What attracted me to this show was not merely the fact that it was a heart warming love story but it dealt with a lot of other issues. The story started off as one which dealt with the social issue of hapless girls from small towns being duped by some crooked NRIs in the name of marriage. It also explored the other topical issue of attempted 'honour' killing, all because the female lead refuse to abort her child. These are burning issues facing our women. Sadly I had not watched the show during this phase as I was following another show in another channel.
Since Geet's arrival in Delhi, the writers have steered clear of the heavy stuff for the time being, for obvious reasons, and are concentrating on building the romance factor, considering that their audience is primarily the young and romantic at heart. Despite the apparent diversion (which I am not complaining too loudly about because I love Maaneet and their magical chemistry) , what I like about this show is that the writers do keep giving some socially relevant message from time to time. They do this so unobtrusively and weave the messages so well into the story, that one may not actually realise that they are doing it. Here I am talking about the problems any young working woman may face in her day-to-day discharge of duty and the imperviousness of her boss/management to her problems because they themselves do not have to face them.
The first one that comes to mind is Geet's first day at work. We see that Maan is so engrossed in his own work that he does not realise that his secretary is forced to wait up for him. Even after he finally calls it a day, he just tells her that she can go, without a thought as to how she will go home alone in a city like Delhi where women are not really safe late in the night. He is forced to realise this later when Geet gets cornered by a few goondas and then he chivalrously steps in, gets them out of the way and offers her a lift.
The next scene which comes to mind is the scene at the office where Maan asks her to come to the office late in the night to finish a project. Again he does not realise that a woman working with her boss in the night in an empty office is bound to make a lot of tongues wag, which ultimately they did. He may be a highly driven and committed boss but then he should have also taken into consideration the sensibilities of his female employee which Geet made amply clear. In the same scene Geet also made him aware that he was expecting her to carry a mobile when he himself has not provided her one (Maan has still not provided her one, by the way), yet he expected her to be at his beck and call. Again, this showed that employers need to provide their employees with basic tools to enable them to discharge their duties effectively.
Then there are the innumerable demands he keeps making of Geet, who in her capacity as merely his secretary, is not actually expected to do. Although Geet fulfills his demands, sometimes even better than his expectations, she keeps getting shouted at (not to mention that he is yet to offer a pay increase for all that extra work) -another very common thing that working girls would be quite familiar with. The guy seems to only keep taking it further and further, involving her now in his personal affairs too. While I would like her to really put her foot down, I guess I have to be satisfied that at least she does keep reminding him from time to time of his unjust demands.
The more recent scene is the one where she complains that he makes her slave for him without a thought to what she will do about her meals. Now this is a typical problem facing many working women. Most guys have someone waiting home for them with cooked food. The ones who are not married can atleast eat out. So it does not matter to them that they are forced to work late. Now not many women are comfortable eating out alone in restaurants and hence either cook their own food or go to bed without their meal if they are too exhausted after working late. Maan has not realised this basic fact because as Geet points out, he himself has his cooks to take care of his food. Maan, being Maan, truly rises to the occassion and ensures Geet gets her food. I hope employers can take a leaf out of his book and ensure that their employees are provided food at proper time if they are expected to work well beyond office hours.
So these are some random thoughts I wanted to share regarding the show which, in any case, does not need any canvassing, as it is doing well even without it.
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