Indian Soaps and Serials-A Plethora of Emotions

chillibreeze writer — Varsha Hegde

On a bright Sunday morning, one can only think of sitting back on a sofa, sipping a cup of tea and snacks, reading the morning newspaper with the TV buzzing in the background.

This morning however, I thought of delving into the Indian television and its contents. If you ask people as to what they think about Indian television's content, each person will have a thing or two to say. As it is rightly said, we Indians are good at giving advice, aren’t we?!?!

As a kid, I used to watch a good amount of TV everyday and was nicknamed “TV buff”. But today, the whole purpose of watching TV has taken a 360° turn for me. It is a great source of learning to me, helping me understand my environment and the world around me. Sounds serious and boring? But let me assure you, it becomes more interesting as one enters deeper and deeper into this plethora of emotions.

Let’s take the example of a clichéd sector –the daily soap operas. If you ask today’s young, college-going, urban youth, what they think about it, the answer would probably be a snort of contempt. But the strangest irony is that more than half these people (who make those expressions when asked) end up watching these soaps in some way or the other, but just do not want to admit their 'stupidity' by being bold enough to say that they watch it!

This is not to say that the shows are not good. In fact, these shows are a wonderful platform to understand, observe and learn different aspects of our life. However, the learning can happen only if one consciously watches these serials.

Today, family dramas may have taken a backstage with the advent of reality TV and the end of an era of the saas-bahu sagas like ‘kyuki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’, 'kahani ghar ghar kii'. The channels have come back with enormous helpings of the same but with a different masala and a slightly reformed taste. The only thing that seems to have ended is the saas-bahu concept. There are serials like ‘Bidaai’, ‘Shree’, ’Jyoti’ on a different platform but the same standards., and do people watch it? You bet they do and that too in huge numbers.

The reasons for watching these serials however are varied and funny too.

For example, serials like ‘bidaai’ are watched more not only because of its content, but also for the glossy sets and jewellery and also for the gorgeous looking ‘Raagini’.

Almost all the leading soap operas on air today have the story centred on a female lead character. The question why remains to be asked. Perhaps, it is a conscious attempt by the media to change the perceptions of our male dominated society.

If you are not the type who watches all these shows, do go and check out them if not for the content then at least for the glamour and entertainment.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

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Varsha says, "Love reading novels, sketching, writing and watching TV. Complete foodie and that's me!"

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