META chai party: Religion in soapland

To start things off let me v quickly reference an excellent book by one of my professors:

interesting topic!!! do they actually depict real religious celebrations in serials??? i doubt it! it looks OTT! d way they drag the storyline with little drama thrown in shows only paucity of ideas. atleast in madhubala we have d hero who is supposed to be self proclaimed nastik and this occasion is shown to get him back to his god. most of the serials use such occasions to drag the week with minimal storyline. there have been serials who don't bother with such gimmicks (very few!).

One thing surprised me was the byline running when RK was mouthing dialogues against god. i mean have we become so intolerant that we can't even see a nastik chr on screen mouthing dialogues against god without channel disassociating itself by running a disclaimer! RK is just a character in a fictional soap!!! dont d audience know this!!!

But the serials today may not plan to incite such religious fervours consciously. they do it plainly for trps n business reasons n ofcourse lack of story line too. but it does incite negative reaction from the 'so-called' custodians of indian culture (i mean if they show one ritual wrong!). we become more indians in soaps than in reality.

with this kind of OTT acts (Mumbai's ganesh visarjan, Calcutta's Kalipuja, d list goes on) i feel minorities may feel left out or out of place. earlier days we have all communities taking part in such celebrations. now it is not the case. it is really a sad state of affairs. i have heard of instances when muslim trader makes decorations for ganesh puja and d whole community participatig in such celebrations. but that has become very few. in this scenario, soaps showing such celebrations might have adverse reactions.

Down south, thanks to Periyar Ramasamy, the founder of dravidian movement, it used to be fashionable to be nastik (60s n 70s). even today there are quite a number of people who do not believe in gods. there have been movies with such chrs and the arguments such nastick chrs place are very interesting that it becomes a discussion in itself. My bro was undergoing a phase no-god policy, so i myself used to have lot of arguments.

Book marking. Cannot join in now. Later...

Great topic and a very important one.

Basically, what you mean is Is Indian cinema and TV promoting the old traditions of Hindutva, and whether its exposure will harm its audience, and how much religious broadcast is considered a tolerable dose?

Moi answer will be categorically structured.

1. Regression

2. Saffronisation

3. Education

4. Diversion from Realism and ethics.

Last week we discussed regressive female leads and their influence on the viewing society. I feel the audience enjoys regressive main leads. The society hasn't yet moved away from their 'love'for regressive female leads was my round-up answer.

Saffronisation - Is this pulling back secularisation? Typical example ' RK (pretending although), is shown to be a non religious believer. His shown intent represents a self made man. What one does is not decided by God. Karma is practically inexistent. (Though we know he is not a true aethist). He is showing activities and incidents are not sacred. Whereas Madhu's beliefs are the opposite. She feels everything, incidents and activities good or bad down to details are planned by God. There is a religious belief and self confidence. Madhu is more spiritual, This is what fuels her inner strength. I don't normally see evidence of SELF confidence from her. Whereas RK's strength is engined by self confidence. In this case we will see RK succumb and be pulled back to have his faith restored. As Madhu also made statement ' RK give yourself in to God. So yes this can be seen as latent saffronisation by the TV industry.

Education ' There are plenty of religions, many rituals that are unknown to us. I as a muslim, did not know the meaning and tradition of Virsajan for example. BUT I have leant through this show the 10 days tradition, I'd never known of Mauli and Modak. So religious education is provided.

Nationally, all shows will include religious festivals. Pakistani shows will educate the audiences on Eid and Ramazan etc. Hindi shows on Diwali, Holi, etc. English shows on Thanks Giving, St Patricks day, Christmas.

Diversion from Realism ' This is more scientific. A fantasy filled hope. Koi mil gaya, Karan Arjun, I Robot. Ethics are covered, yet the concept is far from religion and practicality

In the past shows and films certainly contained more HINDUTVA . BUT the new genre shows and films are breaking away from it. They are more heading towards secularisation.

Bhool bhulaiya was a good example. How religious beliefs and old tradition tied people to believe abnormal behaviour meant being possessed. BUT the psychologist believed and led to show science exists and introduced a psychological illness before them. I believe Manjulika was ill. My parents believed she was possessed. How you accept what is shown depends on the viewers.

There are shows like MB where you are seen reciting hoslon se veer will always save you, a spiritual belief.

Shows like Saubhagyavati bhava, Pratigya have a balanced approach. They show the power or prayer as well as self confidence. There is a good balance between Aathma wishwas and Anth Wishwaas.

What is considered a tolerable dosage? It depends what they are showing, does it fit with the story?

Are they discouraging Secularity, or are they just educating. Is the education necessary? In my opinion when they stand in prayer or singing hymns ' The audience do not all understand the meaning. Which leads you to question if this was a necessity in the show or movie? When Radha explained the purpose of making Modaks ' that was educating. RK's list of lamba chaura complaint in front of Ganpatti ki murthi, this was stretched but also it exhibits a individuals expectancy from God.

Religion is part of our lives and it is the foundation of our being. It is probably the most important factor that shapes as a person ' a human being.

There need to be a balance displayed by movies and shows. Where having faith is being promoted, self confidence should also be promoted at the same time, because God helps those ' who help themselves. A great message given out by Saubhagyavati Bhava.

There is a show Mahadev. I have never seen it... but looking at its concept it seems to be more in line with educating today's generation on the Hindu religion.

There was a show Mano ya na mano which targeted the spiritual concept.

BUT I feel the new genre of shows have a more balanced approach so the exposure is becoming less. They show practicality as well as keeping faith intact. Movies are moving away from saffronisation, because these days the moral standards and culture is lost.

Cari.. xx

I haven't had a chance to go through this post yet, I'm going to try and come back a little later to join.

Hmm...Saffornization of Indian Soaps...could be. It was very problematic how the one agnostic character in the show was depicted. He insulted a major tradition by eating non veg, after he lost faith he started drinking and being cruel to his own mom.😲 That was just icky. So the show is trying to tell people who do not follow a religious tradition will turn you into a raging drunkard? Or that if your son disrespects you, blame his lack of religiosity? Hinduism as a religion is so diverse, the rituals vary from home to home let alone different states. So, yes in that sense, there is the saffronization. I read a while back how Hindutva groups like RSS and VHP are trying to mould Hinduism like the Abrahamic religions. That as a Hindu makes me feel uneasy. I am a spirtual person who doesn't pray everyday or go to temple. I don't hold fasts or even take part in major festivities. For someone to tell me i am not Hindu enough because i don't partake in such rituals pisses me off. I agree with Cari that these soaps do "educate" people about rituals but they don't do a great job of actually educating people about Hinduism as a philosophy. After all, there are so many versions of Geeta itself. Hinduism is all about interpretation and reinterpretation of the event and what lessons you can glean from them, what do they tell us about the nature of human beings, of valour, sacrifice etc. I guess these soaps don't delve in abstract, more complex questions but gloss over them. In many ways these shows support superstitions. Its all fine for a character to get her strength and support from Lord Ganesha but to impose those beliefs on someone crosses the line. As for India being a 'secular state", that's kinda debatable. I do think Institutions are but religion is forefront of many people and enters public space many times. In contrast, Canada is too POC and sweet old white ladies are scared of saying Merry Christmas to me because they think it will piss me off.

Where is everyone this weekend?

i feel the recent upsurge in portrayal of religious rituals in indian television is part of the worlwide shift in religious perspectives. secularism is on the backfoot and religion has taken centre-stage in most regions of the world(Islamophobia in the west and the arab spring in the west asia). and we indians hav been historically hypocritical secularists!