Posted:
A lot of heated discussions occur regarding ''bias'' for a positive character or deliberate ''bashing'' of a ''negative'' character etc. especially in forums of Colors shows!😉
I felt like sharing my views about why a certain character is called ''positive'' or another is called ''negative'' and whatever discussion that takes place is not necessarily fanspeak or hatred of another character.
It's not like people are not ''understanding'' or don't understand psychology, emotions and only uphold rules or ideal conventions! A character like Anandi - is it ideal or how everyone ought to be? A big NO! She has no faults? Not at all! She has plenty of weaknesses and faults. In my opinion:
When does a character come to be called negative character?
I don't think there any devis or daayans in serials! All characters have their own questionable actions or ways of thinking.
A Gauri is okay. Her sudden change and bizarre behaviour are to quite an extent related to her trauma, childhood rejection and disgrace. But why is she called negative?
Simply because she is harming others! One can sympathise if someone like Gauri is in depression, cries a lot, attempts self destruction or breaks things around her, remains sad or withdrawn, feels angry at others, takes out her anger at others in her own mind.her diary or when confiding to someone else etc. It does happen.Old wounds are opened up, painful memories come up, person seems to relive all bad moments. It is not easy or cakewalk to move on and stay normal forever, forgetting something bad ever happened to you in life.
Why is she called a ''vamp''? That is because she is harming her own life as well as harming others. She shouted at villagers in Jetsar, she shouted at whole family, she shouted many times at Anandi - who has no relation to her whatsoever. She hurriedly got married to Jagya without checking laws, therefore messing up her own life as well as that of Anandi, Singhs and Jagya. Now she is blaming destiny or blames Anandi or Singhs, but not Jagat or her own self. She's not telling all things to family (now this illegality thing), not consulting her Bade Papa and still being led by Jagya's silly excuses, living like a keep!
When a person displaces at anger at someone who is JUST not at all related to her/his cause of pain, that is when people have no justification for her/him. When he/she sets out to harm someone else, or their reputation directly or indirectly just to achieve their own ''ends'' that is when they are seen in negative light.
Take example of Pallavi in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, She was shown as a smart and very sweet girl who dreamt of a loving husband and happy family life. But she was badly hurt when Ajay did not turn up at mandap on day of marriage and Parvati persuaded Aggarwals and Pallavi's family to get Pallavi married to younger brother Kamal, who was younger than Pallavi, and less smart and educated than Ajay.
Now, Pallavi's anger, her pain and rage are justified. But why did she swear life-long revenge on Aggarwals? That is what made her lose sympathy!
Instead of ruining her whole life, pestering Aggarwals for life over that one rejection, being an educated girl from a well to do family, she could have refused to marry Kamal, saying marriage is no game. People would not have called her vamp if she had been in depression, angered at Aggarwals but in confines of her home and her own imagination and later sought therapy or something. Even if she had kept badmouthing them for insulting her and her family it would not have made her a vamp. When she launched a life long agenda to harm everyone and bring them all on roads, that's when she lost all sympathy.
She could have tried to rebuild her life, perhaps shifted to some other city or gone to another country. It was not her fault. It was the boy's fault who agreed to marry her despite being in love with someone else! She could have tracked him, given him a piece of her mind, revealed his new wife and family how he almost ruined her life by running away like this.
But she became worse and did worst possible things with Aggarwals, making Ajay's one mistake look small in comparison.
Same case for Mandira in Kyunki..People had sympathy for her when her heart broke knowing about Mihir's truth. But she became a vamp, when she started harming Tulsi, tried to break their relationship and later years later, she kept the enmity alive and even brought Savita on death bed!
Nothing is wrong in mourning or being unable to get over an unpleasant incident or being helplessly obsessed/grieved and feeling cheated or wronged. Full support, understanding and sympathy are there for emotionally fragile and sensitive people. Nothing is wrong in nursing a grudge or being cold to persons who are cause of pain or taking action against them - like legal action etc.
But if you start harming others or plan to harm or blame others, directly or indirectly, especially ones who are not related to your cause of pain or vow revenge or your whole aim in life to outdo someone else or make sure someone else remains down and out, then people won't justify you.
Criminals also have their own reasons - emotions, feelings, childhood incidents or traumatic events or uncontrollable thoughts. We can understand them. But we cannot justify them.
Even if a person is totally insolvent (plainly speaking, completely insane and unsound mind) that person is treated less harshly, but it is not like he/she is justified, absolved of all wrongs. Instead of harsh punishment, he/she is given treatment and kept in confinement lest he/she harms more people or harms himself.
Understanding someone's reasons for behaving in some way is different from condoning his/her behaviour or not minding about it at all, calling it natural outcome!
In case of Gauri, she is all sensible, patient and tactful in dealing with unruly elements in city or in college. Why couldn't she display same sensibility in dealing with the Singhs? If she had kept her calm and not blown up, then perhaps she would have got more sympathy. She is so particular about career, education, carving her own niche and making something of her life. Then why not at least bother to check laws while marrying the man of your choice? Why rely on your own GK? [Why even marry a man like Jaggu is another question! But we can perhaps still ignore it in name of love!]
The way she is all normal, careful and rational in dealing with uncooperative, unruly and rude people in city, one wonders if whatever she does in Anandi's case is a result of childhood trauma, emotional insecurity etc. or is it deliberate?
Gauri is actually a confusing character! She is not even ''calculative'' or ''manipulative'' enough to emotionally blackmail Anandi through Jaggu, do some emotional drama herself if need be, and pressurise her to give a divorce.
Partly people also feel irritated with her since she was a nice girl earlier and one doesn't expect an educated girl, especially the one who had been badly cheated in childhood, to behave like this and believe all lame explanations of Jagya and get ready to live like a keep!
Be it modern and progressive viewers or orthodox viewers, both have their own reasons to be miffed with her!
About so-called positive characters:
I don't believe there are all wonderful demigod type positive characters! But positive ones are called positive simply because they DO NOT HARM OTHERS. Or think ill of others because of their own feelings or incidents in life.
Hindi films and serials tend to go too far and make them all doormats, even serving water to enemies. But basically a character is called positive only because he/she is not too selfish or too self-centered and does think of others. They try to bear things, ''suck it up'' for as long as they can, they forgive others or give others chances.
They just don't swear revenge or even entertain thoughts of doing anything immoral just to get their own way. [I wonder how Ekta made Tulsi a devi, and had her killing her son and MIL in the name of giving mukti to them!😆]
Ideal or conventional qualities apart, the most basic thing which still keeps sympathy in people's minds for them is their avoidance of deliberately harming others in any way and realising their own mistakes, doing some self introspection.
They may cry, may even blame others or society, make people ashamed of their misdeeds, take someone to court or get someone jailed. But they don't do it for just for personal vengeance or selfish reasons. Kaam nikalne ke liye ya zidd poori karne ke liye nahin karte.
The worst things IMO, about positive characters are that they tend to be ''ideal'' in a very orthodox way, become door mats and end up compromising a lot on their own lives and at times lives of others, just for things like social acceptance or family's izzat!
Anandi is by no means a 100% positive example to follow. Nor is someone like Iccha of Uttaran! They get more sympathy not just because of certain ideal qualities, but also due to the trouble they are made to go through by jerks like Jagya or obsessed ladies like Gauri or Tapasya.
Anandi has made many mistakes - like blindly covering up J's faults since childhood, or having false hopes despite obvious warning signals, ignoring her own education, and not taking any action against J despite knowing truth and all legality and even having permission from DS etc. Her silence and incessant crying and NEVER ever taking a stand for herself or thinking about her own life are no characteristics to be a fan of!
But she is not harming someone else or breaking any rules or norms herself for her own personal gains! So she gets to be called ''positive''. She's certainly no goddess!
Appeal of positive vs. negative characters:
I think basically people like a positive character because of his/her nice, easy-going personality. They even weep for him/her if he/she is too good and gets used by others. But basically in long run, a positive character is only liked or revered if he/she takes a stand! Sooner or later, he/she speaks up, fends for him/herself and refuses to take any nonsense. He/she fights evil or bad or for her/his rights, after line is crossed.
The problem with today's leads, especially like Anandi or Ichcha etc., is that they are total doormats. One never knows when they will feel that enough is enough and all lines have been crossed! They keep tolerating abuse, keep letting people use or walk all over them, keep weeping or being remote-controlled by others, or silently leave home and lead a spartan life - without any fault of their own, for YEARS!!
Today's shows, sorry to say, have weak positive characters, who are nothing more than ''jee mata ji'' or silently weeping types. 🥱
The actors portraying negative characters, villains/vamps or apple of discord, are MORE impressive, flamboyant and imposing than the so-called positive leads! 😲
No actor in NAIDL or BV is comparable to imposing persona of Amma ji and DS as well as the actors portraying these roles! 😔
The positive character is also weak and uni-dimensional. Sorry to say, honestly speaking, the actors taken as leads are also weak and unimpressive (physical persona, voice, gait, acting etc. all attributes combined are weak).🤔
Nowadays, they focus too much on so-called negative characters and details of their lives. They show the negative character in all moods - be it happy, funny, silly, sad, angry, despicable etc. Full episodes, whole tracks for months are dedicated to them!😒 Earlier, no serial focussed so much on negative characters or side characters! Nowadays it seems they will even show the house's watchman's life, but never fully focus on the lead!
Whereas the positive one has only two things to do - be a yes man/woman and cry/break down or remain silent due to vamp/villain!🤢
Who would have bothered if Ram had always stayed in exile and had been unable to do anything to save Sita? Or if Pandavas would have always been in exile or still having chausar matches and losing them again and again?🤪
But makers of serials these days, especially on *this* channel, never show positive leads in FULL focus, never show them in different moods - contemplative, taking stock of their life, taking extra responsibility or having greater say in family or neighbourhood or society, even deciding on their own which dal should be made for dinner (!), small mistakes, occasional outbursts of irritation or being a bit impatient at times, occasionally expressing what they want or what they would like to have, having a strong STAND and strong beliefs on certain issues, not tolerating unfair things or speaking up for themselves or others.😍
Taking a vamp or villain to task is totally out of question! 😡😲😆
Anandi has remained in balika mode even after leap! In fact, post leap Anandi had lost even the little bit of spunk that kid Anandi had! She is always following DS or Bapu sa's instructions, calls Jagya ''aap'', bears all his torments - but does not even bear it quietly - breaks down, falls sick, eventually letting everyone know something is wrong! Always ''chhupaana bhi nahin aata, bataana bhi nahin aata'' mode!👎🏼🥱
Even Tulsi later forgave Mihir for the affair and illegitimate child. But it's not like she never protested. When younger she left home despite being in 9th month of her pregnancy. When older, she would make him feel guilty every day, cried out to family about it, destroyed their photos together, refused to sleep in the same room as him or sit with him etc. I mean she made her disgust clear! She made it clear that he had done wrong and she was hurt and not in mood to forgive him!
Even Parvati left home many times, when she felt her self respect was being questioned and that she could help herself and even family better, if she moved away from them!
Kkusum, Jassi, Prerna or older leads in serials like Saans, Kora Kaagaz, Thoda Sa Aasman etc. - they did make the cheating man and tormenting in-laws or vamps realise their mistakes, made them feel guilty, took them to court and even remarried, started a new life after much struggle within themselves, with family and society!
Shows like Tara, Shanti, Aurat, Aparajhita, Hasratein etc. seem like shows of some other modernised country compared to utter regressiveness in serials on Indian TV since 2000!😍😃 [The 90s and 80s serials really don't feel Indian at all!😆 Too progressive and sensible!]
I don't intend to bash this serial or this channel or compare with older serials of other channels. But I quoted examples of earlier serials just to outline what viewers really want but sadly don't get!
We want to see real people, real situations, but their issues resolved in an ideal manner. We like to see an impressive battle between good and evil, and finally good triumphing over evil! That triumph does not necessarily mean that evil guy or girl should land up in jail, on deathbed or asylum. But also if he/she openly regrets, admits his/her mistakes, asks for forgiveness and lets go of all grudges. Destruction of evil is also okay and entertaining, and reformation or everyone being eventually friends or moving on in each other's individual lives are also good.
Finally, I feel no channel should try to use serious emotional, real-life or social issues as a BAIT to attract viewers and TRICK them into watching the show in hope of seeing reality or resolution of that issue. Just tell there is a new serial or story. Keep it a drama only and show anything, wear your creativity/drama and silliness on your sleeve! Why all PRETENSE? Why give viewers FALSE HOPES?😵
Viewers only feel cheated when issues are used to basically show flamboyant villains and popularise their phrases or even make their gundagardi or wrong ways seem adorable or fun!
I would like to make it clear that shows don't become famous for the love of the villain or vamp! It's really hollow reasoning to think so. People watch, not only for the villain/vamp and suspense/drama they bring BUT ALSO because they want the positive character to turn heroic! They wait to see what she/he will do, how others around him/her will react, will he/she get support or not, and what will he/she do to counter the negative character if she/he gets support or not.
Otherwise giving too much space/focus to errant and flippant characters and only increasing the intensity of their ''deviant'' behaviour while TOTALLY sidelining the positive character or not making him/her strong is like believing that people watch Sholay only for Gabbar and have no interest in Thakur or Jai-Veeru so let's just focus on Gabbar and let Jai-Veeru celebrate Holi!🤢🤪🤡
As for negative characters - I feel they should not be merely branded as vamps or villains. Nor should they be glorified or celebrated! Eventually reveal why they do what they do and have them seek help.treatment or finally have epiphany and move on to lead a saner life! But just DON'T celebrate, justify them or ABSOLVE them of all their misdeeds!
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I don't think people bash a character. They bash certain weaknesses and mis-steps or wrong-doings. Someone like Anandi is no great shakes either as character or actor at the moment (sorry to be so frank), but she gets support only because she is the victim, she is all innocent and does not harm others or take wrong steps, despite KNOWING fully well that what she is doing is wrong.
She has done wrong things like supporting J and not letting Bhairon punish him. But it's not like she is actually trampling on an unsuspecting person's life despite knowing all truth!
Jagya is the only one who ought to be bashed left, right and center - for all his blunders combined till date, for playing with others' lives, being selfish, lying, cheating for selfish gains and taking society/law and whole world for granted! He is not even careful enough not to hurt Gauri's feelings and keeps mentioning Anandi or praises her qualities! More than users in the forum, it is that character of lover who needs to understand a woman's insecurity and trauma!
He's bad and bash-worthy because he is not even victim of social conditioning, gender discrimination, trauma or has any psychological problem. He's plain spoilt BRAT. Irrational and never has guts to do things the right way. Spineless and no self respect.
There's no justification for guys like him and no use hoping they will reform. Hope he ends up like a dhobi ka kutta, with no one to cover up his blunders or buy his lies!
Bashing or supporting DOES NOT make right as wrong and wrong as right. A wrong person shall be perceived as wrong only. Tomorrow if people start saying that sky is pink, it won't actually mean that sky is really pink!
So chill everyone and stop taking things personally! Let's have saner discussions rather than convos based on personal favs!👍🏼
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
