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iii

Real To Reel (Unwrapping the Portrayal of Women

In Indian Television Mega Serials)

By

Jacob Palaparambil

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in

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About the Author

Jacob Palaparambil is a Salesian of Don Bosco belonging to the

Province of St. Francis Xavier, Mumbai. He has a Masters Degree

in Journalism and Philosophy. He also has an Executive Masters

Degree in Business Administration (IIBM, Delhi). Currently he is

a Lecturer at Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik –

India. Among the subjects he teaches are Anthropology,

Philosophy of Communication and Contemporary Western

Philosophy. He has also authored a Book entitled Expounding the

Philosophical Argument of ‘Private Language’ (Saarbrücken,

Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016). This written work

is a fruit of his interest in Philosophy and Journalism.

X

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vi

Acknowledgement

I would like to place on record that working on this book has been

a learning experience. The support provided by my family

members and well-wishers was of great help for which I am

grateful. It was their constant support and guidance that stimulated

me to achieve this much.

Considering the pioneering nature of the study, and its broad-

based structure, many apprehensions came up at the outset.

Research methodology proved to be quite different from the

methods I have been used to. As the study advanced, many things

dovetailed and the survey results ushered in significant findings,

which in turn kept my interests steady. Taking into account the

present scenario in many of our families, I have realized that the

producers of the mega-serials in the Indian television world

predominantly target the women as their consumers.

They design these serials to attract women viewers,

irrespective of whether she is a house-holder, student or a person

working outside home. Various social norms, communal

considerations or gender bias do not hinder her television

viewership in any way. As a form of entertainment and education,

this medium provides a high degree of access to women.

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However, the immediate question which arises is how are the

women themselves being projected in these programmes? And

how do women viewers respond? What are the socio-cultural

factors that go into the making of these programmes? It is to these

questions that the present enquiry is focused.

X

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Content List

S.no. Content Page

Acknowledgement Vi

1. Understanding The Context 1

1.1 Imposing Archetypes 2

1.2 Women Issues 5

2. Women In Indian Mega Serials: An

Overview

9

2.1 The Forged Image Of Women In Mega

Serials

10

2.2 Salient Features Of The Role Of Women In

Indian Mega Serials

12

2.3 Gender And Genre In Mega Serials 15

2.4 The Openness Of Mega Serials 16

2.5 Effect Of Daily Soaps And Serials 19

3. Depictions And Distortions 21

3.1 The New World Of Fantasy 21

3.2 The Politics Of Representation 23

3.3 Hysterical Idolizing Of Women 25

3.4 Unrealistic „Superwoman‟ Image Disparity 27

3.5 Sexuality And Nudity 29

4. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly 34

4.1 Mirroring Indian Society 34

4.2 The Ideal Woman Versus The Vamp 34

4.3 Defining Gender Roles 36

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4.4 A „Fair‟ Point 37

4.5 Changing Times 38

5. Typecast Principles In Mega Serials 40

5.1 Mainstream Cultural Demands 40

5.2 Stereotyped Ideologies 42

5.3 Mish-Mash Of Stereotypes 43

5.4 Misrepresented Portrayal Of Women 45

5.5 Traits Of Homebound Women In Mega

Serials

48

6. Critical Appraisal 50

6.1 Influence Of Mega Serials On Indian

Culture

50

6.2 The Impact Of Serials On Young Girls 53

6.3 Monotony Of Themes In The Indian Mega

Serials

54

6.4 World Of Glamour And Show Bliss 56

6.5 The Conflict Between Strong Medium And

Weak Portrayal

57

7. The Way Forward 60

Endnotes 65

Bibliography 79

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1

Understanding The Context

The ongoing communication revolution has opened up possibilities

of accelerating development, especially for the upliftment of

women and children. This revolution, if it remains uncontrolled

and unguided, will have adverse effect on the life of women.1

Every now and then, one comes across reports of one or the other

group of women activists protesting against what they describe as

wrong “exploitative”2 projection of women in media particularly in

the electronic media.

It was roughly around a decade ago when the idiot box was

just as its name implied. It was a mundane gadget silently fitting

itself into the routine lives of people.3 Television is becoming a

dominant feature of our everyday life. The age of television has

been quite exciting in the beginning. The excitement was so much

that many people started thinking aloud about the characteristics of

the media and the impact that it have on the society.

Television has considerable power to shape opinion and belief,

change habits of life, mould behavior more or less according to the

will of those who could control the media. But today the television

has transformed itself into „smart TV‟ in every sense of the term.4

Smart not only in its technical advancements but more so

because it tremendously influences people‟s lives and moulds their

opinion. In a scenario like India‟s where the status of women and

their rights is still a debatable issue one thought comes to fore, are

1

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Jacob Palaparambil

2

Indian soap operas5 and reality shows demeaning the status of

women further or are they in fact, helping to create awareness by

acting as a mirror of our society?6

1.1 Imposing Archetypes

Women portrayal in television is one of the disputable issues

surrounding the media today. The modern images of the more

liberated women are not the image of the contemporary Indian

women. It sums that gender-stereotyping is more deeply woven

into the fabric of television soap operas that does not depict the

reality of women‟s role in the society, for a variety of different

reasons, including the illusionary characters, the concentration on

domestic and personal issues.7 It has been that women are

portrayed in stereotypical, often fashionable way and never as an

intelligent, confident and emancipated woman.

It is difficult to determine the proportion of Indian population

that engages itself in watching soap operas. Be it regional soaps or

the most popular „K‟8 serials trend, almost every household is

glued to the high drama glycerine tear-churning phenomenon.9 It

never escapes one‟s notice that almost every soap opera has

women clad in sarees and jewellery weighing tons who seem to be

more than content to cook their husbands a wonderful meal all day

while the husband delightfully engages in infidelity and not to

forget the evil mother in law who is cherished by every soap fan.10

Soaps are characterized by a number of distinct features, like

for example, the speed of production, the continuous use of sets,

large casts and convoluted story lines which are spun out for weeks

an end. Soaps function to bind us together. Soaps instill a sense of

continuity. Television, its viewers, and the way it functions in

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society are so multifarious that no tightly focused theoretical

perspective can provide us with adequate insight.

The metropolitan population of a city like Bangalore would

find such a premise hilarious and brush it off as just entertainment.

But let us not forget that most women who ardently follow these

soaps do not even possess formal education. In such case these

serials seem to give out the message that a woman‟s role is

confined to the Indian stereotype and the woman who looks up to

these serials as her only source of entertainment (and unknowingly

education) is more than happy that she is embodying her favourite

on screen character.11

Take the most popular soap opera, Balika Vadhu for instance.

What started to grab eyeballs as a serial focused to help eradicate

child marriage ended up glorifying the same. Or note the case of

Saas Bina Sasural, not as popular as the former serial but watched

by a reasonable number of viewers, most of its episodes subscribe

to the notion that women need not employ maids to work at home

nor are they allowed by the male members to go out work.12

Now these serials are not the only programmes on Indian TV

that leave a black mark on women‟s status. Let us take note of all

the numerous reality shows where females are portrayed as sex

objects.13

Splitsvilla is a great example of the same which

promotes the idea of many women not just having catfights over a

single guy but also making themselves appear so called „sexy‟ to

grab attention while the man in question happily resides in a kingly

position of getting to exploit and choose the many women vying

for him.14

It is amusing to notice that centuries ago the philosopher

Manu had written in his Manusmriti15

a code of modern law that

should govern society.

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Jacob Palaparambil

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In it he says “A woman is always under the authority of men,

father during childhood, husband after marriage and son in old

age”16

and today even in the 21st Century while India is thought to

be soaring in the skies of development, its television shows still

seem to uphold Manu‟s law.17

A large section of the population of India today sees women

soaring into new heights every day. Women from lower rungs of

society making a change. The middle class woman working from

morning nine to evening five in order to earn for her family. The

woman who is not ashamed to stand up for what she feels or be a

single parent.18

But none of the serials show us the achievements

of modern women and they same to be about the same kind of

women that they are made for, ignorant helpless victimized

women.

This may appear as a sacred text of feminism rather than a

feature on the mentioned topic. However this book is not meant to

judge of wrong or right merely present the existing condition of

Indian TV. There are some bound to argue that these shows do not

degrade the status of women but merely act as a mirror of our own

society and how it runs, a case in point to be noted.19

Media is,

what society is; and Ekta kapoor20

only shows us what happens in

our own homes or maybe neighbour‟s homes in the hope that we

shall wake up to reality at least when it blatantly slap us in the

face.

The „how I met your mother’ watching populace of Urban

India may smirk at this article and think of it as ridiculous.21

However the truth remains unchanged. Indian TV needs serious

revamping, or does it?

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Women are basically seen as performing a decorative function

and being marginal to national growth and development. Their

primary place is seen as being within the home and this value is

reflected in the content and setting of most of the television

programmes. The plural nature of Indian culture and diverse role

that woman play is neither acknowledged nor communicated.22

This results in reinforcement of the stereotyped image and role

specification of woman in an undimensional projection of their

reality.

1.2 Women Issues

When we speak of the image a society projects of its women, we

have in mind its ideal of womanhood or its popular stereotypes or

the position of women of the institution, of the role or position of

women or the vision of poets, artists and prophets relating to

women.23

All mega serials wrapped in tradition of male

chauvinism discourage women to aim for more than a loving

husband, happy children and a modern home. She is portrayed as a

glamorous doll whose physical beauty is her only asset.24

The

sacrificing role of women in every serial is highlighted. Women

are all the time compromising and negotiating.

The mega serials affect women more simply because the

women are watching more serials than men. Men spend maximum

time outside whereas women are confined to the household. Sex

stereotyping is also very much evident in television portrayal of

men and women in their appointed roles.25

Invariably, masculine personality attributes are emphasized

and women in the world of television are presented in role of

domestic help, a wife, a mother etc and they are portrayed as

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submissive and engrossed in common family affection and duties

as against this, men are depicted as employed, competitive.26

Women shown in similar competing roles with men are far

less in number and are considered to be oddities and deviations

from norm, trait wise though there is a stereotype portrayal of

women being congenitally much more than men. Even when

women are presented as power holders, the patriarchal context is

unmistakably present.27

In fact, the attributes of power and

aggressiveness is portrayed as something unnatural to a women

and a challenge to the male ego.

The images portrayed in television mega serials have a

definite impact on the thought patterns of society. Women on

television entertainment programmes are projected as non-

thinking, sacrificing, and suffering beings while educated and

motivated women are seen as the scourge of the patriarch order of

the society.28

Media is an important tool for change.

The portrayal of women in movies and television is becoming

a cause of concern. They are used as accessories and as glamorous

props. Few heroines get author-backed roles. In fact, there has

been a campaign to clamp down on item numbers that

commoditize women. Do movies and TV present an accurate

portrayal of today's modern women? The portrayal of women in

films is purely for sentimental and cosmetic purposes and nothing

else.

Women have to be treated as a human beings and not as

museum displays. Women have started breathing freedom but not

the rights. They have a right to be portrayed as good human beings.

Women are the gift of God who give birth, take care of children,

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support children in times of difficulty, encourage them in happy

times and make them responsible citizens.

Women need to ensure that media reflects images that create

positive role models of men and women in society, which will alter

damaging stereotypes. In a study done on women found that serials

on television have new women who are selfish, actively

aggressive, sexist, insensitive and female chauvinist.29

It is keeping

these factors in mind that I decided to expound through this book,

the status and portrayal of women in our Indian Mega Serials. The

book will step by step illustrate the power of feminine image

presented in our Indian mega serials.

The present study shows that the most interesting and

attractive programs in television are viewed by the housewives and

working woman who mostly watch the entertainment and family -

related programs. Soap operas or the serials give relaxation from

the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Different type of Soap

operas shows different type of tradition, culture etc. It reflects

cultural value of India and it is a source of knowing the different

culture, tradition etc of India.

The study shows that the respondents watch the Soap operas

daily and maximum of the respondents have cable connection in

their house. Makers of the Soap operas make a target audience, and

most of which are woman folk, they understand the audience

choice and try to satisfy their wants. Women are treated as “special

audience groups”, so that appropriate measures can be taken to

cater to their propensities and inclinations. In this context,

problems and issues pertaining to women are shown regularly on

television in different programmes. Soap operas are one of the

most popular genres on television and as a cultural produce, this

format is extremely popular among the masses.

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Soap-operas, inevitably, have attracted a large and loyal fan

base. Soaps enjoy a momentous and immense popularity among

the contemporary society and they have found a place for

themselves and also allow a multiplicity of interpretations to suit

the diverse tastes of the dominant Indian middle class. The study

reveals that the characters in the Soap operas leave no impact on

their life. The study also reveals that the respondents watch the

Soap operas mainly for the purpose of entertainment, followed by

relaxation and time-pass.

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9

omen In Indian Mega Serials:

An Overview

Indian mega serials are also known as soap operas which were

written, produced, filmed in India, with characters played by

Indians, including those of Western descent like Tom Alter,30

with

episodes broadcast on Indian television channels or channel chains

that are not often limited to the Republic of India itself. Often

many “serials,”31

as they are more commonly referred to as, are

broadcast overseas in the UK, USA, and some parts of Europe,

South Africa, and Australia. Doordarshan, or DD, is an exception,

until recently it was only viewable in India and Nepal, but now

also in the UK.32

Indian mega serials are often mass produced under large

production banners, with houses like Balaji Telefilms which is run

by Ekta and Shobha Kapoor, daughter and wife respectively to

Bollywood film star Jitendra.33

They run the same serial in

different languages on different television networks and channels.

The most common languages in which the Indian serials are made

in are as follows, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali,

Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam, though many contain a

mix of the predominant language and English.34

This often creates

and unintentional comic effect.

2 W

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A certain High School-themed serial on Star One35

has created

a bizarre language of its own, a heavy mix of colloquial Hindi and

corruptions of modern American slang, which, though fairly odd to

understand at first, has created its own coterie of loyal fans devoted

to using the very same „language‟ in daily speech.36

Hindi soap

operas have gained popularity abroad, across South Asia and

beyond into Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, and among the Indian

Diaspora37

elsewhere. A number of Hindi soap operas have also

been dubbed into Mandarin38

and gained popularity in China.

2.1 The Forged Image of Women in Mega Serials

Is the woman really good, or is she bluffing, many men cannot tell.

However they like to believe in the former, particularly because

they like to believe in their sense of the ideal woman; a quality

ingrained in them from childhood. Men are easy to please. Women

know that and they can understand this better in the serials. They

care for emotion than logic.39

Therefore a woman can die and come back through some

miracle, or undergo plastic surgeries that alters her height and

shape but women do not care about such things.

„How is this woman behaving, what drama is she creating and

will she succeed?‟40

Men‟s logical brains do not accept such

nonsense. They see the vamp as vamp and the good girl as good

girl and accept this division. Unless presented to them in a better

fashion (like in a good feature film), they don‟t care for emotional

entanglements on television.41

As such they have to appease their

woman and play up to her dramas in real life.

Women are natural manipulators.42

Some or rather many of them

misuse this quality and turn it to abuse. They may learn this

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