Posted:
Telly soaps have been women-centric for
the longest time with great emphasis on
the female protagonists. However, the
scale is surely but slowly tilting towards
male protagonists too, especially father
figures. Take any serial on air, be it Afsar
Bitiya, Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch
Kaha, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, Yahan
Main Ghar Ghar Kheli or Ruk Jaana
Nahi, to name a few, the fathers have an
important role to play.
There was a time when a father's
role in soaps was restricted to finding a
good match for the children ' especially daughters. There was also a measure
of fear and respect in their relationship.
But today, things have changed and the
father is more of a friend and guide. In
Afsar Bitiya, the father is the motivating
force for the daughter aspiring to be an
officer, Balika Vadhu's father-in-law has
been instrumental in getting his daughter-in-law divorced from her unfaithful
husband, while in Punarvivaah, the father-in-law was the one who got his widowed daughter-in-law
remarried, in Parichay
and Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, the fathers have
been great support systems to their sons.
Says Prashant Bhatt, programming
head, Colors, "When daily soaps started, they were categorised as saas bahu
sagas which left no scope for the sasur
or fathers to have any say in the goingson. Viewers also connected to that but
slowly with the changing mindset of
the people, step-by-step the fathers
started getting more involved and today are charting the course of the story." Shows with fathers or father-figures at the centre like Bidaai, Yahaan
Mein Ghar Ghar Kheli, Shubh Vivaah
started and as Sukesh Motwani, fiction
head, Zee points out, though traditional conservative fathers like the one in
Sapne Suhaane Ladakpan Ke and a
wily exploitative father a la Hitler Didi
also exist, the progressive fathers clearly outnumber them.
Virendra Saxena, who has been a
huge source of strength for two of his
onscreen betis Jassi (Jassi Jaisi Koi
Nahin) and Megha (Afsar Bitiya) adds
that, today's fathers are also vulnerable and supportive towards their
kids. For Anjjan Srivastav, who
has been playing the role of a
father since his Wagle Ki
Duniya days to the recent Na
Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch
Kaha in which he is encouraging his widowed daughter-in-law
to remarry, the journey has been
long but heartening. He sums it
up succintly, "The onscreen fathers have become liberal and is
far more lenient, which is why widow re-marriage is being talked
about and considered. With time,
society has changed and the
shows reflect that."
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Fan Fictions
