If you guys have seen more than 2 hindi serials then, you guys may have noticed this pattern.
The FL would most probably from a lesser financial position than the ML.
To give some examples:
'Tulsi' from "Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi"
'Prerna' from the "Kasauti Zindagi Ki"(both versions)
'Jassi' from "Jassi Jaisi koi nahi"
'Santo' from "Bandini"
'Arohi' from "Kitni mohabbat hai"
'Anandi' from "Balika Vadhu"(both versions)
'Taani' from "Tere liye"
'Ichcha' from "Uttaran"
'Simar' from "Sasural Simar Ka" (both versions)
'Priya' from "Bade Ache Lagte Hai"(both versions)
'Gopi/gopika/Gehna' from "Saathiya series"(all 3 versions)
'Khushi' from "Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon?"
'Ishita' from "Yeh hai mohabattein"
'Pragya' from "Kumkum Bhagya"
'Banni' from "Banni chow home delivery"
'Indu' from "Bohot pyar karte hain"
'Ginni' from "Channa Mereya"
'Imilie' from "Imilie"
'Sai' from "Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyar mein"
'Lakshmi' from "Bhagya Lakshmi"
'Meet' from 'Meet'
'Tejo' from "Udariyaan"
And then if the FL is shown rich compared ML then, for some ungodly reason The FL family becomes poor all of a sudden and ML is richer than FL. Examples "Yahan mein Ghar Ghar Kheli" or "Meri Aashiqui Tum Se hi" or "Woh toh haai albela"
I can only remember few shows which had FL from a richer background.. like "Sasural Genda Phool" and "Kabhi Kabhi Ittefaq se" Maybe there are other shows but I can only remember this two
My Reasons:
1. Set Design: Well, the shows are for entertainment.. so the grander the set, the grander audience satisfaction.. With nonsensical poojas and parties every week they can re-use the same set again and again.. Giving opportunities interior decorators to play with the themes.
2. Marriage: Most hindi serials are about the life after marriage.. so the FL's house is there only for initial few months and then shown in middle sometimes. So if both the sets are grand then one of them will be wasted. So the FL house can be modest with less investment.. hence the middle class or poor background.
3. Wish-fulfilment: Most of the TRP audience are Middle class people, so, seeing a middle-class or poor background person rising up in the social and level is gratifying. Plus most of these shows make the FL morally high than the rich people around them making more and more middle class proud of themselves indirectly.
4. The job conundrum: As most of these hindi serials do not touch the lives of working individuals and mostly turn into 'saas-bahu' domestic life dealing mostly with OTT personal matters, the jobs of the ML need to be flexible to be available at any time.. if ML or FL or any member of the family was in 9 to 5 work lifestyle then, it will be difficult to write them in any situations as freely.. hence giving a flimsy reason as to owning their own business.
These are the reasons I could think of.. Can you think of any other?
You left out the reason that seems most obvious to me: the lower economic status of the heroine gives her husband's family a reason to distrust her motives, disparage her and her parents and siblings, try to throw her out, and create all sorts of conflict.
Another reason is to show what a pampered mama's boy the heroine's husband is, requiring the heroine to watch out for villains who would take advantage of his innocent generosity. When he gets banished from the mansion, or accidentally signs over his business empire or property, the heroine gets to show off her thrifty survival skills and guide him back to prosperity.
As far as I know, the oldest example of the "rich boy, non-rich girl" pattern in Indian fiction is the story of Śaktikumāra and Gominī in Daśakumāracarita, an abridged version of Daṇḍin's romance Avantisundarī. Śaktikumāra is super-rich, and he wants a wife who can manage his wealth. He challenges a series of rich girls to take a measure of rice and produce an entire meal for him, and they scoff at the idea. Gominī, whose family has fallen on hard times, knows how to trade the chaff and husks for vegetables and utensils, and she cooks a delicious meal. Śaktikumāra marries Gominī and enjoys himself with a prostitute while his perfect wife maintains domestic harmony.
I mostly watch Marathi daily dramas, and the "rich boy, non-rich girl" pattern holds true:
Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī: Jahnavi's family lived in a chawl; Shree's grandmother thought she was after their wealth.
Nāndā Saukhya Bhare: Swanandi's family was middle-class; Indraneel's parents were spendthrifts trying to get him a rich wife and get their share of land holdings.
Tujhyāta Jīva Raṅgalā: Anjali's family was middle-class; Ranavijay's father was Education Minister and owned the most land in the village.
Jīva Zhālā Yeḍāpisā: Siddhi was a schoolteacher's daughter; Shiva owned a hotel, and his mother (whom he had lifted out of poverty) pretended to mistake Siddhi's parents and their guests for beggars.
Sundarā Manāmadhe Bharalī: Latika is a postman's daughter, living next door to Abhimanyu, whose father owns the second-largest farm in the village.
On all of the above shows, the heroine's parental home was a permanent set, except that Jahnavi's family got to house-sit a flat for a while, and then had to move back into a chawl; Swanandi's family had to move into a new house when her father got a promotion.
Ābhāḷācī Māyā, a Marathi remake of a Tamil series, Vāṉattaip Pōla, has a heroine whose brother owns more farmland than her husband. The brother is always eager to sign over his property or hand over lakhs of rupees, as if that is the solution to domestic abuse.
You left out the reason that seems most obvious to me: the lower economic status of the heroine gives her husband's family a reason to distrust her motives, disparage her and her parents and siblings, try to throw her out, and create all sorts of conflict.
Another reason is to show what a pampered mama's boy the heroine's husband is, requiring the heroine to watch out for villains who would take advantage of his innocent generosity. When he gets banished from the mansion, or accidentally signs over his business empire or property, the heroine gets to show off her thrifty survival skills and guide him back to prosperity.
Ābhāḷācī Māyā, a Marathi remake of a Tamil series, Vāṉattaip Pōla, has a heroine whose brother owns more farmland than her husband. The brother is always eager to sign over his property or hand over lakhs of rupees, as if that is the solution to domestic abuse.
@red: I did think of this reason but, I feel, even if the FL was rich, she would still be viewed as 'un-sanskari' by the elders of the ML family. She would be getting taunts like, "Yahan 5-star khana toh nahi milega par 5-star khushiyan milegi " (I couldn't think of any other cringe dialogue.. sorry ). Most of this shows like to flaunt the 'mahan-middle-class' values and try to portray that rich and luxurious lifestyle does not mean anything.
But I think you are right... FL coming from a lower economic status gives the 'vamps' more chances to throw her out. If she was from higher economic status.. they might not accept her soon, but no one would think to throw her out.
@blue: I haven't really seen an idiot ML.. wait... let me re-phrase it... I have seen many MLs who are idiots but none of them are that much of an idiot to loose his property to villains because of his innocent generosity. That is why I didn't think of this reason. Well, that just proves, that I have not much exposure of ITV yet.
But isn't this again the case of 'mahan-middle-class'?
I wonder, how much more validation does middle class need?
@green: To be honest, I am a simple practical and materialistic person. And I believe 90% of all our problems can be solved by 'MONEY' the rest 10% is shared by our (nature+attitude+luck+health+thoughts+mentality...etc)
So, I might also suggest transferring some money if it helps in that situation... not that money will solve ALL problems.. but sometimes money can be the answer...
I am sure in 'Ābhāḷācī Māyā' is not the right solution, but I was just saying that I think I understand FL's brother's POV.
I am curious about Marathi serials. I can understand Marathi but cannot speak . So is the quality of marathi serials better?
I used to watch many 'malayalam' serials when I was a child with my mother(Apologies for sounding like an old granny already ). During the early 2000s the malayalam tv industry was striving with quality. Many of the serials were thought provoking and realistic. Serials like, 'Orma' ,'Swapnam' , 'Avicharitham' & 'Omanathinkalpakshi' And many more dealt with serious topics such as foster family v/s real family, affair , being orphan etc. All of the serials were dealt with such seriousness.
Now the 'malayalam' tv industry is also hit with the nation-wide spread tv-pandemic also known as 'remake -toxic-domestic-ott-drama' with the usual amount of 'mahan-middle-class'
I am fairly new to hindi tv serial world and most of my knowledge is through wiki and friends. But I am so bored by the rinse and repeat formula in the hindi TV serials, hence, Now I am thinking of watching any other language shows provided they have subtitles.
Are Marathi shows better?
Well, I am not trying to change it as I can not fully understand it yet....😛🤪
I have only watched a handful of Marathi daily dramas, and one or two Hindi, so I can't say which language has better content on the whole.
Marathi serials might be slower-paced typically, with characters' goals and personalities remaining the same for months. This is good if you want to see a couple progressing believably from friends to lovers to spouses to parents, and not inexplicably drawn to each other in spite of misogyny, violence, harassment, kidnapping, revenge, scandal, betrayal etc. However, the longer a Marathi show runs, the more I wonder, what was the point of today's episode? He makes bad tea or good street food, she gets a makeover, supporting characters insult each other as "comedy" ... writers run out of ideas fast!
In the past year, Sundarā Manāmadhe Bharalī has tried to generate excitement with bombs, murder by inhaler deprivation, men disguised as women, attempted murder by barn fire, woman-scorned-fakes-rape-attempt, murder by unnoticed public stabbing ... a total waste of a show that used to be enjoyable when it was the story of an athletic man falling in love with a plus-sized woman and slowly, slowly convincing her that he loves her and she can change her expectations because he's lovable too. As of this week, it's the story of a sports-obsessed five-year-old second-grader (?) being bullied by 100 children and a few school staff too.
I can enjoy family dynamics when there's a plot, such as the stepmother trying to get a windfall from her stepdaughter's rich in-laws (Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī), one sister agreeing to a double wedding while the other sister was about to dump her boyfriend (Nāndā Saukhya Bhare), the petulant sister-in-law trying to ruin the honeymoon by telling the bookworm wife that her husband is illiterate (Tujhyāta Jīva Raṅgalā), the lonely little sister whose brother and sister-in-law think the worst of each other (Jīva Zhālā Yeḍāpisā), or the father forbidding his son to risk his life competing against the MLA's son (Sundarā Manāmadhe Bharalī). Along with these plots on Marathi serials, you can find the same filler as Hindi serials: lying about his favourite vegetable, painting a line to divide the house, sabotaging the meal with extra salt ...
These days, it seems that wherever I look, I find forced marriage as the premise for a love story. Three years ago, the only example I knew of forced marriage on a Marathi daily drama was from 1873 - the historical biography Uṃça Māzhā Zhokā. This could be Hindi TV influencing Marathi TV.
On the Marathi shows that I've watched, the sets look like homes, not hotel lobbies. Instead of all the rooms being connected by tall archways and shiny marble floors, rich characters on Marathi shows may greet guests in a second-floor living room, or in the courtyard of a vāḍā with a central tuḷaśī-vṛndāvana, while middle-class families may have a swing-seat next to the front door, or a living room where the grandmother makes her bed every night ...
On Hindi shows, it seems that all of the women, regardless of social status, wear gaudy sarees or dresses, enormous heavy earrings, plenty of eye-makeup, bright lipstick, and multi-string jewellery. And the heroine does this to mope about the house all day, waiting for her angry husband to talk to her. She never goes out to work. On Marathi shows, you might find the grandmother wearing a nine-yard saree, the homemaker mother and sister-in-law wearing everyday-use sarees, the heroine going to work (regularly!) in the same Panjabi suits that she wore before marriage, and all of the women wearing minimal makeup and jewellery, even for parties. They wear nicer clothes and delicate jewellery for religious holidays and pūjā.
Whenever I have caught a prayer scene on a Hindi daily drama, there is loud music, sometimes lip-synched, and someone's life is in danger. On some Marathi shows, prayer is a daily routine - as simple as bowing to the shrine on a kitchen shelf before heading out for business. On Jīva Zhālā Yeḍāpisā, I loved that the father, daughter, and daughter-in-law would sit together and sing abhaṅgas, while the son stood in the door every time, listening but not joining. Without any dialogue, these scenes conveyed the man's growing awareness that the woman who had ruined his life belonged in his family more than he did.
I agree with you that money can solve problems and buy peace of mind, the key to happiness. However, Jayadev on Ābhāḷācī Māyā has no problems that aren't self-imposed with full awareness of what would happen. Paying his sister's abusive father-in-law to keep her is just one more self-sacrifice to prove how totally he loves his sister. I haven't watched any Tamil daily dramas and I won't make a generalization, but Ābhāḷācī Māyā is said to be a word-for-word copy of Vāṉattaip Pōla, and I've never seen an original Marathi show that is so blindly devoted to regressive ideals, it outdoes Hindi TV!
Forced marriages aren't for shock value on Ābhāḷācī Māyā; they're the norm. You have a boyfriend? Well, the family elders want you to marry your cousin, and I already promised without consulting you, so be a good girl! It is a foregone conclusion that the village hoodlum who tried to trick the girl into marriage, threatened to kill himself, kidnapped her with intent to rape, and might be on his way back to jail for framing the tahasiladāra will reform as soon as the girl is promised to him. And the credit goes to the girl's brother.
Paternalism isn't a source of intergenerational conflict on Ābhāḷācī Māyā; it's expected of a good brother that when his sister, echoing her aunt/mother-in-law, says that she's unhappy in the abusive marriage and wants him to rescue her, he disowns her so that he won't distract her from every woman's calling - her marriage.
I know superstitious Marathi people in real life, and one who was a skeptic until she needed astrology as a source of income, but these characters on Ābhāḷācī Māyā are beyond self-deceiving! When the astrologer says, this cousin-marriage will be deadly, they beg him to prescribe penance, and the girl eats unpalatable food, starves herself, stands all night, walks on coals ... rather than admit that she doesn't want to marry him anyway. After the marriage, the astrologer says that you can't change the stars; widowhood is no longer a certainty, but the couple is still headed for a lifetime of trouble, and the sister and brother will surely be torn apart until she arranges his cousin-marriage too!
In contrast with this, astrology on original Marathi serials is as simple as asking Gurujī for a wedding date. Domestic violence is no more than a slap when the aggressor is in agony for a loved one's life or reputation, and even then it is condemned. Alcohol is absent unless a villain abuses it or a sympathetic character needs to overcome addiction.
On Marathi TV, the male protagonist is typically as perfect as the female protagonist: hard-working, responsible, ethical, respectful, gentle, willing to adjust, loving, faithful ... I find this more believable for a couple to succeed than the outrageous male and straitlaced female formula that I've seen on Hindi TV. Still, there's a lot of room for improvement regarding gender role stereotypes on Marathi TV - for example, females don't need to blush ... they should flirt too ... there should be same-sex couples ...
From your answer, I feel Marathi serials have much more realistic portrayal.. and it also has its share of toxicity...
I wonder why there is sudden surge of toxicity in many shows..
I don't know if I will see the shows.. because I can not really see much toxic patriarchy.. I can see that in real life already😛
But thanks for the suggestions.. I might see some shows soon...
Very interesting topic.
I think that you have good argument and the most important one is gratification. Majority of ITV viewers (irrespective of language) are middle class, middle age women and they simply don't connect with the rich women. The lifestyle of upper class, the luxury and freedom that comes with it, doesn't really appeal them.
The shows that you mentioned with rich heroine, are also the shows where they finally realise love and importance of family (as if rich people don't love their kids) and start living the husband's middle class life.
Another thing that I can think of is, it easy to portray rich people as egoistic and money minded, which is the perfect recipe of the villain/vamp. If they try to show poor/middle class characters as villain then they would be seen as insulting their audience.
If they try to show poor/middle class characters as villain then they would be seen as insulting their audience.
It's interesting that you came to this conclusion. Out of all the daily dramas that I've watched, my favourite villain is Jahnavi's stepmother Kala (Shashikala Sadashiv Sahasrabuddhe) on Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī, a lower-middle-class character. Far from being an insult, Kala was someone whose quarrelsome and stupid nature acknowledged the stresses of real life with no health insurance, the prospect of running out of money, and no intellectual stimulation.
Kala was a hypocrite who wanted credit for raising her stepdaughter while neglecting her, exploiting her, and openly favouring her own son. A lazy creative team (dialogue, direction, background music) would have aimed for the audience to hate Kala and feel sorry for Jahnavi. Instead, the creatives invited the audience to share Jahnavi's privilege as an optimistic, intelligent woman whose lover would lift her out of her circumstances, and feel sympathy for Kala because she made herself unhappy. Kala just didn't know any better. She had been pulled out of school after seventh grade; her brother visited her only to steal; her son failed his exams; and her hopes for a comfortable life died on her wedding day when she saw the little girl standing next to her husband.
Kala was tired of housework and wanted to afford hired help. When she was able to leave the chawl to house-sit a flat, she rubbed her triumph in her neighbours' faces, and when the flat's occupants came back, Kala cursed them for ruining her dream. Kala's husband was intellectual and she wasn't, and as she took care of him after he lost his job and injured his leg, day after day, she knew that he loved his first wife and only tolerated her, occasionally smiling at her stupidity. So, the audience understood why Kala was a parasite in Jahnavi's life, unlike the usual vamps and supercilious in-laws of Indian TV.
It's interesting that you came to this conclusion. Out of all the daily dramas that I've watched, my favourite villain is Jahnavi's stepmother Kala (Shashikala Sadashiv Sahasrabuddhe) on Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī, a lower-middle-class character. Far from being an insult, Kala was someone whose quarrelsome and stupid nature acknowledged the stresses of real life with no health insurance, the prospect of running out of money, and no intellectual stimulation.
Kala was a hypocrite who wanted credit for raising her stepdaughter while neglecting her, exploiting her, and openly favouring her own son. A lazy creative team (dialogue, direction, background music) would have aimed for the audience to hate Kala and feel sorry for Jahnavi. Instead, the creatives invited the audience to share Jahnavi's privilege as an optimistic, intelligent woman whose lover would lift her out of her circumstances, and feel sympathy for Kala because she made herself unhappy. Kala just didn't know any better. She had been pulled out of school after seventh grade; her brother visited her only to steal; her son failed his exams; and her hopes for a comfortable life died on her wedding day when she saw the little girl standing next to her husband.
Kala was tired of housework and wanted to afford hired help. When she was able to leave the chawl to house-sit a flat, she rubbed her triumph in her neighbours' faces, and when the flat's occupants came back, Kala cursed them for ruining her dream. Kala's husband was intellectual and she wasn't, and as she took care of him after he lost his job and injured his leg, day after day, she knew that he loved his first wife and only tolerated her, occasionally smiling at her stupidity. So, the audience understood why Kala was a parasite in Jahnavi's life, unlike the usual vamps and supercilious in-laws of Indian TV.
This wasn't the situation that I meant. Here the FL, which I assume is Janhvi, was poor too. There is always at least one lead on the poor side. So that doesn't count. Like I said, middle class is ITV's consumer, showing them as villain and rich people as leads would not so pleasing to audience.
Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī was a very successful daily drama that didn't have any rich villains.
When Shree, the rich male lead, proposed to lower-middle-class Jahnavi, his six mothers all had the misunderstanding that she was a liar who had agreed to marry an older man and then dumped him for Shree. No one in the rich family plotted to turn Shree against poor Jahnavi. They simply told him their concerns and accepted his engagement. Shree's grandmother Āī Ājī decided to leave the house after the wedding, but she and the other five mothers kept quiet about it so that it wouldn't be emotional blackmail. They smiled through the wedding, and didn't tell Shree that poor villain Kala was sending them her bills and extorting them for gifts. When Āī Ājī quietly told Shree that she was leaving, he convinced her that he would move out instead, leaving Jahnavi behind with them. Jahnavi and Shree were not supposed to see each other, but when Āī Ājī noticed that they were sneaking conjugal visits (love bites and all), she ignored their disobedience because she had a soft corner for Jahnavi by then, and Shree was allowed to return. While Kala continued to cause trouble, trying to break up the marriage, the rich mothers-in-law just worried that Shree was unhappy with Jahnavi. One by one, they all became fond of their daughter-in-law and tried to get along with Kala for her sake.
There was a story arc for a few months in which Baby Ātyā, one of the mothers-in-law, turned against Jahnavi, trying to arrange Shree's remarriage in anticipation of a divorce, and then calling Jahnavi "down-market, moldy, oily" to Shree's face, but Baby Ātyā never caused any tangible problems. Jahnavi was pregnant, and so Baby Ātyā became obsessed with her health and safety.
So, I insist on disagreeing with what you've written. The success of Hoṇāra Sūna Mī Hyā Gharacī proves that middle-class viewers are not offended by the existence of middle-class villains or by the rich characters all being basically decent and supportive of the lead couple.
