Ekta Kapoor - Get a Life

I am copying following post from a indiatimes blog called 'Uptown Girl'. This is an issue that I always wanted to write about. This person has said it so well that I did not feel any need to amend it. Enjoy!

"Actually that shouldn’t really be the question. Ekta Kapoor makes what sells. So the question really should be, what the hell is the matter with the people in this country? Are we so socially unconscious that we even watch whatever goo is presented to us?

Let’s look at the history a little bit. In the year 2000, two of Ekta’s serials came on together on different channels. Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kkusum…with an extra K. Let’s look at these two serials separately.

Kyuki started out as a serial which showed the ever green tussle between a mother who was not happy with her son’s choice of bride. The subtle tu-tu mein-mein between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was how the serial started…which of course soon lost it’s meaning as the whole thing turned into scheming, bitching, killing and rebirths! Marriages, left right and center thrown in and well you have a serial which millions of people across the country actually watch, and get involved! A serial with a story line which has no relation to the title of the story. A serial which degrades women to no end. You have rape scenes…then you have characters within the serial that support marital rapes…you have a mother in law that very recently discouraged her grand daughter-in-law from working with a dialogue like, “Agar ghar ki bahu office jayegi, to ghar kaun sambhalega!” Yeah right…So this is the condition of one of the most popular serials of Indian television today.

Let’s look at Kkusum, this serial really takes the cake I feel…well the serial started out differently…a middle class working woman hitched to a rich guy because her kundali says that she will have a long lasting marriage. The belief was that the male protagonist of the serial, her boss, Abhay would have to marry someone with a strong kundali to save his own life. Kept in dark Kkusum is married to Abhay. But of course she soon finds out the real reason behind this Cinderella wedding and her dream shatters. Then comes to time when she plans revenge only to find Abhay now genuinely in love with her…or so he acts. Then of course there is the plot where he is only acting of being a devoted husband while he is flirting around with Kkusum’s best friend. The story has some sense till this point. But what followed was beyond any rational reasoning!

Some hundred marriages and divorces took place. And no not between different people…but between Abhay and Kkusum itself!!! Then Kkusum vanishes (a.k.a the main actress of the serial backs out!) so she is killed only to be brought back along with a new face and a daughter! In the mean while Abhay once again is married! I don’t understand this at all…if you are widowed is it essential to take saat phera’s around your dead wife’s burning body itself? It’s ridiculous!

So let’s take a look at what Ekta propagates through her serials. 1. Infidelity and Adultery: Don’t need to explain this. Every serial has characters getting married then divorced, then married again, then an extra marital affair…and then some more. 2. Inspiring people to be officious: Some one has to meddle…no matter what! 3. Creating vamps: My God if God forbid, but any household had a bahu like Komolika, do you think that household would be alive and happy? In all probability they would all be in an asylum to say the least4. Glorifying and justifying Satan acts: All the protagonists of her serial suffer…and that suffering never ends. So she is trying to say…don’t be nice because if you be nice you will suffer…

But again, the point of this whole post is not insulting, or yelling at Ekta…but trying to understand the psyche of the audience who watch these never ending shows! What kick do you get in watching one woman, plot against another day in and day out? And even more ridiculous is the fact that on the 8 pm slot on Sony the protagonist suddenly becomes a vamp on the 8:30 pm slot on Star. How do audience even remember the plots of different serials (especially when there are the same set of actors and sets put in) is something I’ll never comprehend. This madness behind the K…series has to stop somewhere. It’s degrading, unreal and tainting for women and that’s the least of it. But of course who is the biggest section of population who watch women being tortured, raped, killed, and mortified on TV? Oh it’s the Indian woman of course! What did you think?"