|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
By Category |
 |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
India On Media |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Others
News |
|
| Indian soap operas, ruled by mother |
| Indian soap operas, ruled by mothers-in-law
|
| INDIA
, 26-December-2012
2:7:52 AM |
| Mothers-in-law are not a joke on Indian TV.
They are the law.
Soap operas dominate prime time here, and the mother-in-law reigns in almost all of them. However plucky the heroine or serpentine the plot, every love story seems to circle back to marriage and the many relatives who come with the words "I do."
The extended family is still the bedrock of Indian society, where modernization meets its match. Soap operas here are outlandish - some so stylized and wildly melodramatic they verge on camp. But they are also oddly prosaic; expressions of duty, deference and parental obligation that inform everyday lives.
Television isn't an insurrectionist force in India. It's a relatively young medium struggling to adapt to a vast viewing audience that respects tradition and suspects change. Like many an Indian bride, television here occasionally tests the boundaries but mostly finds its way by following the rules and not making too many waves.
The rules can seem confounding to outsiders: India is a country where female infanticide can be a soap opera plot point in prime time but scenes of casual dating are taboo. In this realm it is the mother-in-law who is the metronome of Indian family values, issuing orders, giving advice and setting the rhythm of acceptable change.
Speed-clicking the remote after 8 p.m. is like watching a PowerPoint display of passion in hot pink, glimmering tears and the occasional stinging slap across the face. Sweet, noble Sandhya dreams of entering the Civil Service on "The Light and the Lamp Are We," one of the top-rated shows in India, and her handsome husband, a humble candy shop owner, is all for it. But there's an obstacle that drives the narrative: Her mother-in-law is adamantly opposed.
The basic plot of "Child Bride" is evident from its title, and this soap about an underage wife is also a top-rated show - underage marriage is still prevalent enough to wedge its way into the family hour. More shocking, perhaps,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENTS
Free offer!!! Become an administrator for your zip home page, "Post" local news (local to your postcode)& pictures, "Post" advertisement banners from local companies. Make Extra money.
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
|
