| | | CATFIGHT: The battling sisters of Kasamh Se | He who rides a tiger, it is said, can never get off. Script writers for Hindi serials seem to have met with the same fate. With the neck-and-neck race among channels for the numero uno slot, none of them can consider getting off the Television Rating Points (TRP) tiger. For it will show no mercy. And now there is a new prop — an entity called a daughter — to help television channels outpace one another. Daughters are in; the middle-class working woman is hackneyed and saas bahus are pass. As an offshoot, sisters at war — making and breaking each other's homes — have reared their heads like never before. So if Hindi serials Betiyaan Ghar Ki Lakshmi and Maayka — Saath Zindagi Bhar Ka on Zee TV are gunning for a high TRP, Betiyaan Apni Yaa... Paraaya Dhan on Star One is as desperate to get its share of eyeballs. Nearly all the daily soaps on Zee TV have sisters ruling the roost, bringing out the worst in each other. If it's sisters (Bani and Piya) at war in Kasamh Se, it's sisters (Tara and Urvashi) as sworn enemies in Saat Phere — Saloni Ka Safar and sisters as rivals (Anya and Esha) on Jab Love Hua. The focus on sisters seems to have augured well for the channel's TRP. Zee TV has already edged out Sony Entertainment Television from its runner-up position and numero uno STAR Plus makes no secret of the fact that it sees Zee TV as a clear threat. "We have always taken up subjects that establish a strong connect with the viewers," Ashwini Yardi, programming head, Zee TV, had said on the launch of Maayka recently. "With Maayka, we are talking about the strong emotional bond that every daughter shares with her maternal home after her marriage." The trend is fast picking up, but not everyone feels it will continue for long. "I think it will get saturated quickly because in a few months' time all the serials will seem similar," says Manu Chaobe, the man behind the serial Kahiin to Hoga — which, incidentally, revolves around five sisters — on Star Plus. Not that they are any different now but still, it was Kasamh Se which had ushered in the trend with three small-town sisters holding hands and making their way into the big, bad, bawdy city. And with its soaring popularity, other serials promptly followed suit. "Characters in serials have to have grey shades. They can't be simply black or white. So now if Piya is playing the wicked, scheming sister in Kasamh Se who is leaving no stone unturned to marry her sister Bani's husband, she may later even undergo a change of heart," says Rekkha Modi, the serial's dialogue writer. "Her evil streak offsets Bani's goodness." The trend may have been healthy for the serial but not quite for the viewers. "I do watch the serial but it is getting quite tiresome, creating undue stress," says Anuradha Gupta, a housewife who once upon a time thrived on serial gossip. "It also bodes ill for society at large," adds Pratibha Nathani, the self-styled crusader who had moved court last year to trigger a ban on adult content on television. "For one, such serials telecast in the name of entertainment promote tension and stress. In the past, serials such as Hum Log and Buniyaad also showed problems the common man faced but they provided solutions and were realistic," says Nathani. "But these serials create unrealistic worlds far removed from the common man's reality and the evil force seems all pervasive." But script writers contend there is reason enough for that. "All is fair in the TRP war," says Modi who has also been associated with the "golden era" — as she calls it — of serials such as Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kkusum and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. "When Tulsi in Kyunki… killed her son Ansh, it set the TRP soaring as viewers lapped it up. Compared to that, sisters at war is mild. Besides, I don't think anyone takes these serials seriously. So it doesn't really influence their personal lives," she says. Chaobe agrees, adding, "Evil and enmity go hand in hand. They are mandatory in soaps and generate interest by way of causing unexpected twists and turns. Besides, as TV is a woman-oriented medium, different relationships between women are a must as they can connect easily. But since it's equally important to prevent boredom, the nature of the relationship changes. Hence the shift from daughters-in-law to daughters, sisters-in-law to sisters." If preventing boredom is the underlying concern, there is a case for producing serials revolving around lighter themes, or at least ensuring that imagination is reined in. Many years ago, the comedy serial Idhar Udhar starring real-life sisters Ratna and Supriya Pathak as reel sisters had viewers glued to the small screen. Later, Hum Paanch, another humorous serial revolving around five sisters, also enjoyed a successful run. The vibes were positive, sisters bore no malice and even went to the extent of sticking out their necks for each other. Then came serials that highlighted a friction–fraught relationship between sisters. Justujoo on Zee TV was a tale of an illicit relationship between a married man and his sister-in-law. Ajai Sinha, its director, insisted that it was inspired by a true story and hence was close to reality. Hamare Tumhare on Zee TV revolved around the friction between two sisters, emanating out of a shared bitter past. "But those were meaningful," says viewer Gupta. "Today they border on the inane." Yet sisters soon made way for the saas-bahu wave on Star Plus. With Kyunki… and Kahaani… hitting it off with hoi polloi, the channel's experimental zeal paid off and with it, negative energy became the order of the day. But today, although sisters enjoy a high rating, Star Plus isn't that keen to label it as a trend or cash in on that blood tie. As Shaileja Kejriwal, the senior creative director of Star India, stresses, "I don't think it's a trend at all. People need variety and stories project conflicts of different types in an effort to engage viewers." But Modi insists that the trend has engaged people. Not everybody agrees. Even small screen actors such as Mona Singh are tired of it. "I simply can't relate to such serials any more. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin was one of its kind. But it's time for a change and time to get away from kitchen politics and show happy, successful stories rather than so much of negativity," she says. So perhaps it's time for the script writers to get off the TRP tiger. After all, it's a risk worth taking. | 
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