Asylum or jail?
14 Jun, 2007 l 0000 hrs ISTlROSHNI K OLIVERA Times News Network /TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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Is it time for the serial to get a twist? If yes, send the protagonist to the mental asylum or jail! That's the latest mantra in tellyland.
Look around and you'll find the leading ladies in a number of shows headed to either the asylum or prison. Now that's an age-old film formula, which Bollywood has stopped using, but the small screen clearly is lapping it up. Tulsi in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was recently sent to the asylum by her daughters-in-law.
And, this was a very important track. The asylum became a centrepoint because it's from here that Smriti Iraani runs away and meets with an accident and new entrant Gautami Kapoor steps in!
The popular Bani of Kasamh Se - a character played by Prachi Desai - had to endure both. She was not only sent to the asylum, but also to jail. The writers probably felt the double dose of trauma was necessary to justify the metamorphosis of the simple Bani into a fighter for justice.
Renuka Shahane was sent to the jail in Jeete Hain Jiske Liye for a long period during which the show took a time leap. Jeete Hain . may have ended, but the jail did manage to garner Renuka a lot of sympathy from her loyal viewers. Saat Phere's Saloni too was sent to prison a few months ago. So was Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan's Saraswati and Dulhann's Vidya, among others from different family dramas. And now, sources say, Maayka's Neha Bamb may also soon be visiting the mental asylum or jail! And no points for guessing that there are similar twists being planned in other serials too. There's a common thread: In almost all cases there's been planning and plotting by the villains/vamps (mostly family members) to send the leading ladies to the dungeon and asylum. The unrealistic situations created by the negative characters aren't going down too well with the viewers. "They are bizarre. Totally crazy," says Manoj Kalra, who's forced to watch daily soaps on TV "as the womenfolk are glued to it" .
Even diehard fans of family dramas feel serials should come up with more original ideas than depend on old concepts from movies. "Where does one hear of a mental asylum these days?" says Sarojini Rajpal, a young housewife. "Today if somebody has a psychiatric problem you'd take him or her to a psychiatrist. This asylum or jail thing is a movie concept of yesteryears being recycled!" she laughs. Serials also seem to be overlapping with their common themes.
"Sometimes it seems like it's the same set of writers writing for various serials. It's like chalo isko jail bhejte hain aur usko pagal khana !" says Grishma Thakkar, a bank official. TV serial writers, however, don't agree. "Overlapping is just coincidence," says Rekkha Modi, writer for Kasamh Se, adding, "There are different writers for different shows." Talking about asylum and jail tracks she says, "It's all about drama. Audiences want drama and that's the only way they will be gripped to a show. It doesn't take too long for a viewer to switch channels. A serial is almost like making a half an hour film everyday which has to have all the essential ingredients."
So well, till TV serial makers come up with some other themes, viewers will have to digest these essential ingredients - asylum and the jail!
Shiv Shakti
