MXM: Is women telling like it is? -Ktlk(Mentioned)

Is the serial woman tellying it like it
is?
By Ritu Midha
About a decade ago, we saw the
emergence of Tulsi, Parvati and
Kussum. Strong protagonists – but
all of them set in more or less the
same socio-cultural setting,
grounded in traditions but fighting
against the evil (another woman in
most cases) trying to tear their
families apart.
Cut to the present-day GEC. The
protagonist is stronger, and
differentiated. She is no longer just
about pacifying the mother-in-law,
and mothering her growing-up
children. She is aware, educated, has
a mind of her own, and she speaks it
too. She has the spunk, and many a
time, she takes the lead in decision-
making. To put it simply, she does not
wait for someone to save her, she is
fully capable of doing the saving. And
in between all this, she has a heart
too, and dotes on her family.
There is a Pratigya fighting against
the issues in her own house – a
decision maker in Allahabad; there are
working or aspiring-to-work women in
quite a few soaps – among them Kuch
Toh Log Kahenge set in Lucknow and
Afsar Bitiya with a Bihar backdrop.
There also is a Hitler Didi, where the
protagonist, living in Delhi, is the
master of the house, and of course
Balika Vadhu and Diya Aur Baati Hum
(both set in Rajasthan), which
propagate women's empowerment in
the rural and semi-urban areas.
Is it an accurate reflection of the
real Indian woman, or are these
shows akin to the funhouse mirrors
that exaggerate certain parts of our
collective reality? Even if it does
exaggerate the social consciousness,
it definitely provides an example for
those women whose staple diet of
entertainment is still the Hindi GEC.
States Anamika Mehta, COO, Lodestar
Universal: "Undoubtedly media, at an
overall level, influences society and
television has a huge role to play in
that sense. While at some level, some
shows and protagonists do play a role
in sounding a wake-up call or instilling
confidence,courage, and
independence of thought, they
thereby create followers or loyalists.
However it's more of media mirroring
society on television essentially –
witnessed for instance in the shift
from 'saas bahu' soaps to the
current lot."
While the woman protagonists are
bolder and more intelligent now, the
socio-cultural cauldron from which
they emerge varies from show to
show. The reason, of course, is
increase in purchasing power of
women across middle India – Madhya
Pradesh, not a favourite setting for
television serials till some time ago,
suddenly finds itself as the backdrop
for a number of soaps. Is the appeal
of these shows universal or does it
appeal to audiences in a particular
geography? States Nandini Dias: "The
traditional shows like Uttaran and
Balika Vadhu do find better resonance
in smaller towns while the talk shows
like Oprah Winfrey or Barkha Dutt
show a skew towards metros. The
shows which do well across all towns
are usually love stories like Kuch Toh
Log Kahenge."
However, Shubha George, COO, MEC,
South Asia, believes that in case the
objective is to target a specific
audience profile, a lot more needs to
be done in this direction. She states:
"Indian TV shows are fairly
homogeneous and cater to a pan-
India audience in most instances. I
cannot think of any particular
example that is more popular in
metros because of a bolder woman
character. Rather, this is a concept
which is yet to be experimented on by
Indian TV shows for mass audiences."
Many of these shows depict subjects
like second marriages, domestic
violence and other women-centric
issues, but do they manage to send a
message across to society? As per
Anamika Mehta: "Frankly it's little to
do with evoking social consciousness
and more to do with experimentation
with new audiences, new generation,
different content and eventually
eyeballs. While many of these shows
initially kicked off with a social idea
and an attempt to rouse audiences,
eventually, given the eyeball battle,
they turn more into trials and
tribulations of a woman with plot
twists and turns."
There is a conscious attempt at
creating a protagonist who wants to
change the world, who would capture
the attention and imagination of
young women. Are these shows with
the new realistic woman favoured by
certain brands – or it is only TRPs
that matter in the end? States Ms
Dias: "Media planning is called a
science and an art for exactly these
reasons. Media planners do look at
data , quantitative parameters. But
finally when they take decisions they
need to predict the future of how a
show will do in the future. So the
qualitative factors need to be
considered too. In fact with the
number of brand integrations that
are done, it is detrimental to a brand
if they do these brand integrations
without understanding the content
and relevance of the show."
Ms Mehta too states that brands do
look at the content of the show,
however, many times the storyline
changes in chase of TRPs. She says,
"Only if the brand's personality is in
sync with the show do they look at
doing show exclusive deals. Very often
the shows digress/change/derail
chasing eye balls which often could
defeat the rationale for
association."
On India's wide-ranging social
canvas, there are many Indias, and
the psychographics change not only
from New Delhi to Basti, but also from
Defence Colony to Rohini. It is not
easy to depict the myriad colours of
the Indian woman. However, the
effort is being made towards being
progressive, covering a broader
spectrum, and bringing to the fore
social issues that women in particular
face. Does it matter that it is for the
sake of eyeballs, or to get more
advertisers on board, if the issues
are addressed in the end?

Indeed, kuch toh log kahenge is mostly watched by urban based audience than inner belt places of india.. That's we cn see that ktlk hs gud appreciations on YT, office going ppl, other various Web world medium..:) ktlk unqiue age gap theme hs caught urban minds.. No doubt.. Only thing it needs to be constant in tracks..:)