| Woman power: A still from Ghar Ki Lakshmi - Betiyann |
Television review
What are little girls made of?
Ghar Ki Lakshmi - Betiyann is a great Indian melodrama but has the potential to take on a real social issue
Kausar Munir
Over the past few weeks our city has been inundated with the promotional hoardings of Zee TV's new daily soap Ghar Ki Lakshmi- Betiyann. And I couldn't help but think, "Not another outdated weepie…" And then the other day, I met somebody's eight-year-old beti. She lives in a posh suburban highrise, is bright and beautiful - but instead of being sent to school, she is made to stay home and learn household chores. Why? Because, she's a girl child! Suddenly the theme of 'Ghar Ki Lakshmi- Betiyann' didn't feel so outdated any more. Tune in to the GKLB household and you'll enter the TV version of Sanjay Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam gharana. Complete with jhoolas, jharokhas and jhamelas. One look at the dress and make-up and you can easily separate the good gals from the bad. And of course the painfully repetitive camera movements and borrowed film sound tracks prepare you for yet another great Indian melodrama.
The storyline is fairly simple - autocratic husband casts aside wonderful wife and four girls for a new wife who gives him a son! But what one is not prepared for is how easily you can connect with the little girls, the stars of the show, the betiyan! More than the suffering wife who has not been able to give a male heir to her emotionally brutal husband, one's sympathies gravitate towards the ill-fated daughters. One look at the sad, silent eyes (encouragingly no tacky emotional tactics were used with the kids), and you are hooked. Not only to their pathetic present but what will be an inevitably struggle-ridden future.
Here on it will be a struggle for the four daughters to find their rightful place, both in their cloistered home and the world at large. Undoubtedly the stories will, along the way, become more romantic-dramas, as happens with the shows with the best of intentions too. But if the emotional connect of the audience is as strong with the grown-up girls as it is with the kids, the serial may yet turn out winner.
Ghar Ki lakshmi - Betiyann, at the end of episode 2, has covered the introduction, the set-up and the growing up of the lead players too. So the pace is, so far, faster than other soaps. Also a smart channel move seems to be the fact there was no break and no 'false' freezes in any of these episodes!
Whether the channel sustains these encouraging trends is yet to be seen, but I hope that this theme of portraying girl's rights is genuinely upheld. Because we still live in a world where even in the heart of a so-called progressive metropolis like Mumbai, an eight-year-old is sitting at home because she is a girl…
Ishaani
