DC: Same old bahu

Ho! Hum! Yet another dreary week in the world of soaps. In the serial, Love Marriage ya Arranged Marriage, the saasu ma is a control freak who wants the bahus to dance to her tunes. When the younger bahu steps out to work on the sly, she is issued an ultimatum — stay indoors and serve saasu ma or get out with hubby and never return. Now what would a sensible new-age girl do, opt for the latter, right? But then how will a show that feeds on dated values

garner TRPs from India's heartland? So, the bahu consults her parents, who hide their financial hardships and insist that she quit working and slave at saasu ma's feet. Regressive? The message that women should stay at home is further reinforced in Diya Aur Baati Hum, where the well-educated protagonist yearns to study further and even saves her domestic help from being blown up by her bomb. And what does she get in return? A saasu ma who fusses over her, but clearly adds salt and not just haldi to her wounds by softly muttering that she prefers her bahu to utilise her intelligence within the four walls of their home.

And of course these simpering and cloying sweet women dutifully bend their heads and agree. Where's the fire or the spirit to fight back? There is surely nothing wrong in being traditional or a homemaker if that's what the character desires, but to force women to a life of domesticity and reinforce this message through dominating mother-in-laws is surely not benefitting those women who deal with such battles everyday.

Not just this, in Kya Hua Tera Waada, the pendulum swings to the other extreme, where the over zealous in-laws want to get their wronged daughter-in-law married. Sure, they deserve brownie points for this decision but they don't care about the fact that the divorce papers are not yet signed. Their ex-bahu-turned beti gets the papers on her engagement day. And yes, the marriage is over, but the lady carps about her mangalsutra in a dreary monologue and frankly deserves two tight slaps! So it's left to ex-mum-in-law to plead her to remove her mangalsutra minutes before another engagement ring is slipped onto her finger. Regressive? Because the character is made to feel guilty about opting for a remarriage; what's worse, she is not ready for this new relationship. But her needs are trampled upon by the channel that wants to project its evolved stance. Female characters continue to be either shrews or spineless!

Where is the middle path?.