As tears go by

Exit Poll '98. Much, much longer than Nalini Singh's hair and not nearly as colourful as her attire. At least the first two hours. Ideally, ...

Exit Poll 8217;98. Much, much longer than Nalini Singh8217;s hair and not nearly as colourful as her attire. At least the first two hours. Ideally, this should have been nasty, brutish and short. Rapid results, speaking graphics, quickfire comments from politicians and brief analyses from Singh, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar and psephologist G.V.R Narasimha Rao. Instead, after a long ramble through UP, there was needless video footage of campaigning from each state, followed by a revolving door changeover of politicians in the studio and at different state headquarters. Yappity, yappity, yap. In an Exit Poll people want to know what the predictions are. Not politicians8217;thoughts. But since the programme has to stretch upto 11 pm, we have to hear them all out. More profitable to study the different sleeve colours of Nalini Singh8217;s blouse.

Confusion, by the way, was confounded by TVi8217;s Exit Poll which was very different from DD8217;s. If the election results coverage is going to be like this, god help India.

Now a bitof this and that for all of those who no longer care whether the country has a government or not. Of Nina Pillai Rendez Vous with Simi Garewal who talked of life with and now without Rajan. Who described her helplessness in the face of enemies and death itself as her husband lay dying in jail and nobody came forward to save him; who recalled their last kiss the day before he died in front a patrol of policemen; who hid her grief and loss from the world behind the glitter of her jewellery and the mask of her make-up; who said she would not marry again because she always wanted to be Mrs Rajan Pillai. Nina, pretty social czarina, crying for paradise lost.

It was a moving performance and make no mistake it was a performance. Until the tears went by and she had to ask Simi to give her a moment to compose herself why did she have to ask? Did Garewal want the world to watch the tears well out of her eyes, so that we could see the pain behind the paint?. Nina upstaged Garewal; for perhaps the first time inher career as a talk show hostess, Garewal recognised the need to control her own emotions and performance.

She did not dissolve into tears along with her guest. Or murmur sweet nothings in our ears. Instead, she was practical and self-effacing. There were no dreamy soft-focus shots of her, she wasn8217;t the princess in a fairy tale. She was sympathetic, yes, but refreshingly straightforward most of the time.

Not so refreshing is the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or son-in-law depicted on TV. Take a look at two instances in which the mother-in-law is pivotal to a serial: Tu Tu Main Main and Saans STAR Plus. In Tu Tu Main Main, the M-I-L and D-I-L are the life and laugh of the show. Yet must they squabble so? It8217;s not a little disconcerting for most Indian bahus to watch Supriya Pilgaonkar screeching at her saas and even violently assaulting her! This might strike the producers as subversive or catharctic wish fulfilment Supriya is doing what every D-I-L wants to but can8217;tbut it strikes most of us as downright unreal c8217;mon, honestly 8211; when was the last time you slapped your mother-in-law?.

Very strange, indeed. And so regressively stereotypical. And so without finesse. The same conflictual relationship could have been enacted with devious intent. Instead, the two women accompanied by two wimps who in their spare time masquerade as men, almost tear each other apart. The producers, having run out of ways in which they can do this, have recently resorted to the oldest stratagem in Indian popular culture: when in doubt, sing. And dance. So now, the entire cast sings to each other instead of talking and dances in place of acting.

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In Saans, the mother-in-law, son-in-law tug of war is much more serious. Because, in the process, Neena Gupta is being strangulated hence her breathlessness and the name of the serial?. The mother-in-law thinks her son-in-law is the source of all trouble in the house and in her daughter8217;s marriage; the son-in-law thinks her mother-in-law isthe trouble. Period. Once again, they8217;re playing out archetypal caricatures: ma-in-law is the long-suffering widow, with no where to go but to her daughter; he is the self-righteous, bully of a husband/son-in-law who feels the mother and daughter have got it in for him. So trite.