Opinion Telescope: Anandi to Pratyusha
What happens after the lights are switched off?
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Pratyusha Banerjee.
When she took over the role of the child bride as a young woman, she had a very hard act to follow. Avika Gor, who played Anandi, had won and ruled the airwaves for over 500 episodes with a childlike innocence, an impish face and elfish pranks. She was the most beloved character on Hindi entertainment channels almost as soon as Balika Vadhu was launched in July 2008 (Colors), easing out Ekta Kapoor’s remaining K saas and bahus — even the redoubtable Tulsi — from our hearts if not the ratings.
Yet Pratyusha Banerjee was more than up to the challenge. After news of her death spread across TV news channels on Friday night, many replayed clips of her as Anandi, the young woman. What struck you immediately was the composure and strength she brought to the role of Jagdish’s wife. She was very pretty, of course, but that wasn’t it. There was gentle firmness of character there as she steered Anandi through the troubled waters of her disintegrating marriage to Jagdish and into the reassuring arms of Shivraj Shekhar. She was mature with a reassuring presence and soft demeanour that convinced you everything would turn out fine in the end despite all the heartbreak and struggles. She brought hope to what had earlier seemed liked a hopeless situation. With her, Balika Vadhu went from being the story of a trapped child bride to the redemptive account of a young woman who unlocked the “mind-forged manacles” of social norms and broke out of jail to discover life, love.
And so it was that Pratyusha’s Anandi continued to reign over us and the ratings. We were together for nearly 700 episodes before she left the show.
The fiction of Pratyusha’s life then began to crumble before our eyes. On Saturday, Aaj Tak remarked, “Kuch Anandi pareshaan thi.” In Bigg Boss (Colors, 2013), we met the real Pratyusha: Stripped of her lehenga and makeup, she had lost the composure and sure-footed determination of Anandi. Instead, she was just another vulnerable young woman, squabbling and fighting to survive in the reality show. She didn’t last long in that den of viciousness but went on to dance in Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa before stepping back into serials such as Sasural Simar Ka (Colors).
That Pratyusha masked the real face of her life is evident in an interview Aaj Tak replayed of her with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh: She looks a little dazed, bland, flustered and even petulant.
However, does that give licence to delve into her personal life looking for dirt? To interview her uncle and aunt who make such allegations about murder without any evidence (Aaj Tak)? The channel also produced two police interrogations of Rahul Raj Singh — why did Mumbai Police allow them such access?
Young people who gain quick fame on television don’t always know how to survive when the studio lights are switched off.
We ought to be saddened for the tragic loss of life, pay our respects and leave the family to grieve and the police to investigate. But no, we must instead see photos of Pratyusha at hospital, her face peeping out under the white sheet with actress Dolly Bindra apparently by her side. It’s all over the internet.
As we saw in the case of Sheena Bora, Indrani and Peter Mukherjee last winter, the media will pursue you harder and longer than the law and pronounce judgement before the court can.
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