The Court Case of Betiyaan - Page 5

I was morbidly curious and watched the burning episode today. Seeing the look of satisfaction and triumph those women had on their faces as they watched Bhav go up in flames made me a bit sick to my stomach. They all ought to be sent to an asylum. Anyone who gets that much pleasure out of inflicting torture has more than a few screws loose.

And who is Saraswati to call Bhav arrogant? She is the one comparing herself to a goddess.

I don't think you're allowed to use the "garodias" and "progressive" in the same sentence, koolsadhu. I feel like I entered a time machine and went back to the middle ages when watching that episode.

I watched it too ...purposefully this time coz i posted so much on it . To understand the point of view of those who sympathised with the betiyaan on the forum better .
But I failed to feel any sympathy . I even found their arguments with Bhavishya ridiculous and as vain as Bhavishya's himself . I mean , he is a mental patient ....what in the world r u talking to him ? He lives in his own deluded world .....in which he believes Saras killed his Preeti [ a skeleton ] ....i mean look at his mental state ! Is he even capable of understanding any sane or moral argument ?

Frankly speaking rainabow , The speeches of the Betiyaan and their Devi mom stank of a touch of megalomania . Choosing the temple , telling him bluntly they r devis etc . All their repressed tendencies were hyperactive and they shud have been hauled off in a van to the loony bin and given serious therapy before being set free to live a normal life , asking them thousand times and ensuring that they dont feel they r devis anymore . 😆

I agree completely. I actually felt sorry for Bhav, as he just does not have the mental balance and composure to understand what is going on around him. He is completely delusional. But those women knew fully what they were doing and got a frightening amount of satisfaction from it.

They all make me sick. Before this I thought maybe someday the girls would redeem themselves, but no more. They are beyond redemption.

The story would have been much stronger if they showed Saraswati using her brain (not that she has one) and gathering evidence as Karan did...from the hairbrush, from the juice, etc. Then Bhav catches her and tries to kill her, and with no other alternative, she kills him out of self defense. THAT would have been justified. But this was entirely calculated and something she had clearly taken a great deal of satisfaction in doing.

Wow. Lots of discussion of the court case, which definitely made me think a bit, as well.

I'd like to play devil's advocate for a moment.

Let's all remember this is a soap opera and therefore plotlines are always far-fetched. That said, I think this one strikes a chord with a lot of people, because it perhaps hits a lot of hot button issues which are very "real." Women are still second-class citizens in the largest democracy in the world, and in extreme cases (but even one is too many) are still often the victim of incredible abuses, including the expectation of ritual suicide. So, if anything I think the storyline is staying true to the serial's core storyline--the continuing struggles of women in India.

In terms of everyone being worried this storyline is going to make India look "barbaric," as one person noted. I think that's sheer self-orientalizing. Has anyone bothered to take a peek at the storylines of soap operas in the West? If so, you'll realize that Saraswati's storyline is not so unusual--check out "The Burning Bed," a movie in the mid 1980s starting Farrah Fawcett in a stunning role as an abused wife, who torched her husband. The kicker to the latter is it is based on a true story. (Yes, India isn't the only democracy in which women are still abused).

Perhaps the real problem is that this soap opera is handling quite sensitive material--kudos to them for doing it, because not even serious movies/tv from the subcontinent tackle this particular issue often enough.

Hey, we're here talking about all this and perhaps it will all make us more political.

I would really like to understand the term ' self orientalization ' more clearly if ur still following up , please . This is a request , i really wud. What did u exactly mean by that ? Didn't quite get u .

Yes I follow up Western soaps . And I even requested the NRI members of the forum not to think so badly of India as they see corruption as an integral part of India....what they see is prison officials being bribed , police being bribed , police handing important evidence to civilians ....doctors being bribed .....and so I requested them to see movies like Shawshank redemption or If tomorrow comes in which they have shown the corruption in prison management in the States rather nicely . As far as the soap operas go ....they do show domestic violence in Western soaps ....the diffrence is they also show characters telling the abused victims how to tackle it ....how to reach out for the help that is provided by society and get out of it .

They dont show this in Hindi soaps at all . They show domestic violence .....then they show the victims tolerating it till breaking point and then they show the breaking point . Thats what this discussion is about ....why wait for the breaking point ? If they showed one sister going thru all this , atleast show that the other sister , more wiser now , decides to stop after two three experiences and takes the right steps . But no . They showed that even Laxmi tolerated abuse from karan . They did show a social worker firing Saraswati's parents for letting her live with an animal who beat her black and blue . But only once . nothing more . Indian mentality regards these social workers more like pests who are swarming around to tarnish the ' reputation ' of the families . And since these Indian soaps r largely based on family and family reputations ....The Walias , the Garodias , The Singhs .....the makers of the serials dont ever go to a realistic point to show what real help actually means !This is my objection to these serials .

Did they show us a single character in that immensely large crowd of the Garodias who talked about such help , or was ready to give practical support to Saraswati , who told her to walk out on the marraige , who told her to start divorce proceedings and not to give a hang about the hypocritical reputation , or showed her where help cud be got if her father ....the bigger culprit here who sent her back inspite of knowing she was being abused only coz he had to face the society and marry off his other daughters....[ see the cruelty in the very thought ] .....if that father too backed out , then what she cud do ? Was this knowledge given to the hundreds out there who watch this soap by at least one character ? So ok ...if they wanted drama ....they cud have shown stupid Saraswati not listening . But the character shud have been there . His attempts shud have been there . In western soaps , generally such a character is there . And since the viewers dont even see such an option existing in the Indian scenario ...they find India truly barbaric .

There was a character ....Savitri's sister and the girls' aunt ....Chanchal Maasi who wud have fitted this role but they quickly did away with it .

The point is not that we self orientalize by saying India is barbaric and the West isnt....yes , there is domestic violence rampant even in the West ....the point is that most of the Western soaps show us the options to deal with it .....they dont give up trying for public awareness of the options available. Some of the less succesful Indian soaps have tried feebly to show such options , but largely the message is to put on a charade of good sanskaars and bear the atrocities and then take extreme measures . And thats what Betiyaan did and will still do . They will show Surya saying sorry , never changing , making mistakes again . They will never show the daughters learning from this and becoming economically independent etc....they will remain housewives eternally , never pursue careers , and run to God with their mother when things get out of hand . 350 episodes and still no such character who teaches them about the practical help avalaible .