Boycott These Irresponsible Indian Serials That Breed More Patriarchy!

With many changes coming around us, with women being more and more involved in the economic growth, it is high time to rethink what need to be shown and be responsible for producing such shows.

“Sita slipped and got her leg fractured. Her in-laws and husband brought in a good doctor for the treatment. Sita’s mother and sister came to visit her. They were stopped at the entrance of the grand villa where Sita resides, they argued and got a reply from her father in law that she is now the member of their house, and they are not supposed to keep coming to their house. It goes on with everyone being silent, and even Sita has obeyed her in-laws as a perfect bahu should.”

“A big shot surgeon is working at his hospital; his wife enters his cabin and starts to beg him to accept her and her children as his own. She tries her best to convince him saying she is indeed truthful and suddenly falls at his feet. The surgeon starts to disrespect her character, and still she responds that he is her patidev, in a sense a god to her.”

Not real life incidents

These are not real-life incidents that I have quoted but some scenes from different serials. So what are we enjoying by watching these serials? Every show follows only two storylines:

1. A rich guy falls in love with a poor or dark-skinned or physically challenged girl, they break up, and she tries to win him over.
2. A rich woman full of ‘false attitude’, ego and temper agrees that a guy be her partner, and how he changes her at the end.

These serials do not have any fun factor or message to society, or do not support any social causes. It’s just mindless domination of in-laws on daughter in law, or daughter in law trying to murder her mother-in-law, or a bad son-in-law.

The misogyny is so deep-rooted in the television industry that no one realizes that it is patriarchal. Why do we need these serials when we are already a repressive society of largely middle class people?

How do family members watch this together?

How does a family that has a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law feel when they watch it together? How does a guy react if he watches an episode where a man slaps his wife in the serial because she questioned his authority in the family?

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We are at a place right now in the world where everything that we see in media matters –  using a plastic straw or not, moving to menstrual cups, raising a voice against belittling of one gender, inclusion of LGBTQ+, and much more. With many changes coming around us, with women being more and more involved in the economic growth, it is high time to rethink what need to be shown and be responsible for producing such shows.

More progressive shows needed

Need more progressive shows which questions our thoughts like Leila and Sacred Games from Netflix, or some light-hearted shows instead of sexist patriarchal shows.

It is time to stop showing a dark-skinned girl who faces her daily taunts saved by Prince Charming; need to show how to fight, how not to care about their colour or need a prince to save her.

We need to have shows about the laws and rights of our society, not how to find a husband.

We need to show how to earn herself, how to maintain a good relationship with in-laws without cowing down, how trafficking happens, how rapes happen,  how men should be involved in empowering the other genders, to question evil rituals that people are still believing in… the list in long.

Creativity is an unlimited field full of ideas, and these shows can be much more entertaining, with the right amount of creativity instead of showing the same old formulated ideas.

Image source: YouTube

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