What women Want

THERE'S no reason to be cynical. Our TRPs speak for us,'' Shivangi Singh Chauhan, the creative head at Balaji Telefilms, had reasoned a while back on a trip to the city. We had mentioned the word 'regressive' and the lady who calls the shots - whether it's making Tulsi do a mercy killing or getting Baa to move on - at the 'K' soap factory had been particularly defensive. ''Women want to watch this drama and we present real situations not some made-up fantasy,'' Chauhan had argued. That statement of hers got us thinking, a lot actually. What are women tuning into on television? Are sob stories/family sagas/drama soaps on the must-watch list? With those questions on our lips, we caught up with city's feminine side. And here's what they had to say. Also, to be fair, we caught up with a varied lot - designers to entrepreneurs, homemakers to teachers, here's what they had to say.

It's not often that Sector 35 based designer Simple Kaur finds time to turn on the television. ''But whenever I do, I make sure it's either a comic caper or a movie on at HBO that I plug-in to. These saas-bahu sagas put me off,'' admits Kaur who prefers Desperate Housewives over Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki anyday. Ditto for Flying Cats' (Sector 8) branch head and former airhostess and model Shivani Sabikhi. ''Post work and a gruelling day the last thing one would want to watch are shows full of tense drama. I don't watch television on a regular basis but when I do you'll catch me watching Friends or an English flick or Discovery channel that's quite a favourite,'' says Sabikhi.

Elsewhere, interior designer Aradhana Kakkar, who works out of her Sector 8 office nods her head vehemently. ''Not me, I don't watch daily dramas. In fact I would rather do something creative instead,'' answers Kakkar who finds some of her elder relatives tuning in. ''Sometimes I see children sitting with parents and watching these shows. It's not really healthy as there's nothing positive shown on such soaps,'' adds Kakkar who just tunes in to the news for a quick byte.

So does drama find no takers? ''The only people I see watching soaps are my mother's age. She's 72. Perhaps they can relate to these situations more than we can,'' reasons Sector 34 based kindergarten teacher Monica Batra who feels television should be about ''intelligent programming.'' ''My favourtite is Discovery Travel and Living. I love their interior shows. Cookery shows also get my vote,'' says Batra who also tunes in to the Oprah Winfrey show on a regular basis. ''Why can't we have our own Oprah in India,'' she throws up an idea.

And that's something dentist-in-the-making Ruhi Dhillon can relate to. ''Talk shows on BBC are worth a watch and so are the Lonely Planet series on Discovery. The India Travel Show on Sony was quite nice and the only Hindi soap I tuned into was Jassi Jaisi until it went the usual rona-dhona way. Why does programmimg for women have to be dumb and dramatic,'' remarks the 24-year-old. Precisely our point.