Response to 'Response to Is this Empowerment'

IN Media Practice | 12/04/2010

I have never been an avid fan of saas-bahu television serials. I have seen some of Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi when it was popular, but that's about it. I have largely ignored them, because I could not identify with them, nor were they aspirational. This, living in both metro cities as well as in a small town.

Maybe this is an individual taste.

But I saw one of the serials that was mentioned in Sevanti Ninan's article called Laado while on vacation and with nothing better to do in a hotel room. I was appalled when I saw the impotent husband whipping his wife with a hunter. Yes, in a way this is a representation of reality. Domestic violence is a reality. So is politics within a large joint family, which is the overall basis of these serials. But isn't this violence providing voyeuristic pleasure to its viewers? I don't think that simply representing women as sisters, mothers, wives etc is empowerment. How can it be empowerment when these serials are a clear perpetuation of the patriarchal order of our society?

Most dramas like to use polar opposite forces to create tension and a storyline. Now why would two people in reality get married if they have nothing in common? Something like a brute marrying an intelligent woman, would not happen in reality - or if it did, it would fall apart. This is the basis on which many types of entertainment bank upon - to create a fantasy about a reality which is impossible. This is also true for reality shows.

Communication/Art ("high or low") especially through a mass-media outlet must make people think, it must affect - it requires intelligence and talent to show messages in a certain way. Contradict this with serials like Udaan or Rajni on DD decades ago. Compare the woman there - who seeks to be independent and have an identity of her own with a woman in Laado - who only worships her husband! Her only identity is her expensive clothing and jewellery. There is nothing wrong in staying at home, but isn't it trite sad that all that these women do is bicker, fight and plan coups.

The problem is that everything in mainstream media refuses to look beyond the marriage saga. There is certainly more to life than just tying the knot. Well, but maybe then it is certainly a true depiction of our society. And isn't it sad?

Lastly as women, we are all feminists. We ought to be - why would we want to be discriminated against?

Harmanpreet Kaur

I'm working with CNN-IBN in New Delhi as a Correspondent.