnan@dnaindia.net
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