Yesterday I was toying with the idea of writing a review on a comic strip. I switched on my PC and started keying when I heard ever so irritating “Maiiiii Kusuuum” coming from my living room. And that did it. I decided to draw some serious charges on Ms. Kapoor for several reasons that will become apparent to you once you have read the whole review.
Ekta Kapoor’s serials are like Banquo’s ghost, haunting MS every now & then. She is responsible for mental torture that viewers have to go through everyday.
Charge #1: Promotion of Infidelity and Adultery
Why does almost everybody in her creation have to be married atleast twice? And if not married, then has a not so pleasant past, which effects the present and eventually shapes the future. In simple words, a person will have n (n=1,2,3…) flames in past, who will turn up to ruin the marital bliss, which will force the marriage to break, and the cheated(??) partner will have an affair with somebody else who is happily married. And this chain continues till it comes to a full circle in most of the cases. For example: Kusum married Abhay for a very strange reason, who had an extra marital affair with Isha. Divorced Kusum then marries Siddarth, who was her sister-in-law’s fiancé. Widowed Kusum then remarries Abhay. Isha again tries to create ripples in their lives. Oh god, gimme a break. Similar story is repeated in all her serials.
Nobody can deny the fact that adultery has existed in almost every civilization in the world. But glorifying such things is not going to help society at all.
Charge #2: Inspiring people to be meddlesome
What kind of impact will this have on young, impressionable viewers, or for that matter any sensible viewer also? Half of the time, characters are checking other people’s mobile phones, files, rummaging through the drawers & cupboards, listening behind the doors and curtains. What sort message is being conveyed by such acts.
Charge #3: Being Rude and disrespectful to elders
All in name of having a modern outlook and being outspoken, many young characters are shown shouting and mouthing bad words to elders. Making a point is definitely required but being disrespectful is certainly not justified.
Charge #4: Creation of vamps in name of female lib
Komolika, Isha, Nikita, Pallavi, Paayal, Damini, Ramola and many more are modern Lady Macbeths. Never ever a female was shown in such a bad light as in these serials. Yes, there have been examples in our great epics like Manthara, Kaikayi who did their own bits, but never has there been any portrayal so vindictive and scheming as in these junk serials.
Besides this, all women are always dressed up in heavy sarees and have painted faces even at midnight. Not even a single hair is ruffled if they have to get suddenly out of bed. They go prowling in shady areas alone, but always immaculately dressed up. They can put fastest sprinters in world to shame by running in stilettos. ”Jai ho, Jai ho. Aisi sati ki jai ho”
I noticed the kind of impact her serials have, when I noticed all men around me discussing the “Saas-Bahu” serials on lunch table in our office. The topics had drastically changed from general awareness, politics, science to “Saas-Bahu” sagas. When questioned, they said “We want to understand the level to which a woman can stoop, so that we have a better understanding of the most complex creature in the world”. I certainly didn’t like the damage her serials have done to people’s thought process.
Charge #5: Driving people crazy with so many twists and turns
A twist here and a twist there…here twist…there a twist…everywhere a twist-twist…Dear old Ekta had some fun..eeya eeya yo…she shows all the junk under the sun…eeya eeya yo…
If you actually try to make sense out of any of the junks she shows, you will definitely end up in an asylum. Anytime she wants to add a twist, her characters meet with an accident and suffer from amnesia, which gives a plausible excuse of introducing some more characters, which will in turn add further twists. And net result is that poor viewer is driven nuts.
Charge #6: Defying the law of physiology and balances of human race
I sincerely want to know which “Amar-booti” keeps all the characters so young, hale & hearty even after twenty-thirty years. The mothers look younger than their sons & daughters. It looks so funny when a girl in her early twenties is calling a reasonably middle aged woman as “Pragya daadi”. With advancing years(in the serials, of course), the characters go in reverse gear of aging process. I am sure Ekta would like to share her secret Jadi-booti with scientists for general Jan-Kalyaan. Atleast that will serve some social purpose ;-)
Charge #7: Misguiding an average viewer by showing unreal world
”Ma sunao mujhe wo kahani, jisme raja na ho, na ho rani…”
Everybody is so stinking rich. No, it really doesn’t matter to me. But why does she have to spin a fairy tale of people belonging to only a small segment of society when her serials are actually being watched by so many people who belong to different strata of society. It can have either positive or negative impact on an individual. Nobody in her serials talks less than a few hundred crores. If she wants to do some service to society, as she claims that she is doing by showing the true picture, then why doesn’t she takes up some more practical causes rather than showing shady business deals involving several crores.
Charge #8: Glorifying and justifying Lucifer acts
I have grown up hearing “Satyamev Jayate”. But these serials defy this saying. All the good people suffer and bad ones have time of their life. Take example of Parvati, Kusum, Tulsi, Prerna. All they are left with is shedding gallons and gallons of tears. Their goodness is a curse for them. What kind of message is being conveyed? ”Burai ki sachchaai par vijay??” If you are good you are bound to suffer?
Charge #9: Being repetitive
This is a little non serious charge, but definitely needs a mention. Each of her serials start with a different storyline, but few episodes down the line, they all start looking the same. Same characters, same plot, same sarees, same jewelry, same sets, same furniture, same cars. Shame-Shame on this same-same funda. If there is nothing else to show then why doesn’t she end it gracefully.
Charge #10: Taking undue advantage of media
Again a non serious one, but violates certain ethics. Why does she use her serials as a platform for popularizing her brother’s movies and promoting the songs. It looks so stupid when her characters are dancing to some number from his movie. It simply doesn’t gel with the setting of the whole serial. Anyways, its her serial, and her brother.
Continued in comments....
