REALLY?? - Page 3

Originally posted by: starlight123

Hope, I appreciate the time and effort you put to write these posts. So thank you and continue to do so.....😃.


For all solutions the police is not the answer as they are part of the problem. Those that are meant to be protecting and defending the law are misusing it then how do you expect a Joe Blogg to have trust in the law. The police force is corrupt, we all agree, but what about the lawyers who are meant to bring justice. They too misuse the law to prolong the case so that their fees and case can continue flowing. Their interest is not justice but their pockets.

Any positive change is society can only happen when those rogue elements who are meant to be protecting the law are monitored with strict guidelines and regulations.

Originally posted by: lighthousepier

Hope,

Thanks for posting. While I have developed a bit of an addiction to this forum and while I do agree that there is value in moving social issues out of the closet for the simple benefits associated with awareness - I am a little worried about all those who expect things from a soap opera that it simply cannot deliver.

By its very nature a soap opera is both too dramatic and not dramatic enough. The intensity of overlapping disfunction. The perception that one person guided by right and principle can take on an embedded culture, the number of threads left hanging, the sheer "Really????" quality of some of these incidents...they are dangerous if taken too literally.

I would hate for folks out there to believe that slapping Eve Teasers is a wise or safe thing to do. I know that this forum exploded when Krishna raised his hand to Pratigya or when he made an advance in the bedroom when she was tired. I would hate for any impressionable girl out there who had the extreme misfortune of marrying her stalker to believe that her relationship will be love and romance - or that he would wait for her to be ready and do nothing more than raise his hand.

The world out there is beautiful. It is also ugly. In a soap opera we don't get to see the beauty in the multiple facets of personality - its predominantly black and white. Nor do we get to see the true ugliness of the underbelly of the social issues that are injected into the plot.

I think the CVs do an exceptional job - at their job of entertaining and engaging us. I think expecting them to also bring about world peace is asking a bit much.

Light

Originally posted by: koolsadhu1000

The world out there is beautiful. It is also ugly.

In my opinion ...........this sentence by lighthousepier sums it up in a nutshell . The problem is many who view this serial are not ready to accept the ugliness at all . They believe that beauty can rectify ugliness .........it doesn't . Beauty can survive on its own , if it does not come in contact with the ugliness . But if it mixes with the ugliness , it gets MARRED . A lotus blooms in a muddy pond and stands , lovely and erect , so long as it doesn't bend and touch the mud around it . A lovely painting can be made irrectifiable by ugly slashes or strokes , but it cannot be VICE VERSA .............an already slashed painting cannot be rectified by perfect strokes .

Point is ...........The ugly realism that we see in Pratigya ............cleverly shown to us by CVS just enough to shock us and raise TRPS and then hurriedly withdrawn and shown rectifiable by a very unrealistic , fimy solution [ again for TRPS] simply CANNOT GO AWAY . Its THERE to STAY , its PERMANENT . It has to be remembered that when NATURE has two PERMANENT FACETS ..........BEAUTY and UGLINESS ............SOOTHING and HORRIFYING...........its the same with human evolution and social strata .

Lets look at the social problems shown in this serial :

STALKING and EVE TEASING : The solution to this was MARRAIGE WITH THE SUPPOSED STALKER

The heroine KNEW it in her BONES that her stalker husband was gonna NOT RAPE HER NIGHT AFTER NIGHT OR BEAT HER ON A DAILY BASIS .

She KNEW it before hand that she would be able to walk out of that GUNDA HOUSE and take police help which she DID NOT GET before marraige

She KNEW that she could COUNT ON BRINGING THE STALKER HUSBAND TO HEEL BY WITHOLDING SEX TILL HER MESSAGE GOT ACROSS . She KNEW that he was , infact , THAT sensitive . She KNEW that he was NOT SHAKTI . [ The heroine's sixth sense is REMARKABLe]

So in short the solution to STALKING was taking a hell of a risk ad marrying the stalker and having an uncommonly good sixth sense .😕 And so i ask HOpe's question .........REALLY ? If stalked girls in UP or Bihar or anywhere in India emulate Pratigya what do u think their FATE WILL BE ?

Take the other social problem ............DOMESTIC ABUSE . We see rampant domestic abuse in this serial . The heroine's elder sister in law is hit on a daily basis in the room NEXT to the heroine's bedroom . The heroine IGNORES it and merely gives her pep talks from time to time . The heroine's mother in law is hit mercilessly by her father in law , the heroine tries to interfere but is told categorically by her mother in law to STAY OUT . So the heroine kind of ACCEPTS it so long as its not happening with her and REACTS only on the day her pregnant sister in law loses her baby due to horrific beating by her animal husband . That day she registers a police complaint . Everyone claps and claps ........How brave of her ! How wonderful for taking a stand ! What a positive message she is sending out to the millions out there watching this serial !

Solution to the DOMESTIC ABUSE : Bringing the abused woman hOME to share the SAME BEDROOM with the ABUSER instead of taking her to an NGO . The heroine , who herself freeloads off her tyrannical sasur has in REALITY no alternative to the fate of the abused woman . She has jUMPED IN to solve an issue with the same stupidity that she displayed while deciding to marrying a stalker . And so I once more ask Hope's question ..........REALLY ? Is THIS the solution to domestic abuse ?

One more social problem has been addressed : The unfair treatment of BLACK SKIN in India . Regarding BLACK as UGLY . In this problem , the heroine does NOTHING . She just ........well , STARES . I don't see her making attempts to show her sasuralwallahs that BLACK is regarded as BEAUTIFUL Internationally , that dark skin sometimes makes the fair ones look insipid . I had suggested once that show Pratiggya bringing in journalists and photographers to click Kesar's photo for the cover of a women's magazine by convincing GURUMA that it wud be wonderful for Sajjan Singhs Election campaign . CVs didnt read us . Kesar is even more beautiful than Pratigya in my eyes . We see so many of Pratigyas speeches but we do nOT see her telling that Ram , Kishna were dark and renowned for their dark beauty and that Kaali ........the dark form of the Goddess is the most terrible and the most beautiful . That its a unique blessing to be DARK , that Amma is not particularly fair nor is GURUMA whom Sajjan worships . All we see is a Color discrimination problem and SILENCE . Nothing but STARES from the heroine . Sajjan Singh's family deity is the DEvi , but we do nOT see Pratigya asking the women of the family if they were ready to insult the Dark colour of the Devi , if they had THAT much HIMMAT . These kind of dialogues affect RURAL mind sets . They r ALL God fearing . But CVS dont use these means .

One more Social problem is addressed ...........ILLEGAL SECOND MARRAIGE WITHOUT DIVORCING FIRST WIFE . Here we see the heroine INSISTING on the first marraige to remain intact as she is PRINCIPALLY against the illegal second marraige . But the first marraige is a case of classic domestic abuse . In this case , if the first wife is being given ample financial compensation and freedom , it has to be grabbed and the divorce can be looked into later . Insisting that the First marraige remain as it is only means insisting that the first wife should remain in the domestic abuse situation . Of course , the second unsuspecting girl should NOT be allowed to walk into this abuse situation too , but that has to be managed by CLEVERLY giving a tip to the opposition party Candidate [ Sajjan Singhs election opponent via a n anonymous phone] or the PRESS AFTER GETTING FINANCIAL COMPENSATIION ON KESARS NAME . There r ways and ways to survive these horrible situations , its not exactly wise to lock horns so directly and die so young .

Coz THATS what will happen when young girls will emulate Pratigya .They will die young and they will die after merciless abuse .They will die with broken jaws , acids splashed on face , raped , disfigured . They will get no chance to parade around in chiffons and high heels with a stalker husband who improved after marraige .

The heroine continues to live in a house of abuse instead of seperating inspite of her face being blackened and proves that she is not all tough , she can LOVE too .And pray , how ? By eating red chilli powder and rice , and not walking out inspite of mud being put on her face . This , it seem,s is love .

In reality if girls emulate Pratigyas actions to show LOVE , they will end up in hospital with their intestines on fire and their self esteem will take such a beating they will never be able to lift their heads again .

It seems all we gotta do is look at the POSITIVITY IN THE MESSAGE . We gotta APPLAUD it . If we are criticizing Pratigya we r CONDONING MURDERERS . Its THAT BLACK AND WHITE . All those who condemn Pratigya , condone MURDER .

Where is the POSITIVITY ? Leading impressionable young gals out there to commit living suicides by giving them Pratigya as a role model is ANYTHING but positive . If criticising her is condoning murder ..........I guess I must be the most heinous person living on earth .

If someone asks me , ok u criticise Pratigya and u criticize this serial , where the hell are YOUR solutions , lets hear them ............I say

Let her use her education and WORK for a living

Let her INSIST on staying seperate

Let her Get Kesar OUT of the house and use her education to get Kesar financial compensation coz Kesar has neither sasural nor maayka.her entire dependency is due to zero financial independence

Let her educate Krishna and Kesar in adult education classes

Let her show Kesar to adopt an baby [ girl if possible]

Let her show Kesar the means to earn a livelihood with her skills

Let her show fairness in giving her brother a good blasting for spoiling another girl.Komals life by not consummating marraige todate

Let her know that to effect a change in rural household , she has to get down from her seat and go to their level , sit with them on their turf , mingle with them like THEM and strike a communication chord before expecting a change . We saw this very very briefly when she spoke in the rural dialect and how immensely it pleased Krishna . Let her know that to CHANGE THEM SHE HAS FIRST TO BECOME ONE AMONG THEM ........................THEY WILL NOT BECOME SUDDENLY LIKE HER , ITS HARDER FOR THEM .

Originally posted by: stillhopeful

Is Pratigya really helping social progression and women's empowerment in India?

I lived in India for over 20 years and in the West for over a decade. I am more loyal and in love with India today than when I left because I have spent a lot of my time abroad defending India against the misconceptions and the stereotypes surrounding our land and our people.

But while I stand by my country I am also very much aware of its societal and systemic shortcomings. India is a country that has a lot of academics and a lot of very practical people. In fact, it is this embedded practicality that helps the poor and the middle class masses survive and sometimes even thrive in a country where hard knocks and fierce competition is so apparent in any walk of life (be it work, business or education)

India has good laws and the necessary system and infrastructure to execute those laws but the law will only be truly effective when it is fortified and its performance is monitored and checked.

Why do I have more faith of getting justice in the West than in India as an average middle class Jane with no money or influence?

Because the western system is supported by key controls that FORCE it to work (to the degree that it does)

Accountability mechanisms like arms-length watchdogs. Bodies that are established to fight for the rights of citizens who are shunned or mistreated by the system Legislation strengthening the power of NGO's and giving them teeth to fight injustice and TAKE ACTION against the abusers themselves rather than leaving it to the cops alone
1. A strong and influential media that uses the Freedom of Speech and Expression to the nth degree for all its worth.

These are just a few examples of controls that make law and order in the West work. When the system works and fair play for average citizens becomes an assumption not an expectation, that is when social evils, issues, stigmas take a blow.

In all my years in India, neither as a student or an employee or a citizen did I learn about any watchdogs or any legislation strengthening NGOs. In fact NGOs and Media have only become more visible in the last decade (and I am very happy about that). Even Freedom of Information legislation is relatively new.

The US faced a similar problem in the early 1900's and it took the McCarthy Era to fix it (to a major degree though not totally). An era where special taskforces were deployed to root out corruption with zero tolerance within the law enforcement and legal system

But then again would a solution that was good for a country of less than 30 Million work in an environment where there are over a Billion??? I think it would be very difficult to manage.

Law and Order is an excellent drama that shows the law enforcement and legal system in the West for what they are - sometimes effective and sometimes not. They show success and corruption on the part of the supposed HEROS. And it is this realism that makes it so popular. But does this realism make it effective in addressing any corruption in the US and Canadian law enforcement and legal system? No. It brings awareness but ZERO EFFECT, INFLUENCE OR IMPACT.

Impact is brought by the NGOs, the media and the watchdogs breathing down the necks of the law enforcement and legal systems.

Similarly, I would not classify Pratigya as a social drama. It is JUST A DRAMA. It will not impact, influence or effect societal change or progression in India. Also the focus of the show is not social issues/evils (that is just a carrot where recipes given to eat the carrot are exciting to read but unpalatable to consume) but Kriya.

Is Pratigya really helping social progression and women's empowerment in India? Unfortunately No.

In my opinion, if this show wants to progress from a drama into a social drama and wants to show TRUE AWARENESS of societal issues and realistic implementable solutions then the story has to stop erroneous and potentially dangerous solutions ' stop showing people fight to save marriages of domestic violence victims and their abusers, stop showing middle class victims marry goons for revenge, stop showing women slapping people with weapons and brute force to resolve issues. It is only when these sensational things are replaced with sensible things that the actions of the female protagonist can be something that we consider, reflect on and practice.

Show that domestic abuse victims are given shelter in safe surroundings and is given marketable skills and training, show that stalkers are either punished by law/media/NGO/community, show how successful the law really is in meting out justice to uneducated helpless women or the average joe/jane. Half-baked solutions do not save but mislead and give the vulnerable and naive a false sense of security and knowledge.

Until then Pratigya is just another soap where the cast is superb and the onscreen chemistry between the leads is entertaining.

Just because I express dislike or intolerance for a fictional character's solutions or an element of the plot that I think is unreasonable or ineffective, does not mean I am not supporting social change or progression in India. It just means that I have an opinion on something fictional that I am seeing.

It is a request not to look for a deeper, more altruistic meaning in the actions of the female protagonist or erroneously consider this soap as a means of effecting change in a country as complex as my motherland India.

let us enjoy the show for its unrelenting creativity, discuss the plot to death even use satirical posts on the plot and the characters but please let us not bash members on a personal level for a differing opinion.

Hope