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Will the women on TV get a makeover?
After proposing a ban on smoking scenes, the Information and Broadcast Ministry also plans to restrict channels from glorifying submissive women. BT finds out if our telly bahus will stop crying now
CHITRA UNNITHAN
Small screen's good Indian bahus may have to get an attitude makeover soon, if the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has its way. The draft content code of I&B Ministry plans to restrict TV channels from stereotyping women as passive or submissive. But do soap divas need a change of image, especially when their sob stories add up the numbers on TRP charts? Amar Upadhyay, (who played Mihir in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi some years ago), says, "I don't agree to the proposal considering the way women are projected on television today. Women in our serials take a stand and have come up on their own."
Nivedita Basu, creative head of a leading production house, feels that women aren't shown to be submissive all the time. "Women
are not shown as submissive or passive in television shows. May be, it is in the subconscious of many that women in these soaps are shown as weak, but it's not true," she says.
So are we going to get a revamped set of self-righteous women fighting for their rights replacing the Tulsis and Parvatis? Ashish Kaul, vice president of a entertainment channel, wonders how will the plan be implemented. "The television industry would not have been where it is today without the women characters we have in our shows. I wonder how the proposal can be implemented practically," he says.
Over the years, Indian television's long suffering, self-effacing women have become an intrinsic part of viewers' families. Nirali Shah, a homemaker, says, "The women on these shows are strong and sacrificing and we can connect with them."
But those playing these socalled docile characters fail to understand what the hue and cry is all about. Actress Nausheen Ali believes, "The way women on television behave depends on the demands of the script. Moreover, audience reactions differ from
one city to another. So, why attach importance to something like this?"
Some others prefer to let the audience decide. Actor Chetan Hansraj says, "Such a proposal may not make a difference because at the end of the day, viewers decide what they want to watch. Nothing else matters."
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