Marriages on the Rocks?

Eyes flashing fury, a sari clad Renuka Shahane defiantly smudges her bindi and stuns her husband into silence by declaring theatrically ...

Eyes flashing fury, a sari clad Renuka Shahane defiantly smudges her bindi and stuns her husband into silence by declaring theatrically Mujhe kisi aur se pyar ho gaya hai8217;. As she says this, the resounding voice of the actress is visually replicated by the camera in a series of staccato shots. The scene is from Kora Kagaz, Asha Parekh8217;s serial on Star Plus. Not another one, you groan, as you switch off your television and decide to go for a drive instead. Ubiquitous roadside hoardings advertising the current fare of soaps on TV stare down at you as you manouevre your way through the Juhu traffic. 8220;Caught in a loveless marriage she decides to rewrite her life8221;, one screams Kora Kagaz. Another asks 8220;Are Marriages Made in Heaven? Heena The third goes Shayad yeh aapke saath bhi ho raha hai, ho chuka hai, ya ha sakta hai Saans. Phew! You needn8217;t suffer from a narcotic addiction to television soaps to realize that biwis on TV are a miserable lot. Indeed, you need8217;t watch television atall.

Marital discord, a theme which gained currency on TV in the early 90s, has now become the indisputable leit motif of Indina television soaps. Saans, Kora Kagaz, Heena, Hasratein, Swabhimaan, Kabhie Kabhie, Tanha, the list keeps growing. Differences between real and reel life notwithstanding, television serials would have us believe that urban Indian marriages are teetering on the brink of extinction. Why the constant doomsaying? According to Asha Parekh, television serials reflect the growing incidence of marital failure in contemporary Indian society. 8220;There is no denying that divorces have lost their stigma and become increasingly common in urban Indian society. The foundations of marriage have weakened because we as a society have become more material and less tolerant8221;. Ajai Sinha, director of the hugely popular serial Hasratein expresses a rather different view: 8220;It is a false notion that Indian marriages were better or stronger in yesteryears.

Sexual frustration and extra marital affairs were as common forty years ago as they are now. Only it was suppressed. Earlier, women were compelled to put up with all kinds of atrocities including physical abuse because they were totally dependent on their husbands. Today women are financially independent and have an option to walk out.8221;

While the creators of these serials may differ in their interpretation of 8220;reality8221; they unanimously harp on the eye-opening value of their serials. Neena Gupta8217;s award winning Saans traces the development of an extra marital affair into bigamy; Asha Parekh8217;s Kora Kagaz is the story of a young bride, whose husband abandons her on the wedding night, only to return to her five years later when things do not work out between his girlfriend and him. Says Parekh: 8220;My serial exposes the double standards and chauvinism of men who expect their wives to wait for them.8221; The jilted bride routine is repeated in Rajiv Tandon8217;s Heena, only here the eponymous heroine attempts to win her husband8217;s love with her caring ways. In Ajai Sinha8217;s Hasratein the institution of marriage is dispensed with altogether: the lead couple, Savi and KT leave their respective marriages to live together and even have a child out of wedlock. Savi8217;s friend, Sushma, likewise chooses to cohabit with her lover rather than marry him, the decisioninspired by the rationale that marriage does not guarantee loyalty.

The huge popularity of these soaps, especially among women, is often attributed to the portrayal of strong heroines who have the courage to stand up to the injustices of a male dominated society. Yet is the 8220;new woman8221; in the new relationships, as portrayed in these serials, really so different from her older, traditional sisters? In Hasratein, Sushma defies convention to live with her lover only to suffer physical abuse at his hands. Worse still, the director calls this her 8220;greatness8221;. In Heena, the saccharine sweet heroine continues to be the ideal pativrata in spite of her husband8217;s relationship with another woman outside marriage. Even in Saans Neena Gupta contemplates chucking up her new-found independence and returning to housewife status at the slightest possibility of reconciliation with husband Gautam. Interestingly, financial independence in women is almost always synonymous with unsuccessful marriages and extra marital romances. Be it Svetlana Swabhimaan or Savi, professional women alwaysfind their soulmates outside marriage. The underlying message seems to be that while professional achievement may foster a sense of confidence in women, it is a foolproof recipe for marital failure. Not so avante garde, after all.

Elaborating on the gross over simplification of issues relating to marriage in TV soaps, Sushma Sharma, counselling psychologist at the Mumbai-based Counselling centre Ashray, says 8220;television serials distort facts by making such a hullabaloo about extra marital affairs. Marital discord is far more commonly caused by factors such as personality clashes, lack of space, incompatibility and monotony.8221; Sharma argues that by constantly showing people having extra marital affairs, these serials serve to legitimize, even glamorize, such relationships. 8220;It8217;s like saying the whole world is having extra marital affairs, so its acceptable.8221; The recent controversy surrounding the serial Shaktimaan, which some reports suggested had led children to injure themselves, also raises the issue of the impact of television programms on children. Says Sharma. 8220;Serials focussing on bad marriages increase insecurities and suspicion about relationships in children. By showing so much domestic conflict, these programms areputting the younger generation off marriage.8221; Many may not endorse Sharma8217;s views but when eight year-olds wax eloquent about Swabhimaan, it is certainly something to think about.

Producers, on thir part, point to the continuing popularity of their serials, which fulfill the entertainment needs of millions of viewers. As Sinha puts it. 8220;At the end of the day my job is to entertain, not to teach8221;. But with serials dragging out over 200 episodes and a deluge of reruns on every channel, even viewers are beginning to get disenchanted. Nandin Shukla, a Mumbai-based housewife, who admits to being hooked8217; to TV soaps says: 8220;I am bored of the same broken marriage story. It would be nice to have more original story ideas.8221; Oh, for a Saans of fresh air on the small screen?