Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Sugna and the moral dilemna in Balika Vadhu
On May 24, 2009 in Balika Vadhu, Character, Child, Colors, Culture, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Society, TV, Video
Balika Vadhu is a serial that is based on the concept of child marriage, poor status of women in society and in the family, lack of education, etc. The serial shows the situation in a village in Rajasthan where the rich house is ruled over the grand-mother Kalyani, who is the supreme member in the house and everything is controlled by her. She is herself responsible for the poor condition of women in the house, since any improvement in the condition of women has to be done by her, and she is reluctant to change. She believes that women do not have too many rights. As a change, Farida Jalal, her sister, now comes to the house and slowly starts getting things changed in the house, but it is a tough battle.
The biggest battle in the house is over the condition of Sugna, the grand-daughter. She was married to Pratap, but her gauna had not happened, and she had not yet gone to the home of her inlaws. However, in a brush with dacoits, Pratap got killed. So Sugna became a widow, all set to face the social isolation and torture that a widow faces. She lives in a small isolated windowless room, has plain food, and so on. Kalyani refuses to send Sugna to her inlaws house after they blame her for the death of their son.
Raja ki Aayegi Barat – the truth comes out now
On April 04, 2009 in Character, Crime, Culture, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Masala, Star Plus, TV, Values
It was an interesting time on Raka ki Aayegi Barat on Star Plus. The serial, set in an heritage mansion, deals with a family who were the earlier rulers of the region, and still command a lot of wealth and respect. There was a lot of tension about the elder son, Yudhisthir marrying a common girl, Rani. Compounded by the fact his step-mother, the Choti Rani, wanted her son, Rudra (not as capable as the elder son) to become the king.
And then entered a new actor into the scene, with the entry of the niece, Princess Nandini. She is in the palace with evil intentions, but as usual, nobody suspects her of thinking of doing anything wrong. She is upto all sorts of deeds, with trying to kidnap Prince Yudhisthir on his coronation day, and continually poisoning the Raja (Pankaj Dheer). The Raja eventually dies, and Rani finds poison. The post-mortem also reveals that the Raja was murdered, and Yudhisthir is furious.
Balika Vadhu – Sugna’s torture continues
On March 21, 2009 in Balika Vadhu, Colors, Crime, Culture, Drama, Hindi Serial, Society, TV, Values
I was having a discussion with some friends about why serials such as Balika Vadhu, depicting such social problems and evils are continued to be shown, and while most people don’t care about the social message and are interested in the drama of the story, there were some who cared that such injustices and tortures must still be happening to women in sections of our country, and there is nothing wrong in depicting such problems.
After the horrific death of Pratap in an encounter with dacoits, everybody shocked and cannot comprehend as to what is happening. What this also means is that Sugna is now a young widow, in a society that considers a woman to be incomplete without a man; and hence she has to bear the problems that go with it. There are many traumatic rituals that go along with being a widow, and Sugna has to go through all of them, including shunning all sorts of color, living away from the others in a separate dark room, eating frugal means and avoiding all pleasure.
Sapna Babul Ka..Bidaa on Star Plus
On January 11, 2009 in Culture, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Popular, Romance, Star Plus, TV, Video
Bidaai, the story of 2 siblings (one of whom is much darker than the others) and their life, is proving to be very popular with viewers. The story is revolving around the trials and tribulations of Ragini and Sadhana. Sadhana is married to Alekh Rajvansh (who is mentally abnormal); slowly Alekh, under Sadhana’s loving care is getting better. Part of the agreement for the marriage between Sadhana and Alekh was that Alekh’s mother, the arrogant and imperious Vasundhra Rajvansh would get her younger son Ranveer married to Sadhana’s darker (and hence less appealing) sister Ragini. However, Vasundhra never really was comfortable with this arrangement and tried her level best to make sure that Ranveer would never get close to Ragini.
