What do Indians watch for entertainment, besides news and sports? Do they watch Kajol and Neena Gupta in Lust Stories 2 or do they prefer Anupama and Meet?
Yes, you have clear cut options: you can see how Granny Neena G liberates her family by imploring them to discover and enjoy the joy of sex (Lust Story 2, Netflix); and you can continue to follow Anupama’s everlasting sacrifices for her family even after she finds ‘love’ (Anupama, Star Plus, Hotstar).
And the beauty of it all is that you don’t have to choose. You can watch OTT channels like Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Sony Liv, Zee 5 etc., for both original streaming films and series as well as the never-ending soap operas they show from DTH/cable channels such as Star Plus, Sony, Zee, to name some…
To be sure, there’s a world of difference between the OTT original series and the soap operas. You will never ever hear the word ‘sex’ on the lips of ladies like Anupama, Meet, Vani (Thapki Pyar Ki, Colors), Radha (Pyar Ka Pehla Naam: Radha Mohan, Zee), even though it may often cross their minds when they behold their husbands – more often than not their husbands are the subjects of their desire — Mohan, Meet (yes, Meet marries Meet), Dhruv or Anuj.
As for ‘lust’, tauba tauba! If they experience it — which, as the ‘good’ heroines of their serials, they should not — sex is, mostly, for procreation in soaps; it manifests itself in the form of passionate confrontation with the ‘bad’ women who always want to steal their husbands, and frequently succeed in doing so. The moral being, women, even evil ones, are lustful and men are so gullible.
On the other hand, in Netflix’s recent release Lust Story 2, which threads together four separate stories by different directors (R Balki, Konkana Sen Sharma, Sujoy Ghosh, and Amit Ravindernath Sharma), sex for pleasure, voyeurism and well, perhaps pure lust, are graphically depicted and discussed. Sadly, barring Konkan Sen’s voyeuristic offering, the others make a hash of the sex – and the stories.
You may say this difference is because the audience for the two – TV soaps and OTT specials are separate – the latter cater to a young adult, educated, urban audience; the former to the rest. Hence the coyness regarding sex on TV entertainment channels where families watch together and the torrid depiction on OTTs for people in the metros.
However, with android phones reasonably priced and internet connectivity spreading its tentacles throughout the country, this distinction is being eroded. Everyone has access to everything—they get to choose what to watch.
Besides the depiction of sex, the other main contrast between the two are the family – and women. The family is the centrepiece of all soap operas – and its wellbeing is the responsibility of the female protagonist.
Watch any serial on an entertainment channel: Kum Kum Bhagya and Bhagya Laxmi on Zee for instance, or Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Pandya Store on Star Plus. You will discover that it’s all about preserving or destroying the family and what goes with it — property, business, reputation.
By the way, in these shows, it is all about the upper caste Hindu Undivided Family – no Dalits, OBCs, SC, or ST need apply. And certainly no Muslims and Christians.
The women, the evil ones, are normally responsible for the divisions, misunderstandings and violence in these soaps while the men are puppets pulled this way and that by the women.
Also read: Hussain Obama, Modi UCC pitch, Bakr-Eid goat—TV channels’ unhealthy obsession with Muslims
Where violence rules
Soaps operas and TV series specialise in high voltage family dramas whereas OTT specials prefer high voltage violence.
Speaking of violence: Hotstar’s Night Manager 2 is out now, and it has enough violence and villainy to satisfy all bloodthirsty instincts in some of us.
The physical violence in soap operas is children playing cops and robbers compared to what we witness in OTT specials. In the tradition of Mirzapur, these crime shows depict terrible crimes—think of the serial killer in Dahaad on Amazon Prime. Or Gumraah (Netflix). Brrrrr, makes you shiver.
As for mental torture, well, it’s a tie there. With their endless and mindless twists and turns, births and rebirths, deceptions that continue into thousands of episodes—Anupama is now long suffering through 970 episodes, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is now into Season 67, and has completed more than 4,000 episodes – these soaps really test your mental and emotional resilience. Why even some of the characters can’t take the oppressive tension: more than one character is shown to develop psychological problems—watch Maya in Anupama.
That’s another thing: OTTs have short seasonal runs so you’re not subjected to the blood and thunder for too long.
One area where TV serials win hands down is in the mythological and supernatural: just watched Mahabharat for the nth time on Star Bharat; and currently, Shiv Shakti Tap Tyaag Tandav gives us Lord Shiva on Colors. And who can possibly forget Naagin (Colors) where women are in fact snakes hissing for revenge?
And if you want talent shows, then go to TV entertainment channels: Indian Idol, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Masterchef India (all on Sony), Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee), and Khatron Ke Khiladi (Colors) are some of the most popular non-fiction shows – and they’re highly watchable too with an amazing array of talented people who belong to diverse backgrounds and regions.
Lastly, OTT serials make more expensive, better produced, written and directed shows – most are taut, no sagging year after year like entertainment soaps (of course that is the nature of a soap opera). Streaming channels also attract star film directors and actors. The daily soap has fairly new actors it makes into stars, with the same plot told in different ways.
But they’re not pretentious or spilling blood—just melo-melodrama.
You decide what you want to watch.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)