Oh the perils of living vicariously through an EK show!!!

EK shows should have a warning in big red letters - "WATCH THIS SHOW AT YOUR OWN RISK...MAY BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND PEACE OF MIND"

She and her directors have a highly screwed/skewed sense of what the audience wants to watch to unwind and relax, to escape from reality, to live vicariously through a beautiful heart-tugging angst-ridden love story.

All the protests fall on deaf ears, all the tweets go waste,

cause they have such depraved idea of what entails entertainment that they cannot see the writing on the wall.

It is truly tragic that they had accomplished actors like Nakul and Disha who created absolute magic with their RAYA chemistry, had a beautiful premise for a story, but they are so starved for creativity they just cannot think outside the box and create something pathbreaking and realistic!

There was a time before EK's unfortunate take over of our idiot box when ITV weaved beautiful simple stories which touched the heart and stayed with you for years. EK single handedly changed the face of ITV and made it into what it has become today - no matter which channel you put on you are dished out the same rubbish of saas-bahu tropes, leaps, plastic surgery, et al.

And unfortunately the majority audience has been conditioned to enjoy this SHIT churned out thoughtlessly by talentless creatives on every single channel.

Exactly what will it take to break out of this rotting stagnating story telling model??

Will anyone ever dare to break out of this mould, to not worry about TRPs and create something different, something on the lines of good drama again? Or will the Queen of the idiot box keep feeding us crap for eternity

I knew it was a mistake...wish I had not come across that RAYA scene randomly on You Tube and got hooked into watching this show!

Anyway time to bid adieu...

PS.. Wanted to acknowledge that I read some wonderful discussions and posts on the EDT which enhanced the viewing experience for me! Thanks for that...

A highly disillusioned viewer

Cannot agree more, the pattern of EK shows will never ever change , it was delusional of us to even expect that this one will be different, like u said unfortunately the patterns in her show have heavily influenced the entire ITV .

Sony TV does try to bring in some good shows, but it is notorious for axing them abruptly , which is why people r scared to even start a Sony Show, because one has to live with the fear that one fine day , it will suddenly go off air without doing justice to the characters .

I so wish ITV embraces the concept of finite shows.

Have the script and story ready and finish within 100 episodes.

I really hope some producer with guts will try to bring about this kind of revolution .

I think Dhadkan was a finite show , I didn't follow it, so don't how was the quality, but from the TRP point of view it didn't do well. But respect to the makers for at least attempting this.

You said it...its because they want to run their shows for years and that is the death knell of ITV shows. If only they made finite series like in the west or PTV it would actually make a lot of difference. With no fixed story in mind there is no end game...characters get butchered, face-lifted, killed and reborn to keep the clock ticking. At what cost?? And why does audience like that stuff?

I rarely watch Hindi serials...and most times when I have succumbed its not ended well. I have yet to see anything to completion since the EK kind of stuff started coming out. I watched the original BALH till leap and then gave up. My only fav is Sarabhai vs Sarabhai now:))

But with this one, they have hit an all time low I feel. Cause its not just the illogical storyline but the extremely poor execution, inconsistency in direction, pathetic editing. Its almost like EK has handpicked the worst talent in the industry and put them on task for BALH2. Even the worst shows don't have such shoddy handling I guess.

I honestly feel Nakul and Disha were pure magic on screen...what potential the story had with them at helm! Makes me wonder how far removed from the sensibilities of viewers can the creative team be. They were capable of so much more, as is proof from the first few months of the serial, as well as Raya scenes till the magical night :)) After that it was all downhill.

Basically the whole TV industry needs an overhaul. They need to circumvent the TRP trap and make limited series with a proper end to end bound script which they stick to. Hopefully with the OTT platform producing some better content the TV industry will also get a wake up call one day.

Very well articulated.. kind of brought me back to my senses ... i was so out of series to watch and got hooked to this because of Nakul and Disha... But should have known that end of the day it's an EK show... It's shows like test case which is abnormality for her... BAlh was and is supposed to be the usual norm... It's time to go back to "watch anything but ITV shows" mode :)) I used to make fun of her K shows... Depressing that got hooked to one myself :(

It's sad but we are still a long way away from the time when they put a stop to such disasters from getting aired at all. Very sad that BCCC have so many advisories on what constitutes inappropriate content in TV but nothing to stop showing parents using kids for their personal gains, child suffering from mental health issues but none of the adults able to sense that.. in fact encouraging the same in some way... A father trying to kill a daughter..a mother encouraging her son to commit crimes... Accepting a criminal husband is fine in name of marriage... A strong mother becoming weak again and again and also letting go of her principles.. And above all deteoration of a strong independent woman in name of love, family ?? Are all of these appropriate to show especially when there is no redemption in the end... And to think that society at large actually find this entertaining!!!!

I am no paychologist but I wonder if seeing characters of TV go thru such miseries makes people feel a little better about the struggles in their own lives? Is that why they like such tracks?

You know sometimes the absolute dearth of quality, variety and depth in our TV content really baffles me! You look at western shows...they have such absolutely amazing breadth and scope of subject matter that serves as entertainment.

In ITV the main theme is always boy meets girl, marriage, saas bahu, misunderstandings, toxic male manhadling delicate innocent female lead...they are so stuck in the M&B era!! Or it is about sacrificial FL going to irritating heights of mahaanta. There is no progressive content at all. All the regressive things you mentioned are regularly dished out to us with zero depth and sensitivity.

They just want to churn out the daily episode with clockwork precision even if the content, direction, editing are sloppy and below par. Compare that with the OTT platform and the kind of stuff they are producing now. There is a lot of stereotyping there as well but there is quality stuff coming out too. At least women are shown to be doing other things than just aspiring to get married to an MCP and then becoming a doormat for him and his family!! Of course they will rise in the end and all misunderstandings will be cleared and everyone will bow to their greatness but only in the last reel! And the audience loves that mind less crap.

I have entered a detox program now:) - started watching Panchayat season 2 since the last couple of days and am so enjoying the simple slice of life narrative there.

No more BALH 2 !

Not necessarily...It can work both ways. True enough that sometimes when you see others going through challenging times (onscreen) it can make you feel a kind of kinship with them and make your own problems seem small. But even if it makes you feel like you have company in this big bad world you do need to see them triumphing and coming out strong. If anything, the best way to get people out of depression is to show good role models - strong, sensible, women who value themselves, someone you can emulate if you are struggling with your own self worth issues. And to show sensitive MLs who respect and trust the women in their life.

After all art imitates life and vice versa. When realistic content is put out on screen it should come with realistic doses of beauty and harmony also. I don't think any household in our country can have so many conniving villains and vamps and so much of scheming going on in one single family! The more negativity you show the more negativity you generate in the mind of the audience. Why do you think all of IF and Twitter are on fire since the last couple of weeks?

There is a reason pathos and tragedy are very popular in literature and drama. Because the higher the level of pain and angst the protagonists go through the greater will be the beauty, the love the passion on the other side. Its like a pendulum which will swing with equal force to the other extreme. That is why pain and separation make for great cinema!

But what BALH 2 has done is character assassination of both their ML and FL in the name of creating pathos. Maybe they will make the reunion of Ram and Priya very intense after they meet again and it will be like a reboot of their story. But I as an audience can not get the image of Priya throwing her infidelity and the false paternity of her child in Ram's face and Ram believing her - that taints the characters for me! Instead of pathos I feel disgust...Period!

If I could I really would love to ask Ekta Mata this question - Why did you do this to Ram and Priya? Do you really believe that they could not have reached the true depths of their love and passion if they had not been put through all this crapfest?

Because that I think is her end goal to show Ram and Priya's great love story....dragged through a lot of muck before it reaches true intensity:((

PS...I am supposed to be on detox from this show and here I am writing a thesis as a reply to your musing. As a lover of literature, cinema, psychology etc....could not help myself! And now I will go and watch the merry cute folks of Panchayat like the rest of you to chill on a saturday night:))

Originally posted by: smriti81

If I could I really would love to ask Ekta Mata this question - Why did you do this to Ram and Priya? Do you really believe that they could not have reached the true depths of their love and passion if they had not been put through all this crapfest?

Exactly they cannot sell such nasty things in the name of tragedy.

This is no way tragic . Forced crappy track to drag the show , because the writers are damn lazy or they think this will fetch TRP's.

Since most of us have stopped watching completely , am just curious to see if the TRP's actually increase coz the target audience for this track is not us for sure .

If TRP does increase we know why we will never get anything different in ITV

Originally posted by: smriti81

Not necessarily...It can work both ways. True enough that sometimes when you see others going through challenging times (onscreen) it can make you feel a kind of kinship with them and make your own problems seem small. But even if it makes you feel like you have company in this big bad world you do need to see them triumphing and coming out strong. If anything, the best way to get people out of depression is to show good role models - strong, sensible, women who value themselves, someone you can emulate if you are struggling with your own self worth issues. And to show sensitive MLs who respect and trust the women in their life.

After all art imitates life and vice versa. When realistic content is put out on screen it should come with realistic doses of beauty and harmony also. I don't think any household in our country can have so many conniving villains and vamps and so much of scheming going on in one single family! The more negativity you show the more negativity you generate in the mind of the audience. Why do you think all of IF and Twitter are on fire since the last couple of weeks?

There is a reason pathos and tragedy are very popular in literature and drama. Because the higher the level of pain and angst the protagonists go through the greater will be the beauty, the love the passion on the other side. Its like a pendulum which will swing with equal force to the other extreme. That is why pain and separation make for great cinema!

But what BALH 2 has done is character assassination of both their ML and FL in the name of creating pathos. Maybe they will make the reunion of Ram and Priya very intense after they meet again and it will be like a reboot of their story. But I as an audience can not get the image of Priya throwing her infidelity and the false paternity of her child in Ram's face and Ram believing her - that taints the characters for me! Instead of pathos I feel disgust...Period!

If I could I really would love to ask Ekta Mata this question - Why did you do this to Ram and Priya? Do you really believe that they could not have reached the true depths of their love and passion if they had not been put through all this crapfest?

Because that I think is her end goal to show Ram and Priya's great love story....dragged through a lot of muck before it reaches true intensity:((

PS...I am supposed to be on detox from this show and here I am writing a thesis as a reply to your musing. As a lover of literature, cinema, psychology etc....could not help myself! And now I will go and watch the merry cute folks of Panchayat like the rest of you to chill on a saturday night:))

Originally posted by: smriti81

I have entered a detox program now:) - started watching Panchayat season 2 since the last couple of days and am so enjoying the simple slice of life narrative there.

No more BALH 2 !

Same 😂

Love how almost everyone has bid tata bye bye to BALH2 and watching panchayat 🤣