have serials become regressive from progressive

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tina

@tina59

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 15 years ago

as the years go by...

I remember when the different channels entered indian television, there were serials which showed the woman of today...yes they had flaws but they had control of their life ..

remember Tara, banegi apni baat, campus, sea hawks, suhana safar,hip hip hurray, renuka shahane serials, udaan, rajni, sukanya,lifeline,alpaviram etc..i mean I can go on and on and this was like atleast 15 yrs back...

those serials potrayed women of progressive india.... forward, broad minded and living thier life on thier own terms...

Now we have serials which shows women to be literally doormats who gets ridiculed time and again by women themselves who play vamps burdened under family pressures and societs and crying buckets out ....

is this what society wants to see...people are so thrilled gusing over their heroes sayingits only a drama but it does affect the content isnt it....

if people dont encourage such themes, trps would go down which in turn would prompt channels to come out with diff content...

its sad but 15 yrs -20 yrs back, they showed woman to be in control now its just way too regressive...

who does the fault lie in , the viewers who lap up these shows or the channels who line up these shows

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souro

@souro

Alumni

+ 2

Posted: 15 years ago

Yes I think the quality of programs have got diluted. Why I'm saying diluted and not deteriorated is because the no. of good indigenous shows then and now is same or maybe slightly more at present. But 15-20 yrs earlier, there used to be 2 all purpose Doordarshan channels (showing everything from farmer tips, news, soaps, movies, cartoons, sports, music etc.) with maybe a dozen shows in a week, out of which maybe 5-6 used to be quiet good... whereas now there are atleast 10 prominent Hindi general entertainment channels (airing only soaps, serials and reality shows) churning out close to 100 shows and yet altogether managing to produce only 5-6 worthwhile shows in a week.

One major shift in the television serial world was the shift in the length of the serials. In DD days, the no. of episodes used to be dictated by the story. If 13 episodes could convey the story, the show used to end after 13 episodes. That resulted in compact storyline and avoided unnecessary dragging (at that time only Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan was nototious for dragging on by incorporating some devotional song at every opportunity).
Whereas now, no. of episodes dictate the storyline. If the serial generates good TRPs, they plan to stretch the show beyond the original plan and accordingly modify the storyline to drag it as much as possible and when the TRPs plummet, they modify the storyline for an abrupt ending. This lack of a compact script and deviations from the storyline obviously affects the overall quality.

As for the change in the way women are portrayed in TV serials, I don't know what brought that on and whose idea it was. On one hand, Hindi cinema is slowly giving prominence to the female roles and even making movies centred around female lead charaters, on the other hand we have TV serials where the females are shown as either conniving, backstabbing vamps or tortured, run down door mats. There is no substance in their roles. And if the female roles are worthless, male characters are nothing more than extras taken to balance the on screen sex ratio.

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Shipra

@Shipra_S

Rocker

+ 3

Posted: 15 years ago

I have not watched the shows you mentioned, except Hip Hip Hurray. But yeah, i totally second you on the point of the female roles in tv serials these days. I have heard that how magnificiently they portrayed their female character in shows like Hasratein and Kurukshetra. I guess the definition of the 'female lead' was different then. She used to be a strong lady who had a mind of her own.
The present trend in the characterization of the female lead(s), i guess, is the brain child of Ekta Kapoor. Kyunki had the female folk always crying and the show was a major success. So other show makers too lapped up this idea and this idea soon became a trend.
I guess it's more so 'coz today TV has a wider reach. Specially the village folks now have cable TVs and as we can understood, their psyche makes them to enjoy those kind of 'regressive' shows ( as you mentioned ). Thus the show garners high TRPs and the story goes on like that. So of course it's 'coz of the change in taste of the ''majority'' viewers (which includes village people).

The other thing is, the shows have not just became regressive story wise, but also in their over all look. It's not a news that today some shows are criticized for showing ultra-bold scenes. Now, here i would like to say, that Hasratein,etc. too had such scenes galore. But i guess they never crossed that thin line which differentiates decency from vulgarity. It's very essential to show bold scenes aesthetically, specially in tv shows, 'coz we watch them with family. But nowadays some show makers give that thought a damn...thinking that showing steamy scenes will garner them higher trps.......so this is another thing where i guess present shows have got regressive!

Edited by Shipra_S - 15 years ago

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EcliPSe_2010

@EcliPSe_2010

Inactive

Posted: 15 years ago

I'd like to share my recent experience watching an Indian serial. I have since stopped. I thought I had learned my lesson and not to go near one, but since this particular one had a new different sort of producer and such, I decided to watch it. Seriously, the producers or the channel needs to stop and reflect as to what they are perpetuating in that serial!!

I have not watched alot of Indian serials, but I did watch some of Jassi, which I enjoyed. I have watched one Ekta Kapoor serial halfway only before a disgusting scene was shown-there was no media responsibility here for what the channel showed onscreen!!! I did not want to break my television, it was not worth it.

I think the Indian TV entertainment industry needs to really rethink what they are showing, today onscreen. This "kuch bhi chalega" mentality might have worked in the past but times changing and with it attitudes and sensibilities. They need to take into consideration the notion of viewer sensibility. Now, I can only compare from Jassi days to the recent serial that I watched, I would have to answer Yes, the serials have gone more regressive. If one looks at the female protagonists and the message sent out under the name of entertainment, it is a disgusting thought and sight to watch a designer sari clad, sindoor filled maang, ronadhona, having no self respect, one dimensional type of cliched Indian serial heroine appear on your screen in this century. Truly disheartening!

Especially when the reality of today is that there are so many Indian females in all kinds of profession and on the Forbes list as well.

I would say that both the producers and the channel are responsible for manufacturing this lead Indian serial female cliche.

(I'll take Jassi with her huge glasses and her financial genius to the female lead of today any day).

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esseesse

@esseesse

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 15 years ago

The problem is an overdose of Tv channels and to fill the time slots, serials have become very slow paced and monotonous plus boring with same old stories. Case in point-yeh rishta kya kehlata hai.

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have serials become regressive from progressive

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