Ekta, a threat to women's education
26 Oct 2007, 0000 hrs IST,SHWETA TEOTIA ,TNN
The list of young girls mugging dialogue, instead of exam notes, includes Prachi Desai, most of the latest generation of Kasautii Zindagi Kay, Neha Bamb and now Krystle D'souza. These are just a few prominent faces of the small screen.
Move over patriarchy, biased social structures and cultural impediments. A recent trend shows that er... Ekta Kapoor is fast emerging as a sizeable threat to women's education in urban India.
The list of young girls mugging dialogue, instead of exam notes, includes Prachi Desai, most of the latest generation of Kasautii Zindagi Kay , Neha Bamb and now Krystle D'souza. These are just a few prominent faces of the small screen. The sum total of below-18 people working as actors would be exhaustive enough to make ' baa ' gasp with disbelief.
Not that we expect saas-bahu soaps to be even remotely hinged around education, but it's bothersome that 16-year-olds seem the perfect material for that bechari , sacrificing daughter-in-law. When these college dropouts don the sari and sindoor , the idea of education recedes into the background.
Prachi Desai enrolled in college and a year later, she did not have her degree while she had ample reasons to explain why she didn't attend college. Her attendance on the sets, however, was an exemplary 100 per cent.
The loyal Balaji workforce is always on the lookout for fresh talent. Their favourite places for bahu -hunting are coffee bars, pubs, college hangouts, etc. Recently, Ekta Kapoor's latest discovery, Krystle D'souza, a standard XII student, admitted, "I was just hanging around college when a person from Balaji told me that I had a great face. Would I want to audition? At first I thought she was fooling around. When I made it, I couldn't believe my luck."
It's not surprising then that a large number of conniving bahus in Ekta's shows were, until they were spotted, just ingenuous adolescents bunking junior college lectures.
We don't intend to lambast the production house alone, for these kids are quite willing to make that extra buck and more. They have full support from ambitious parents, and thrilled teachers. Prachi Desai, in another attempt to take her HSC exam, ended up scribbling autographs, instead, in an examination hall in Pune.
Another cardinal, almost sacrosanct rule is that come what may, no leave is granted for such trivial purposes (read taking exams). They believe that if exams are so important, simply quit the show. Megha Gupta aka Disha of Kkavyanjali did the same.
A student of BMM, Megha was warned by her college to improve her attendance. "I could not even attend my Culture Studies examination due to the show. Now I will appear for the same subject as a KT," rued Megha a few months ago.
Whether these soaps are a pasquinade mocking the education system here, or a great landmark in popular culture is a question open to interpretation. These young girls, who have gladly traded college canteens for rasoi ki garmi , may not feel the need for further education. What they need to know is that they are headed to become another brick in the Virani wall.
Edited by Mahi-lover - 16 years ago
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