Last week NDTV came up with a discussion on the roles played by the women in the television serials. ?Hum Log? featured people from several fields discussing about Jassi and Tulsi, about working women versus stay-at-home ones. While Jassi came into the discussion Tulsi was conspicuous by her absence(whatever the reason may have been). It was left to Payal (Jaya Bhattacharya) to defend the saas-bahu serials.
The audience consisted of media people (represented by Vanita Kohli Khandekar of Business world), serial producers (Aditya Narayan Singh, producer of Krishna-Arjun), senior artistes like Jassi?s father and Baseswar of the old serial ?hum log? and others. Jassi was asked questions as to how any girl can not be affected about her looks, how she does not visit a beauty parlour and how she is too timid when her Boss Armaan shouts at her. Jassi fended off the questions with a smile and a look sideways(obviously someone important to her was in the studios besides her). Though everybody accepted that they watch both Kyonki and Jassi, none wanted to be like Jassi.
There were people who wanted to know when Jassi would shed her ugly duckling image but even she was not sure when it would happen. In the original story the heroine who looks remarkably like Jassi becomes glamourous and marries her boss. Though many girls identify with Jassi, one of the questions put to her was very relevant. When Jassi said that she loved Armaan because he never said she was ugly, a woman in the audience candidly asked her that if she had so many qualifications, her appearance should not matter so much when she gets a job and she need not be so very grateful to Armaan or feel she is under any obligation to him. However one thing people forget is that Jassi is employed in a fashion house where smart and beautiful models hover around and it is surprising that nothing of their appearance or behaviour has any influence on her. Jassi remains middle class, old fashioned and dowdy.
Surprisingly there were quite a lot of defenders for Tulsi. They said that despite being a housewife, Tulsi had great strength of character, that she stood up to her rights(which Jassi didn?t) and that being a housewife is in no way inferior to a lady who is managing both house and office. Tulsi did become a partner of Priyanka(Kiran?s wife Aarti after her plastic surgery) in her business and did go to office for a short time. Similarly Parvati of ?Kahani ghar ghar ki? also became a businesswoman for some time. Here it may be mentioned that all these leading ladies of TV serials become directors(Pushpabhabhi, Kusum, Suniti(Lipstick), and others) and top officers of family businesses and handle them well.
Another point raised in this discussion was the silk sarees of the ladies in the saas-bahu serials. They all wear silk clothes are loaded and decorated like Christmas trees even when they are at home cutting vegetables. Here Payal(Jaya) defended saying that people watch serials partly for all this, that Ramola Sikand?s bindis(Sudha Chandran in ?Kaahin kissi roz) were the discussion points in many a conversation and that they set a trend(even Jassi?s braces have become a trend setter).
The programme was telecast a couple of times and was very interesting and frank. One only wished that there were more TV serial artistes to defend and protect their ilk.
Marriages seem to be the centre point and centre stage of all the serials. The elaborat e mehendi ceremonies, the haldi rasam, the barat, the sangeet, the seven pheras, sindoor and finally the suhag raaat are all shown in great detail. We must have watched at least a dozen marriages in each of the serials. Sometimes marriage partners change at the drop of a hat. Watch ?Lipstick? and you will understand. Suniti is in love with Abhay but marries someone else who is in love with Sapna. Then Suniti disappears. The scheming sister in law has a child and so has Suniti, their partners change and if you miss a couple of episodes you may be seeing different pairs altogether. Their marriages and divorces are so fast, almost in the twinkling of an eyelash. Gautam of ?Kyonki?? has been married three times, Tilak and Pushpa(Bhabhi) have been getting married toe each other, to others and getting separated already half a dozen times.
It is at this stage that Jassi, Yeh meri life hai and others are like a breath of fresh air. They are different. ?Astitva? is in a class by itself and so is ?Tum bin..? with rebirths and magic and all that.
As they say, it takes all sorts to make the world and in this case, it takes all sorts of serials to make entertainment.