Do you ever long for the good old days of Indian TV, when female characters had things to do, and real stuff to say?
In a lot of ways having limited channels in the early days of television was a boon as the audience had options of quality television serials which is quite different from the filth that is being doled out on prime time TV in India today.
There were people who were actually thinking how to make good storylines, characters and plots. I am talking about the late 80’s and the early 90’s, though movies around that time were in quite a slump.
We had some great woman characters on TV who were complex and more importantly individuals by themselves and not caricatures. Shows expanded thought, kept you hooked and one came back for more the next week.
Mandira Bedi played a fiesty young journalist on national TV before she became known for something as inane as noodle straps. Shanti played to the imagination of many young girls growing up in India in the 90’s.
Image source: http://www.outlookindia.com/people/mandira-bedi/6884
Priya Tendulkar breathed life into her character of Rajni that was popular across the country. Though the show didn’t complete a year on television, it is still fresh in the minds of the fan.
Before men in drag and Kapil’s brand of sexist comedy became popular there were shows like Hum Paanch. Though being led by a strong female cast, the show had a following across genders and all ages. The series portrayed women in all hues and as their complex selves instead of pigeon holing them into gender assigned boxes.
Today it seems we have traveled backwards as the leading lady of a popular Indian TV show turns into a FLY!
Image source: https://imgflip.com/i/14it22
Top pic from the serial via youtube
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Netflix’s ‘House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths’ dwells into the shocking death of an entire family of 11 in one night. It throws light on gender roles, superstitions & mental health in Indian households.
(Trigger Warning: This story delves into a documentary about alleged suicide/murder and may be triggering. Spoilers ahead).
Directed by Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra, Netflix’s latest three-episode documentary ‘House of secrets: The Burari Deaths’ traces what happened with the Bhatia family in 2018. On a usual summer morning, 11 members of the same family were found suspiciously hanging from the roof in the suburb of Burari. Later it was concluded to be an occult ritual gone wrong.
By the time I arrived home I was a tearful wreck. I finally told my sister. She could understand. Should we tell Bhau, our brother? No, she said. “What if he comes with you and gets into a fight with that man?”
Some places just stick in ones head just as some faces do. One such place was Hotel ‘No Name’.
The 80s and 90s were a turning point in how women were depicted on the screen, and the women in TV serials of this era were often ahead of the time.
The time period of the 80s and 90s was revolutionary both in the reel world of television and the real world of gradual social transformation that we all have witnessed. Before that era, women were looked upon only as submissive beings having no rights, opinions, etc. of their own.
Nallennai Chitra, a well known face in the South Indian movie and TV industry, passed away of cardiac arrest on Saturday, 21st August. A tribute.
Chitra or Nallennai Chitra as she is fondly remembered for over 2 decades, is a familiar face across the South Indian movie and television industry. It was saddening to hear about her sudden and untimely demise when she was just 56 years old.