Hindi TV serials exist as a genre unto themselves. Many of them are unbelievable, unrealistic, regressive and frankly obnoxious. And yet they get made. In a bid to be ‘different’ or ‘fresh’, they seem to have ever-more outrageous and bizarre plot lines and characters. Some are unabashedly sexist and regressive, claiming to uphold ‘sanskar’ or tradition to pander to our worst social beliefs and practices. And yet others are just weird and utterly bizarre in the way they defy all logic, sense and probability.
This serial really took the biscuit. In Pehredaar Piya Ki there is a ten year old boy who stalks an 18-year-old girl, secretly taking pictures and so on. And then it gets weirder. The two get married because jaaydaad! This is beyond bizarre.
In the series Ishq Mein Marjawan 2 apparently there is a lot of the usual stuff going on, but the implausibility goes up a notch. This girl trips, hits her head, passes out, falls neatly into a suitcase which then magically zips itself up? It then ends up in a swimming pool?
Remember rasode me kaun tha, that went viral sometimes last year? It was something about solving the cooker-and-chana mystery that Yashraj Mukhate cleverly made into the wildly viral Kolilaben rap. The scene depicted underlines the sort of banal and inconsequential events that take place in serials. Apparently homemakers have nothing better to do than to scheme and plot the downfall of other women.
Turns out this image is fake – these two weren't really getting in some socially distanced tongue on tongue action. But the series Naagin was bizarre enough – about shapeshifting snakes that avenge deaths by murdering people, fall in love and have sex, deliver babies in three months, reunite with lovers after a hundred years and so on. There have been five seasons and a spinoff – go figure.
The sets, makeup, clothes shown in serials bear not even a fleeting resemblance to reality. Women wake up in full makeup, elaborate jewellery and perfectly tied silk sarees. Occasionally men may be seen to work – by that they mean they give presentations endlessly. Women may sometimes shell peas or stir a pot. But mostly, everyone is busy stirring the figurative pot - engaging in petty little machinations and humiliations.
If there is dramatic music and the makeup/ bindi is of a certain type we are supposed to infer things like character, level of evil and so on. ‘Good’ women are submissive and obedient. Independent-minded women who act and dress to please themselves must be evil.
Serials go on for years – just as we think there will be closure, Bam! Something terrible or someone terrible happens. The stories are stretched beyond belief and are full of slow-mo repeats, exaggerated facial expressions, overly dramatic music.
The heroine trips and the hero conveniently catches her. The slap is repeated three times. The camera will pan in a way that will make us dizzy. There is a misunderstanding because someone overhears someone. Revenge has to be taken. Numerous serials use the name plots and tropes.
Hindi TV serials use the same old devices and hackneyed themes. Thankfully we now have streaming options with original stories, plausible plots, and excellent production values. Question is, why are these serials still being made? More importantly – why are people still watching them?
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