Sep 16, 2004 12:06 PM
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(Updated Sep 16, 2004 06:29 PM)
Once upon a time there was a girl called Ekta.
Ekta had an ordinary face and was not interested in her studies. She had a famous ex-film star father but now her father was also past his peak and was sitting at home since there were no roles for him. She had a brother but he was a good-for-nothing. So no help was forthcoming from anywhere.
Ekta was not brilliant, not beautiful and not talented. But there was something that only she could achieve. Just like visionaries know the strength of human mind and show the way to streamline it into great actions, our Ekta hit upon the weakness of human psyche. She knew what makes women insecure and what eats into men?s minds. Worse, she also knew how to take advantage of it.
Ekta knew that the human mind can either be taken to great heights or it can be easily made to rot. She decided to become an expert in pulling the strings of minds of ordinary people so that their minds could rot.
She begged for some money from her once-upon-a-star father, gathered some out-of-work actors and put together a mish-mash of dirty family politics and sordid extra-marital affairs and called it a ?serial?. Then she released it on the unsuspecting public, sat back and watched. The results were spectacular ! Pandemonium raged as people flocked to see her shows. The TRP ratings soared and the money started pouring in. Ekta?s serials were a rage.
A new lifestyle emerged. Bored housewives (the saas and the bahu) got something to do with their time which used to hang heavily on them earlier. Men and women who considered their work a heavy burden which they had to bear the whole day, came tearing from their office at 5 P.M., put on the TV, opened a bag of Haldiram namkeen and sat glued for the next few hours. Teenagers who are not allowed to go out by conservative parents for the fear of ?affairs? and ?dates? were fed on a diet of extramarital affairs every day of their lives.
Watch one serial of the Ekta camp and right away, you know that she has the middle class Indians by the pulse and also by their throats. A male dominated society where women fight like cats over a man has been the norm of this class. The battle may be between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, two friends, two sisters-in-law or even two sisters ! The man is held like a prize trophy whose achievement can mean the world to the woman. May the best woman win !
A woman sits with a gaudily made up face, bedecked with jewels in a designer sari wondering if her husband is sleeping with his secretary (What a dilemma !)
An ordinary looking man ponders on the dilemma of choosing a woman out of the three who are fighting over him (Wow, what an issue to lose your sleep over !)
A bahu wonders how to get even with her saas. (Fight 'em, yo ! That's the spirit !)
A woman threatens another woman to back off romancing her guy or otherwise face the consequences. (Ha ! ha! Ha ! Forgive me, Ekta fans. Sometimes things can get too funny).
Well, the fact remains. Ekta rules. She is a hell of a businesswoman. She has observed a need in people and she has filled it. Now who is to be blamed, the society or Ekta ? You decide.
