Originally posted by: napstermonster
Serial Junkie:
Before you ask for a woman's touch, I must remind you of our traumatic history, our scarred past--no, we didn't lose parents to the Thakur's small member and large massacre of 1985. But I remind you of Gul Khan, and how a strong female actress playing a beloved female protagonist in a female produced show does not a female friendly product make.
A woman's side of the story can only be written when that part is thought, conceived and executed from a woman's perspective. The aforementioned show was not written from a woman's perspective. Whether a creative team has a woman in the mix is not the argument here. The argument is that the creative think-tank is not weighing in a woman's perspective into the narrative. You have to feel what a woman feels to bring her story. Haven't you read romance novels and at time felt why would a Lord of GobbleDeGook care to worry about his wives petticoats, drawers and chemise, and get stiffly aroused at the mere peek of a woman's ankle? Because the stories are written by women, and from whatever little I know of men and their physical anatomical functions, the sight of an ankle is not enough to make a man "come". It is one-sided, entirely a woman's fantasy that her man would worship every part of her body and that her body, even a slight peek of it, or her innately innocent qualities bordering on naivete, would make him burn like a hot furnace of desire.
Your points will resonate with every other poster here. But I want to play devil's advocate and ask you--why? Why do we need a female voice in a show that has started on the premise of a man binding a woman to his vehicle and carting her off as a prize of war? There is no bigger indication to any thinking woman that this woman will not be --emancipated, She is never more objectified than on the back of that jeep.
I would argue that very objectification makes her mysterious, desirable, and the blank canvas for Rudra to project every desire, every (childish) dream of a perfect woman. She is instant wish fulfillment--get a virginal bride, take her to your stronghold, and she will be yours forever. Romance bestsellers have been written on less-so why not this show?
If you read comments here, napster, you will know not everyone agrees with my pov. Many would want to see the man's side of the story and have articulated as such, for the very reasons you mention here. They are tired of saas-bahu stories, stories that purportedly promote women's causes and tears. They are happy to see a male-centric story line and narrative.
For every romance best-seller that puts male characters at the helm, there would be readers like me, in the minority, who would ask the questions I ask. Why the objectification in a love story? For example, Judith McNaught's Whitney, My love is an all time best-seller in the romance genre. *spoiler* The protagonist all but rapes the girl before they fall in love. Did I cringe? you bet. While it may not be my cup of tea, its did appeal to many. And best-seller it did make, proving my cringe-factor moot. Did its best-seller status change the way I perceived the book? A vehement no, because I still cringe about it and I still hold the book as a fine example of kitschy romance that got away.
Another example of best seller, Fifty shades of Grey gave us a hero who took advantage of a virgin's naivete and in the end *spoiler* gives up his wild boy ways and lives a very sane, normal suburban life with kids. Another fine piece of kitsch.
And for every kitschy book, you get a gem called "Love Story" (Erich Segal), which becomes the epitome of what romance, and eternal love are all about. A class apart.
The premise is deliberate. And it was written by very clever men, with a surprising grasp of child psychology, a definite Oedipus complex and an unhealthy attachment to that beefy Mahadev fellow on Life-Ok. The premise has also been quite consistent--I dont believe the show is going down a rabbit hole, I see markers all along this path. And the role she has---The Bride--prevents Paro from existing as a flesh and blood woman. If she is in a dark ally, she must know in her heart that Rudra will teleport in to save her. if she is being accused of being a wh**e, her purity will prevent her from understanding the meaning of the word. She is so untouched, she is a vestal virgin at her God's feet. And her "flesh and blood man" treats her like one, when he is not also treating her in a manner that makes her feel "uii maa" without knowing what that suspicious twinge exactly is.
The mythology I've been forced to wikipedia for the past 3 weeks makes me also say-- given the fantasy elements they are weaving--she CANNOT be a real woman and get this specific man at the end of 2 years and a 20 year leap. She must be this Paro, the aggressively pure, virginal goddess of womanhood--who cannot be touched by another man, much less desire one--and who must shout this from the rooftops. And from what I understand, a virginal goddess is so self sacrificing, she is basically incapable of even protesting her abuse, much less fighting against it.
Practically, Paro has to be shown like this to counter the women our hero has encountered along the way.The women in Rudra's life have been ferociously damaging--we have the scorpion aunt who poisons a suffering child and taking away the last of his childhood. We have a selfish, amoral mother with breath-taking delusions. Who first adores the son and then drifts out the door one fine day. The actress playing her is pretty good so I buy her lack of even the slightest concern for her son's possible reaction--I find that deliberate. Ad then we have Laila, the coarse desert creature who embodies all the lusts of the flesh that (presumably) beautiful women feel. Who has given this man NSA sex and 8 years of crazy in one immoral role.
RangRaisya is based in a man's world, about aggressively manly things, but it it still a story about one man's ultimate prize, and salvation--through his prize. You did not see a female BSD officer, even in the heyday of the first week when they spent 5 crores to give it a serious sendoff. But the woman who inhabits the role of the hero's prize--she must be everywoman, to make up for the lack --the mother, the sister, the daughter, the wife, the lust object and wh**e, the venerated goddess and even symbol of the motherland.
They need to up Sanaya's rate to reflect her seventeen different roles here. Unfortunately, real flesh and blood woman, with a woman's issues, desires, feelings, fears and triumphs--not one of them.
Sampoorna
Bindi
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