Dev and Shiva are like Janardhan - Page 2

Originally posted by: mahajanaish

Not calling it out may not be glorifying it . Maybe the wrong choice of words here . By not calling it out they are making it seem organic which is worse . Something that u see as over-dramatization will not be adapted by normal folks around who are watching tv but something which isnt dramatized does indeed gets ingested in ones system as normal . For eg - Dhara's beating was called out here in the forum itself as bad , inhuman and horrible . But maybe , i mean here no offence to anyone maybe not be as dangerous to society as is Shiva's and Dev's behaviour towards their wives . I should not compare two wrongs but all i am saying is the way it is portrayed to has an affect on many ppl. Dhara's over drama made it indigestible to many but Dev and Shiva's subtle yet unforgivable acts of grabbing their wives arm or pushing them gets easily digested by audience . Why ? It's because one of it is shown as drama and other as second nature. I am saying its bad the other way around also female to male . But understanding the power of these subtle yet morally wrong scenes is a must.

That's just it...for me it does get called out, it wasn't easily digestible for people and it's in no way subtle. Even with someone like me who's favourite character happens to be Shiva, can see his actions a mile off. We see it and call it out, it morally wrong and is shown as exactly that. For me personally, the difference was that one did get glorified and the other didn't.

The same people who bashed the Dhara incident spoke out about the manhandling incident - why wasn't it as big of a backlash? - because it simply wasn't glorified by the channel and there's no difference in opinion between fans - it was and is wrong. Whereas the Dhara incident had many people supporting it.

We should give credit to people who understand patriarchal dominance, and speak out against it. But when people criticise Rishita and Dhara, mainly Rishita here, it isn't about supporting patriarchal dominance, it's just being critical of a character who is causing harm and damage to others - that's all.

I don't think Dev and Shiva are like Janardhan because they are different characters. However, I understand the intent behind the post and I do appreciate critiquing bad characterization and calling out toxic tropes. We as audience know Dev and Shiva are the good guys and Janardhan is the bad guy so when good guys, especially romantic interests manhandle women, it is dangerous as it does normalize toxic behaviour to people watching especially if they are young and impressionable.

As for Rishita, she is a toxic character but even negative characters can be abused. One wrong doesn't cancel the other wrong. Dhara became toxic by physically abusing and now gaslighting other characters. The fault lies with the showmakers, they are just simply ruining these characters for the sake of TRPs and have no concept of social responsibility.