Glamorizing Poverty

Originally posted by: bhallarox

I agree completely, and also ArMan think Canadian culture isnt good which is not right. I dont blame Nina and Gaurav for not liking the chawl, they are used to the lifestyle back in Canada, I understand that the older generation likes the chawl because its where they were born and raised but they shud also be considering everyone else, Manav actually wanted to improve the chawl people's lives by getting them new flats as a part of of his business project, before the 1st 18 yr leap but Archana didnt let him and encouraged poverty and made it sound like those who want to work to earn money are selfish people. Nina and Gaurav arent wrong to wish for luxuries like air-conditioning, phone charger outlets, etc.

Originally posted by: Zeeliciousxo

I'm from Canada and the culture here is really not as isolating and depressing as they make it seem in the show...we have great communities here as well 😆

Originally posted by: Laila2009

I agree; and thank you for speaking up! It is disappointing that Ekta's team don't wish to know this reality.

Originally posted by: naava

Good topic Laila. It's kind of an interesting dichotomy. First of all, on one hand i agree with you. Romanticizing poverty (and i think it's romanticizing more than glamorizing) is disingenuous at best. And to come to India after 20 years in Canada and not get sick drinking the hand drawn water is ludicrous. They should at least show them all with a bottle of Evian 😆 !!

But, wait. This is a silly tv show. Everything that Ekta does is exaggeration but not ever very realistic. Whether she intends it or not, in some ways her shows are satirical. She takes relationships, marriage, rape and abuse, money, power & prestige to extreme and ridiculous ends - total exaggerations.

We get frustrated, but Ekta know that everyone watches these shows for romance of some kind. It's the love story that hooks us, and she's a genius at jodis. So...she can do whatever else seems to fit her fancy.

And to be honest, there IS unfortunately some truth, that materialism is seductive and does many times...certainly not always..obscure deeper values and family relationships. It's not a given, and doesn't have to occur, but sadly it does.

I can live with the romanticism of chawl life...i understand her point, and even a creative point and find it a cute part of the story because, while not realistic, it's harmless.. What bothers me more Laila, is the dichotomy between a patriarchal society and matriarchal one. While on the one hand, the wife moves into the husband's household, and sexual transgressions are swept aside and made light of,(patriarchal), in actuality the men in the PR story are almost all complete idiots to put it bluntly. (Even if hot and handsome 😉 and that of course is why we excuse them !) However, the decisions are all made by the women only & the men for the most part just stand there and say nothing and do nothing.

From Manoar forward there were only two men who were stronger than the women and they were both villains (Ajiit and Dharmesh). So the message is that women run the society, the family and relationships, either by decision making or by drama, and good men are subservient to those decisions and dramas.

To me that's a much more troublesome aspect of the serial. Although, I have to ask a serious question. Does it in reality reflect the current state of India's culture? I don't know. Perhaps it does. And if so, do women take over the leading role because the men refuse to be responsible? Or .. why does it happen? India is so vast and so varied, like many nations within the nation, so there is probably not one answer that applies to all.

But in the storyline, it does bother me. Thanks for posting an interesting topic.