Stuck in a Moment

I have never been a TV person. Beyond movies, sports, and Discovery, NatGeo and History, there are a few select Sitcoms; I have ever had the patience to follow on TV.

TV Soaps have never really been anywhere on my list. Reason- well I cannot break free of the world and rush to a TV screen to follow certain soap. That can happen on a Sunday for an F1 race, but that too is limited to the season and only 20 days in a year. Daily follow up is even too much to ask for at work… leave apart it being a recreation.

Now, it was only recent after I completed my Masters in Communication that I actually began to track some TV channels to try and understand what comes where and when… well as marketing consultants need to do that. This was necessary to understand more the consumers rather than the programming logic of channels. Which in fact became the main agenda as I see it today… is there a programming logic at all???

While doing my post grads, I came across people who made confident statements about human psyche and that we as humans love to see suffering. That’s what we seek in movies and drama, that’s what the Oscar Jury seeks as well. Fair enough- that’s how Slumdog made it big; guess Hurt Locker has a similar underlying view. (Not sure as I haven’t seen it)

But what comes on the telly-tubes as Soap has to date not made any sense to me. It is quite astonishing that when audiences to theaters openly appreciate concepts with a strong message, a new social awakening or situations which can arise out of the new internet generation, the TV guys are still at most ease to dish out recipes with the 17th Century flavor. What is disturbing is that most renowned TV actors have come from a theater background and while an actor does a path breaking role on stage, before a camera, he’s watching his wife being questioned for not having her head covered before the elders.

This is like the epitome of hypocrisy we live in, and this is not limited only to Hindi- it’s more like Universal in India. (He He!!)I see it on Marathi channels and can get the same feel over Bengali as well. Interesting topics are taken as the storyline- surrogate motherhood, generation gaps as a result of changing life styles and working cultures. But I freak out when we pull out a ritual from the age of mummies; make them alive by reading from the book of death to make your serial seem different.

I fail to understand how the most popular serial today be Balika Vadhu- considering child marriages are a criminal offence. How can a serial like Sajan Ghar Jana Hai even co-exist with today’s times? How can an on screen woman professional are showered a line demanding her to return home before sunset. If media was a powerful weapon, I see it being applied in a manner that’s more destructive as I see it.

I understand that since normal people will be too boring for people to watch; there always has to be someone who is mentally challenged, a widow or at least one lady who might be not able to conceive for multiple reasons. But how sick is it to include dialogues like “Oh, you can't conceive; you should not even cast your shadow on a pregnant lady”…. Not to forget, this same lady might be a super woman running the family business.


What’s most alarming- we tend to pick up things very easy from what we see in films and TV. I don’t think there was a Z+ security needed for a Grooms shoes before the 90s. Point to be noted: there is high possibility that something we see on TV can trickle down our skin and cause damage.


I find it really tough to understand what kind of people we all are. There is some part of our practical mind which is seeking itself to rise up as a Global Giant. But then there is also this demand from us to retain our identity by doing things the Indian Way- no matter how impractical it might be. Who knows, if anyone was to despise the Women’s Reservation Bill-well, in all likelihood, they will termed as MCPs. I am not sure what we should be calling this media which is putting the chains back onto our society.


We are kind of Stuck in a Moment, one foot in the past and one in the future- where we go next will be decided only once we which foot did we rely on next….