THEY ARE GROWING IN NUMBER FASTER THEN AN ADOLESCENT BOY'S SHOE SIZE!!
THEY ARE MULTIPLYING AS QUICKLY AS THE WEEDS IN YOUR GARDEN..guess what they are??!
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YES!! DAILY SOAPS!! (For those who don’t know what the title means: “Dharavahik” is daily soaps in Hindis)
Think about the plethora of channels that have come up telecasting back to back daily soaps off late….gone are the days when the family would sit together to watch “HUM LOG” on doordarshan. It was the only daily soap of India on the only television channel. Over the years the television industry has grown extensively in India. It’s a radical transformation from the days of “HUM LOG” to Ekta Kapoor’s emotionally destabilizing soaps.
Oh…….Has anyone ever thought why these television serials are referred to as daily soaps? They are called so since initially when these serials started in America they were sponsored by soap manufacturers and that’s how the term “soap opera” was coined…
As far as Indian serials are concerned a number of channels like Star Plus, Sony, Zee T.V, Colors, and not to mention a number of channels in regional languages telecast a vast number of serials which have unique titles but disappointingly most of them revolve around the same circle of family drama…..oops….calling it drama would be an understatement. MELODRAMA is more like it!!
Indian soaps have definitely thought us many things!!
• The make-up and glycerin industries are definitely making huge profits!!
• The night clothes industry though is definitely suffering. I mean...Think about it….if the leading ladies and “vamps” can sleep in their oh-so-many tons weighing sarees and with the jewelry intact then why can’t we? Why spend on the night clothes unnecessarily?
• Reincarnation exists very much! A person is born and born and born again!! There’s no end to it…guess “moksha” is not something the soap directors believe in!
• A plastic surgery operation creates wonders! Hmmmm……maybe Koyna Mitra would have a better nose job done if she was a leading lady in one of the soaps instead of the films..
• The kids grow up…their kids grow up but somehow the older generation never seems to get older!! They’re the same age they were when the serial started! I guess the directors learnt a lesson from Alfred Tennyson’s “TITHONUS” and were smart enough to demand eternal youth for their characters.
• The weddings, engagements, parties, festivals and all auspicious occasions turn out to be the most inauspicious occasions at the end of the episode! Either two people get married or engaged to the wrong people, the innocent ones get arrested or someone meets with an accident which basically saps out the festive spirit.
• Any disastrous news is revealed with an even more disastrous background score, and the shock registering on the character’s face is focused on thrice!
• Either the leading lady has two and more husbands or the lead actor has more then two wives. Surprisingly these wives and husbands all live under one roof without much of a problem!!
These daily soaps have become the sole entertainers of Indian house wives. Their topics of discussion range from what happened in yesterday’s episode of “pratigya” to what they think will happen in today’s episode or what should be happening in tomorrow’s episode..Their behavior, talks and life style revolve around the leading lady of their favorite soap and somehow their husbands turn as unfaithful like the husbands in the soaps and what’s more?? The maids are apparently busy conspiring against them like their favorite leading lady’s maid!
The sarees and salwars worn by these soap actors are named after them!! Gone are the times when sarees were named on the material used to make them…these days the shops have “pratigya sarees, archana sarees and uh….well I am not familiar with more names..
One good thing though is that these soaps have definitely highlighted on the importance of feminism. Since most of them are women oriented they cover sensitive issues like child marriage, polygamy, dowry system, and other such issues which help to create awareness among house wives….
The best part is…..despite my healthy criticism on these soaps I STILL HOPE THAT these daily soaps go on as they keep the mothers and grandmothers hooked on the idiot box so much that we are spared from the “clean your room” lectures!!!!
