Borrowing from Mythology

Borrowing from Mythology
The feminists are not going to forgive me for this but of late I seem to have an altered perception of Ekta Kapoor's various protagonists on the small screen. Irrespective of their exaggerated portrayals, all her heroines, be it Prerna in Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Bani in Kasamh Se... or Kashish in Kahiin To Hoga are essentially intended to be incarnations of Mother Goddesses. Take any of her serials on any channel and you will discover that the women stand up against moral and social injustices. They face family opposition and are victims of gross misunderstandings that sometimes leads to separation from their loved ones. Ekta Kapoor has time and again claimed that here are no moral contradictions in her message. That could be one of the reasons why her serials enjoy high TRP ratings. Irrespective of the uproar, the audience identifies with her protagonist. The conflict, I seem to now think, emerges not so much from the protagonist as from their surrounding ambience and characters. It's how these actors dress (like mannequins in a showroom), how they deliver their dialogues (standing and looking into the camera) and their devious mind-games (highlighted through horrendous lighting) that put together trivializes the effort.

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The critics are justified in terming these serials regressive. There is an overdose of melodrama and martyrdom, but perhaps Ekta Kapoor wants her serials to be controversial. She has consciously juxtaposed her characters and plots to not resemble any specific mythological figures and yet continuously borrows from the epicz. As a result both Kahani... and Kyonki... are a combination of Ramayan and Mahabharat. We have Om and Parvati Agarwal clearly inspired from Lord Shiv and Parvati but portrayed worshipping Lord Ram and Sita instead. It is coincidental of course that Om Agarwal has all the character traits attributed to Shiva. He is hot-tempered, trusting and magnanimous while his wife Parvati is succinctly always referred to as a sati.

Like Sita, Tulsi has had to go through the trial by fire and like Draupadi she has to take painful resolutions.If Radha had to endure 16000 gopis clamouring for Krishna, Tulsi has had to put up with Mihir's two fatal attractions, Mandira and recently Meera

Similarly, Tulsi and Mihir of Kyonki... are perennially referred to as the Ram-Sita jodi are devotees of Thakurji alias Lord Krishna. Like Sita, Tulsi has had to go through the trial by fire and like Draupadi she has to take painful resolutions. If Radha had to endure 16000 gopis clamouring for Krishna, Tulsi has had to put up with Mihir's two fatal attractions, Mandira and recently Meera. And if Sita abandoned by Ram, chose to lead an anonymous existence in Valmiki's ashram away from Ayodhya, Tulsi lives incognito in Haridwar far away from the painful memories of Shantiniketan and Mumbai.

Comparatively, Parvati Agarwal is depicted as more contemporary by writer Sandip Sikand. The paradigm has shifted for the Agarwal bahu after becoming a widow and this reflect in her equations both within the family and outside. In the forthcoming episodes Parvati gears up to accept an indecent proposal made by her business associate and consents to marry Suryash Mehra to save her family pride but more to take revenge of her husband's murder. To maintain Parvati's sanctity, however, the writer has cleverly made the couple sign a divorce settlement as a pre-condition to the marriage. It is understood that the relationship will not be consummated and Parvati will continue to live as a one-man woman, naturally.