Guddan, Mayuri, Molkki, Imli — Hindi TV series are finally doing something revolutionary

Hindi soaps have long resisted reality and lived in their havelis with kilos of jewellery. That’s changing now because news has gotten so bad.

A still from Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega | Zee 5

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped in August. She filed a police complaint, the accused was jailed. A few months later, seven people reportedly entered her home and set her on fire. She died in hospital.

A young woman, who is pregnant, was beaten mercilessly with hockey sticks by four female relatives. They wanted to separate her from her husband and kill the child she carried. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctors said she was in a coma—the child may or may not survive.

Another young woman was violently abused by her husband who, in one of his rages, disfigured her. She escaped him and fled to her parent’s home. The husband and his goons waylay her father, assault him – he warns her not to try to escape him otherwise he those she loves will pay for it.

The first incident occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr this week. The other two occurred in Hindi TV serials Guddan — Tumse Na Ho Payega (Zee5) and Pinjara Khubsurti Ka (Colors TV).

Semblance of reality

Hindi soaps have long resisted reality—it doesn’t make for `family’ entertainment or good viewership ratings, they think. And when serials do address genuine situations, they make sure they disguise them so well that they are almost unrecognisable — the layers of make-up, loads of jewellery and the wedding costumes, besides ‘homes’ straight out of the ‘The 10 most magnificent havelis of India’ obscure any resemblance to life.

Occasionally, entertainment channels realise that they must reflect something that imitates reality if they are to be relevant to their audiences. More than ever before, with OTTs producing gritty, life-like series such as Mirzapur, Paatal Lok, to name just two, TV channels look like they have been living in ‘la la land’.

Now, they appear to have taken a few tentative steps out of their dream bubble and hit the ground stumbling, just like Imli did as she raced through the fields on her way to the village school, her grandmother’s admonishments hastening her strides (Imli, Colors TV).

Imli will join Guddan and Mayuri, the protagonists of Guddan… and Pinjara…, and others like Molkki (Molkki, Colors TV) and Rani (Apna Time Bhi Aayega, Zee TV) in the league of female characters in new TV serials, who are monstrously wronged and violently mistreated by men and, often, by other women—just as they are so often in real life.

Guddan… is the only old show that continues to seek justice for its protagonist. The attempt to murder Guddan is only the latest in a series of efforts to get her away from her husband Agustya by the women in his family so that they can enjoy the spoils of his success. What’s new is the depiction of violence: the hockey stick blows raining down on Guddan are frighteningly real.

From the Mayuris to the Molkkis

What’s new in these shows — or at least unusual — is the complete humiliation of women, the desire to subjugate them: not only has Mayuri’s face been impaled because husband Omkar, who married her for her beauty, is disappointed in her, but he now also makes her beg for forgiveness, clutching his feet, if he is to spare her family or supporters. If this isn’t sadism, what is?

Meanwhile, Rani (Apna Times Bhi Aayega), the poor girl who works in the mansion of the Singhania family as her father languishes in jail because of them, is shamed by the ‘Rana sahib’ when she goes to seek his blessings on Diwali. “How dare you touch me!” he screams at her, “This is what comes of being good to people of your class! Get lost”. She cowers before the scorn in his voice and eyes.

Molkki tackles the issue of brides for sale when a young girl, Purvi, is forced into marriage with the sarpanch who is twice her age, for money. This is as real as it gets: the serial is set in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where such marriage transactions are only too often the tragedy.

Or how about young Imli who was rushed off her feet because she was late for school? She will also be ‘married’ off – to a journalist, Aditya — after they take shelter from the storm, together, one night in the village. After being forced into wedlock with Aditya, she travels with him to the big city where the love of his life, Malini, awaits him.

And what about Sai in Ghum Hai Kisi Ke Pyar Mein (Star Plus)? Her world is shattered when her father, a police officer, is shot dead in a shoot-out with the baddies, leaving her orphaned. Virat Chavan, his junior colleague, promises that he will watch out for his daughter, but Sai wants to have nothing to do with him because she blames him for her father’s death. So he packs his bag to return to his beloved Patralekha who is faithfully waiting for him. A woebegone Sai finds life insupportable without her father and slashes her wrists… and everything changes.

Breaking news, in serials

All of these are deeply unnerving stories that are the stuff of yesterday, today and tomorrow’s headlines. The ‘Breaking News’ is that they are being dramatised and telecast at prime time by entertainment channels. They are also on different channels, which suggests there is a conscious attempt to respond to the news we read every day about atrocities against women.

There are equally strong, if less violent and disturbing, shows too. Hamari Wali Good News (Zee 5) addresses the issue of surrogacy in an unusual way when Renuka decides to carry a child for her daughter-in-law Navya who is unable to conceive. This creates a commotion in the family and in the community.

There are also the four Gupta Brothers (Star Bharat) who are bonded in their opposition to marriage until… the eldest, Shiv marries Ganga. The younger three siblings oppose him, although they live in the same house, but Ganga ji turns out to be kindness itself.

Lastly, for those who would like to see where Sushant Singh Rajput came from before he became a Bollywood heartthrob, his first major role was in the TV soap, Pavitra Rishta — that’s now on an afternoon rerun on Zee TV.

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