There are plenty of TV soaps which include extremely dramatic plots to grab the interest of viewers and then take the name of epics such as Ramayana for an inspiration(Makers say that Kavach is inspired from the story of savitri…………No idea how .) The same saga ranges from Shanti(DD) to Kumkum bhagya and now AndTV’s Begusarai seems to only make it much worse with its new plot seemingly inspired from epic Mahabharata. Bindya’s character (compared to kunti because she have 5 sons) gets her 5 sons married to a single girl Ananya (Veebha anand) deceitfully. Bindya claims that she got inspired from Mahabharata and she married her kids to a common girl so that they don’t fight among themselves just like kunti married pandavas to draupadi. Isn’t the idea itself disgusting?
I just want to highlight the differences and loopholes in this inspiration. Draupadi in Mahabharata was not kept in dark regarding her marriage with all the pandavas unlike our damsel in distress Ananya. No one ever plotted any revenge against draupadi like our lead shakti thakur did. Pandavas made several rules regarding the how much time draupadi should be with whom and how no one else will intrude into their privacy during that period. Remember Arjuna’s visit during the period of Yudhistira and Draupadi and his self-inflicted penance thereafter. But all the 5 brothers start assaulting their wife in an unexpected manner. One must take into account that Pandavas are not known only because their number or Draupadi, they are known for their qualities. Most idiotic part is when Bindya (mother) supports her son’s actions and supports her actions in the name of inspiration from Mahabharata.
Is this kind of plot appreciatable on national television? What if it encourages rapists to make gang rapes because of which women are not safe already? Can we show anything in the name of enthralling viewers? Already we have so many crap serials to ruin public where hero’s are rich, arrogant, abusive, doubtful and useless whereas heroines are dumb, submissive, idiotic at times and CID’s too many times. Do we need one more dark plot only to aggravate the current prevailing cases such as Nirbhaya. We can just hope that either makers come up with better storyline or viewers contain strength to boycott their favourite serial if the storyline goes in a wrong way.
The moral of the epic Mahabharata is to follow karma. In short sense As you sow, so you reap. But in our Tv soaps good people are at receiving end of the problems always and vamps get away with everything. What kind of lesson did the plot writer learn from Epic before he took inspiration? Key reason behind Bindya’s decision is shown to be her purpose of keeping brothers united. Ironically they did forget that Pandavas will stay united because of their values and irrespective of circumstances.
One more worst practise being followed in almost all serials is to play strotras and other devotional mantras to add intensity to the episode which would be null otherwise. By the time the episode ends, I myself found exhausted because of the anxiety and unrest. Will that do any good to me or anyone else in the name of entertainment? TV soaps seem to help councillors(Doctors, therapists or Psychological experts) to expand their business and themselves of course by earning crores. How can we forget that on side audiences get afflicted with depressions, our beloved best daughter in laws buy costly villas? Some have costly affairs and even get caught in drug raids.
I believe it is time for change, one should be wise enough to select what to inspire from.