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No TV for our kids, say telly actors
Though they act in the saas-bahu sagas, TV actors prefer to keep their kids from viewing such soaps.
ANJALI CHANDRA
You could treat this as an admission of sorts. In a recent interview veteran soap artist Smriti Iraani admitted that she does not let her children watch her serials, preferring instead that they stick to educational programmes. While Iraani explains that this is her personal choice regarding the values she wants her children to grow up with, other tele-actors agree that considering the regressive nature of prime time soaps that they act in, they would rather prefer their children not view the programmes.
As Ronit 'Mr Bajaj' Roy succinctly puts it, "That was a personal choice exercised by Smriti, and I agree with her. This is a job for me. I'm an artiste and I might be acting in an adult film, but that does not mean I would allow my five-year-old daughter to see it! Even while taking on those roles at times, I think that there mustn't be even one real-life family doing the things that form the premise of these serials!"
Agreeing vehemently with Roy is actress Achint Kaur who, while laughingly admitting that her son is not likely to be interested in soaps, nevertheless is aware of the regressive nature of these shows. As she says, "No doubt these serials are regressive. Nothing that is shown in them takes place in the real world. Maybe aeons ago, but not in this day and age."
So what is the solution to prevent children from being influenced by these shows?
For Renuka Shahane, the answer lies in correcting the stereotyped image of television programmes. While vehemently denying TV censorship in the case of her own children "because there is definitely more than TV serials that influence a child's personality," Shahane avers, "I come from an era when TV provided something for everyone. Programmes took into consideration a variety of likes and dislikes. But now TV seems to have become stereotyped."
"As actors, it is our responsibility to ensure we provide a variety to the viewers, instead of shows looking like mirror images of one another," says Smriti in answer to the question. While for Achint Kaur, "there is hardly anything relatable or contemporary in the soaps. TV needs a lager variety ranging from bread fiction to reality shows and everything in between."
Something that Roy explains when he says, "What we need is holistic viewing. For example, there is an absolute dearth of good comic relief on TV. Also, action serials and detective shows would be a welcome change, but unfortunately action series have not done well in the past in India. The world over there are different time bands for children's shows, comic shows and a late night band for soaps. But in India, primetime viewing invariably means soaps."
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