Posted:
As an American born to Indian parents and an absolute lover of Indian culture, I can say India is progressing fast, like really really fast. We cannot afford to just sit and let our TV culture become regressive when the country is seeing a phase where chaiwalas and auto drivers are giving you the opportunity to use PAYTM. It honestly and seriously annoys me to see that writers think desis ( Indians and Pakistanis) are so driven by emotions, that they can show emotional abuse to give people a false idea of what real life love and marriages are about. I have NOTHING against the cast, but how many of you think that the cast would watch this kind of a track and enjoy it ? Everyone in India today, especially the youth is becoming so westernized that even the ones who work in such shows rarely watch their own shows, let alone other Indian shows. Many have confessed to it. How does that make you feel ? I don't know about you, but it makes me feel like my intelligence is being insulted, and my trust is being betrayed when good shows become stereotypical, regressive and sadistic. It's sad that the people involved are NOT bad people ( I don't hate anyone from the cast or PH), but I AM definitely offended that that they do this for a living, enjoy the success, watch way more intelligent ( Read:western) content in their personal lives, don't enjoy the regressive tracks of their own shows and yet gain massive appreciation from intelligent viewers who are trusting them with their time.
The new wedding promo where Anika is crying under the veil and Shivaay's hand motion telling her to cover her face is really bringing out the devil in me. Its 2016, do we really need to see the same concepts we saw 5 years ago in a certain show ? Are hate marriages and contract marriages that common that we need to show them on National TV ? How is this contributing to society or even giving us selfish pleasure ?
As a Non-Indian actor once said : " "If I feed you McDonalds every day, you'll get used to it eventually but you can only imagine what you'll look like after 20 years. Will that be my fault or yours?"
Sorry, for this seemingly unrelated and quirky quote, but it is a great analogy for the kind of senseless material we are being shown on the country's biggest channel. If we don't feed audiences better material, this is going to become the trend in TV, and thats how people will begin to think about relationships. And then the media will never be blamed (even though it should be) because we viewers never raise our voice or demand more intelligent, thought-provoking material!!
I do not know if anyone cares about these thoughts or how to get it across to content writers and channels. But, out of sheer concern for how Indians abroad don't have a good way to stay connected with culture, I request someone to please respect and understand my views. And please help me in sending this message to the right people, so that we can have meaningful change or atleast hope for it.
Arjun
