The Behenji Backlash

Films, TV and other popular media these days are witnessing the reign of the behenji

Are we on a behenji binge these days? Look around and she8217;s the woman of choice for the poseur and the poised, the sophisticated and uncouth, pati and lover, for auntyjis and babes, in Tahiliani or Fendi. Who would have believed the behenji would one day be Babe Cool?nbsp;She8217;s celebrated and emulated, cuddled and snuggled by filmmakers, television producers, style arbiters and media commentators. The behenji is the new icon of the liberated, globalised world, sometimes provoking, remonstrating, teasing and daring but never challenging for real change. You cry with her, laugh with her, shop like her and marry like her.

In the new world of excess and escape, the behenji is the comfort zone8212;corseted yet mod, firmly rooted but mildly adventurous, it8217;s a middle-of-the-road bling fling.

Karan Johar, terminally cool, a behenji? A Redux version, in all his films?nbsp;Oh, horror, but look, his heroines do not wear Roop Sarees, only Herve Leger and Versace, they do not snarl, scream or manipulate, instead they are guileless, free and natural. Of course, Johar would like to refute the notion that women find fulfillment only through childbearing and homemaking. And unlike the static, programmed soaps of the day where the moral card and not the platinum card saves everyone, he delves deeper than his movies8217; feel-good sheen suggests8212;beyond the gaudy grandeur of cascading crystals, mirrors, silks and gold lame.

But look no further than Maya and Ria, Dev, Rishi and Sam. The perfect behenji moment of KANK is when Sexy Sam drops dead because he catches his daughter-in-law with her lover. Sorry behen, make friends, not babies. You can sing, dance, cavort and flirt, but have illicit sex and someone close to you will die. There8217;s no redemption for carnal sin.

So, we8217;ve knocked and rapped the dreaded K series and its dozen knock-offs, the daily soap that first put the behenji on top8212;the 90s8217; version of the traditional spouse, now no longer servile or pitiful, but grabbing centre stage, being strong, assertive and virtuous. She almost never moves out of the house, always saas, bahu or biwi. From Ba to Ma, Tulsi, Parvati, Kkusum, the Kyunki8230;, Kahani8230;, Kasauti8230;romp has fused and blended good, old-fashioned melodrama of the Hindu Undivided Family, business intrigues, epic themes, ritual ostentation, opulent feasts, garish fashion and mean street, as the women glare and men ensnare. So, how about some behenji-spotting?

8216;8216;Today8217;s behenji upholds traditional values and embodies contemporary concerns,8221; says Akhila Sivdas, of Centre of Advocacy and Research, which has done pioneering work on emerging trends in media. 8216;8216;She is not regressive. She is packaged in a way where she is assertive, individualistic. She confronts problems, articulates them, gangs up with other women to permit a female bonding, and this lends an appeal amongst women viewers who see some hope in a patriarchal society.8217;8217;

The surging, in-your-face behenjidom is a backlash against the sanctimonious, chicken and smug mostly English-speaking middle-class of the past, says Sivdas. 8216;8216;Today8217;s upwardly mobile are running to fill the vaccum left behind by the transition from feudal to modern. They may disturb the status quo but they do not build new value systems.8217;8217;

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In advertising, the behenji barely flashes through, says Prasoon Joshi, Creative Director, McCann Erickson, 8216;8216;We do not have the luxury of time in a 30-second spot,8217;8217; he says. However, says Joshi, the behenji is alive in the archetypical, stereotype woman. 8216;8216;Take the Moov ad,8217;8217; he explains, 8216;8216;the woman is shown as the harassed housewife, mother, daughter-in-law, all woven in, and the balm is the answer to her demanding family.8217;8217;nbsp;Joshi has avoided falling into this trap. 8216;8216;Earlier, the woman was either a devi or a whore, with nothing in between. The woman has changed, she could be the Nescafe girl, free, confident and relaxed. That8217;s spot on.8217;8217;

Can behenjis have the blues? Only if you cry in Central Park and not in Panchsheel Park. 8216;8216;In a consumer binging world, a consumer is allowed to experiment with everything,8217;8217; says Shiv Vishwanath, social scientist. He points to lofty columnists who shed all scholastic abandon when they 8216;8216;wept and shed tears unabashedly over KANK.8217;8217; The new urban spaces are the malls and multiplexes where we can look at ourselves in all kinds of ways,8217;8217; says he. 8216;8216;The snooty brown angrez is gone, there8217;s now a reverse snobbery .8217;8217;

Everything points to the frightful NRI8212; the last outpost for the rococo behenji8212;outdated, worn out and passeacute;8212;for her resurgence. 8216;8216;It is the diaspora that is wagging the tail of popular culture,8217;8217; says sociologist and collector of popular culture, Patricia Oberoi. 8216;8216;There is a global aspect to Indian family values, to appeal to the NRI abroad. It is packaged better, has an international quality, even foreigners watch it. Bollywood is today8217;s pop culture and people here too want to partake of it. So, what8217;s a little abandonment in the name of pop culture?8217;8217;

And so, the behenji continues to serve up convention with sureness and poise8212;tradition over modernity, family values over individualism, arranged marriages over love choices, consumer bingeing over good taste. She has the last sigh.