Soap operas, or serials as we know them, have a world of their own. A glossy and glamorized world where dolled-up ‘saas’ and ‘bahus’ indulge in kitchen politics and intrigues with full enthusiasm. A world where the unrealistically positive and self-sacrificing good bahu takes on the negative character to protect her “ghar-sansar”. A world where on the one hand the negative character crosses all limits of decency to portray the kind of negativity that is unparalleled in real world and on the other the positive character with all her “sanskars” tied to her “pallu” sacrifices her interests to protect the interests of others. However, what these shows tend to forget is that one cannot ignore the sanctity of societal norms in the name of entertainment. Neither can television afford to portray social ills in a positive light to garner extra TRPs.
Rape, as every sane person would know, is a crime and a grave social ill. It leaves the victim traumatized and shattered for the rest of her life. But in the rose-tinted world of television serials, rape as an issue has been addressed in such an insensitive and irresponsible manner that doubts creep into one’s mind as to whether we really have progressed as a society. Take a look at the serials running on the television. In almost each one of them rape scene must have been depicted as a “turning point” or “twist”, as we call it in the language of soap opera. Shown in different serials and shot on different actors, all the so-called “twists” have one thing in common. They are utterly distasteful when you observe the purpose for which the issue of rape has been used. Talking about an issue is one thing; distorting it to serve your purpose is another. The serials on television shamelessly portray rape as a “weapon” to “tame” women. The message that most of these serials send out is that it is very easy for a man to revenge his insult and get back at a girl by raping her. Take the example of two well-known (and much-viewed) serials on Zee TV channel. In one of the serials, a girl is molested twice in two different incidents. In both the cases she was targeted because she had shown the grit and the courage to stand up to the men who were harassing and insulting her family. In the other serial, a girl is molested by a boy for showing the courage of getting a case filed against him for harassing her brother. The boy then proudly announces the molest incident to the world with photographic evidence and the society declares the girl “unfit” for marriage. And in the most bizarre turn of events, the girl marries the boy to save her family from further harassment and embarrassment. These two serials are just an example of how the makers of such serials have made it their social duty to warn girls that they should learn to keep their mouth shut or face the consequences. So basically in a serial a man shows a woman her real place; that she is after all just a woman. She can never get away with insulting a man and might have to pay a price if she gets too courageous for his comfort. The way rape is used as a threat in almost all the serials running on television today, whether explicitly or implicitly, is a dangerous trend. In one of the latest episodes of a popular show on Star Plus channel, a male character scares a girl with his threat to rape her and then backs off at the last moment when his threat had its desired effect. He had used the threat because the girl had refused to be cowed down and sent him to jail for his misdeeds. Another offshoot of this unhealthy trend is the way the makers of these serials want people to look at rape positively by associating it with something as sacred as marriage and love. This trend or ‘twist’ is quite popular with the makers of television serials and every high-TRP garnering soap on television must have had them at one point or another. For the serials, it’s almost a magic formula. Two adults are thrown into a compromise marriage where both are perpetually at loggerheads. The male, portraying the demented thinking of the makers, rapes his better half to prove his superiority on her on account of his gender. And, as illogical as it may sound to any sane person, they eventually fall in love. Of course, the formula works the other way round too. A girl is raped or molested by a boy, then “forced” by circumstances to marry him and the two ends up falling in love. The audiences do not miss a single episode so that they do not miss out on the process of seeing the “rapist” and his “victim” falling in love. As absurd as it may sound, these serials want us to believe it can happen. The makers want us to believe that rape can be the basis of a marriage, that too a happy marriage. And also that ‘marital rape’ is not an issue at all, but merely a ‘means’ of bringing the couples closer. There are numerous examples of this trend in serials where rape is romanticized for the sake of TRPs. Long back there was a popular Balaji serial where the popular male protagonist Pratham Mittal raped or attempted to rape his wife who had been forced by circumstances to marry him. The couple eventually fell in love and the serial became a big hit. In recent times, another serial has taken its place. ‘Pratigya’, a popular serial on Star Plus channel, is the story of an obsessive lover Krishna who harasses his ladylove and forces her to marry him. After their marriage he attempted to rape his wife on two occasions in the name of love. Keeping in view the makers’ penchant for such ‘twists’, it’s almost 100% certain that the two will ultimately fall in love. This is the reality of a serial that advertised itself as the story of a girl’s crusade against a male-dominated society. In the Zee TV serial, where the girl marries her tormentor to save her family from harassment, the makers portrayed marital rape, physical threats and further harassment of the family as the boy held the girl’s family to ransom on account of his position of being the son-in-law of the family and the girl’s husband. What kind of message do these serials want to convey? A boy not only wrongs a girl but also makes her and her family pay for his misdeeds instead of them punishing him. It was downright shameful to watch the sequence of events that the makers of that particular serial unleashed on the psyche of the society to degrade it further. The boy molested the girl, defamed and threatened her, married her on his own terms and even made her entire family apologize for their earlier resentment toward him. He then raped her after marriage; indulged in physical harassment over trifle matters; extracted dowry from her family; and insulted her parents and brother in front of her at every given opportunity. And the boy was able to “achieve” so much solely on account of using his most handy weapon- sexual assault. In a society where the enlightened citizens have gone hoarse with demanding ‘gender equality’, ‘harsher term for rape convicts’, ‘stricter dowry laws and domestic violence laws’, we have people who are hell-bent on portraying girls as second-class citizens and the weaker species on account of their gender. They are using the visual media to send out the wrong message that girls can accept their rapists as their husbands and families will accept it as their daughter’s fate because the ultimate aim for a girl is marriage and once she has tied the knot she can’t walk out of the marriage even if she is subjected to rape or physical threats by her husband. Earlier too, there have been a lot of serials showing ‘rapist-victim’ marriage. There was a particular serial based on two politicians and their families. The lady politician had a daughter who was raped by the male politician’s son along with his friends. The lady got the man’s son kidnapped and forced him to marry her daughter. After initial hatred, love blossomed between the two. There was another Balaji serial based specifically on the subject of ‘rapist-victim’ marriage which traced their journey from a compromise marriage to the one filled with love. This is just an example of how derogatory these serials can be and the extent they can go to for the sake of TRPs. The question is; why on earth would a girl want to see her rapist’s face everyday? Won’t she rather prefer to be single all her life than have her rapist as her husband? What kind of parents would allow their daughter to go and live with a man who had tormented her and had used her as an object? By painting such a positive picture of rape, the makers seem to make light of the trauma experienced by a rape victim. In their bid to garner high TRPs, they are actually romanticizing a heinous crime. However, the important question is; are only the makers of these serials at fault? After all, the audiences too lap up these stories and relish every bit of it. What is the reason for this strange reaction of the viewers at something that is downright disgusting, illogical and contemptible? The answer can be traced to the deep embedded belief of the society in the superiority of the male species. From the point of view of evolution, a male was seen as the provider and protector for the female and her children. This gave him the unalterable position of dominance over the female species in society; a position which was further consolidated by the social norms and customs. This position of dominance came to assert itself in all aspects of life including sex and reproduction. Also, people tend to associate a man’s masculinity with sexual prowess and potency. For people, it is an acceptable thing if a male tend to be a bit aggressive during sexual intercourse. It is expected of a male to dominate the female in sexual relations. Not long back, in a survey done by the Population Council, Save the Children and Committee of Research Organizations on a group of male between 18 and 29 years from the northeast Mumbai slum, the respondents characterized a ‘real man’ as someone who is “physically attractive, dominant, aggressive and sexually powerful”. Most labeled Salman Khan as their “role model”; an actor who is known for his violent temperament in relationships. According to the respondents, the most important factor that “defined” a man’s masculinity was whether “he could make his girl/woman partner cry during the sexual act”. One can argue that the survey reflected the mindset of only a particular stratum of society which comprised mainly the illiterate and poor men from the slum areas. The survey cannot be said to be the general conception of the society regarding “manhood”. However, going by the popularity of the shows which are based on this “aggressive” portrayal of manhood and popularity of the male protagonists such as Pratham Mittal and Krishna who are dominant and aggressive, reinforces the belief that the survey result indeed reflects the general conception regarding manhood. It is not only accepted but also expected of a man to behave aggressively and dominate a girl during sexual intercourse. As far as ‘marital rape’ is concerned, people don’t regard it as an issue at all. The Indian society suffers from the age-old conception that it’s a wife’s duty to fulfill her husband’s sexual needs and give in to his overtures whenever he makes it. The society has not given the wife the right to refuse. But if the wife does refuse, the society does not regard the husband’s action of forcing himself on his wife as an act of rape. That is what all the male characters of the serial ‘pratigya’ keep emphasizing; that the wife is a ‘personal property’ to be used as one likes. As to the trend in serials of showing marriage between a rapist and his victim, one can only call it an outcome of extremely regressive thinking. People believe that a girl is “suitable” only for a man who had sexual intercourse with her and that, in a way, it establishes the man’s right over that girl. Of course, sane people do not entertain such illogical thinking, especially when it comes to sex that is forced, but it seems the makers of television serials have just stepped out of prehistoric era where a man used force to find sexual partners. A few years back, a rapist had offered to marry his victim in a bid to get the case against him dropped. When the judge asked the victim if she was ready to accept the proposal made by her rapist, the victim point-blank refused because she could not even think of marrying the man who had caused her so much trauma. There was a public uproar over the judge’s action of putting forth the proposal made by the rapist to his victim. The rapist obviously thought he was doing a “huge favour” to his victim by offering to marry her as she has become “unfit” for any other boy. This is probably what the makers have in their minds when they make serials based on rapist-victim marriage. There is only one advice to all those ignorant folks who are busy making garbage called television serials; stop abusing people’s sensibilities by playing with important issues. Stop making heroes out of rapists and sex offenders. As of now, one can only hope that someone takes the bold step and show women with resilience fighting back instead of showing them as the weaker species.
Rape, as every sane person would know, is a crime and a grave social ill. It leaves the victim traumatized and shattered for the rest of her life. But in the rose-tinted world of television serials, rape as an issue has been addressed in such an insensitive and irresponsible manner that doubts creep into one’s mind as to whether we really have progressed as a society. Take a look at the serials running on the television. In almost each one of them rape scene must have been depicted as a “turning point” or “twist”, as we call it in the language of soap opera. Shown in different serials and shot on different actors, all the so-called “twists” have one thing in common. They are utterly distasteful when you observe the purpose for which the issue of rape has been used. Talking about an issue is one thing; distorting it to serve your purpose is another. The serials on television shamelessly portray rape as a “weapon” to “tame” women. The message that most of these serials send out is that it is very easy for a man to revenge his insult and get back at a girl by raping her. Take the example of two well-known (and much-viewed) serials on Zee TV channel. In one of the serials, a girl is molested twice in two different incidents. In both the cases she was targeted because she had shown the grit and the courage to stand up to the men who were harassing and insulting her family. In the other serial, a girl is molested by a boy for showing the courage of getting a case filed against him for harassing her brother. The boy then proudly announces the molest incident to the world with photographic evidence and the society declares the girl “unfit” for marriage. And in the most bizarre turn of events, the girl marries the boy to save her family from further harassment and embarrassment. These two serials are just an example of how the makers of such serials have made it their social duty to warn girls that they should learn to keep their mouth shut or face the consequences. So basically in a serial a man shows a woman her real place; that she is after all just a woman. She can never get away with insulting a man and might have to pay a price if she gets too courageous for his comfort. The way rape is used as a threat in almost all the serials running on television today, whether explicitly or implicitly, is a dangerous trend. In one of the latest episodes of a popular show on Star Plus channel, a male character scares a girl with his threat to rape her and then backs off at the last moment when his threat had its desired effect. He had used the threat because the girl had refused to be cowed down and sent him to jail for his misdeeds. Another offshoot of this unhealthy trend is the way the makers of these serials want people to look at rape positively by associating it with something as sacred as marriage and love. This trend or ‘twist’ is quite popular with the makers of television serials and every high-TRP garnering soap on television must have had them at one point or another. For the serials, it’s almost a magic formula. Two adults are thrown into a compromise marriage where both are perpetually at loggerheads. The male, portraying the demented thinking of the makers, rapes his better half to prove his superiority on her on account of his gender. And, as illogical as it may sound to any sane person, they eventually fall in love. Of course, the formula works the other way round too. A girl is raped or molested by a boy, then “forced” by circumstances to marry him and the two ends up falling in love. The audiences do not miss a single episode so that they do not miss out on the process of seeing the “rapist” and his “victim” falling in love. As absurd as it may sound, these serials want us to believe it can happen. The makers want us to believe that rape can be the basis of a marriage, that too a happy marriage. And also that ‘marital rape’ is not an issue at all, but merely a ‘means’ of bringing the couples closer. There are numerous examples of this trend in serials where rape is romanticized for the sake of TRPs. Long back there was a popular Balaji serial where the popular male protagonist Pratham Mittal raped or attempted to rape his wife who had been forced by circumstances to marry him. The couple eventually fell in love and the serial became a big hit. In recent times, another serial has taken its place. ‘Pratigya’, a popular serial on Star Plus channel, is the story of an obsessive lover Krishna who harasses his ladylove and forces her to marry him. After their marriage he attempted to rape his wife on two occasions in the name of love. Keeping in view the makers’ penchant for such ‘twists’, it’s almost 100% certain that the two will ultimately fall in love. This is the reality of a serial that advertised itself as the story of a girl’s crusade against a male-dominated society. In the Zee TV serial, where the girl marries her tormentor to save her family from harassment, the makers portrayed marital rape, physical threats and further harassment of the family as the boy held the girl’s family to ransom on account of his position of being the son-in-law of the family and the girl’s husband. What kind of message do these serials want to convey? A boy not only wrongs a girl but also makes her and her family pay for his misdeeds instead of them punishing him. It was downright shameful to watch the sequence of events that the makers of that particular serial unleashed on the psyche of the society to degrade it further. The boy molested the girl, defamed and threatened her, married her on his own terms and even made her entire family apologize for their earlier resentment toward him. He then raped her after marriage; indulged in physical harassment over trifle matters; extracted dowry from her family; and insulted her parents and brother in front of her at every given opportunity. And the boy was able to “achieve” so much solely on account of using his most handy weapon- sexual assault. In a society where the enlightened citizens have gone hoarse with demanding ‘gender equality’, ‘harsher term for rape convicts’, ‘stricter dowry laws and domestic violence laws’, we have people who are hell-bent on portraying girls as second-class citizens and the weaker species on account of their gender. They are using the visual media to send out the wrong message that girls can accept their rapists as their husbands and families will accept it as their daughter’s fate because the ultimate aim for a girl is marriage and once she has tied the knot she can’t walk out of the marriage even if she is subjected to rape or physical threats by her husband. Earlier too, there have been a lot of serials showing ‘rapist-victim’ marriage. There was a particular serial based on two politicians and their families. The lady politician had a daughter who was raped by the male politician’s son along with his friends. The lady got the man’s son kidnapped and forced him to marry her daughter. After initial hatred, love blossomed between the two. There was another Balaji serial based specifically on the subject of ‘rapist-victim’ marriage which traced their journey from a compromise marriage to the one filled with love. This is just an example of how derogatory these serials can be and the extent they can go to for the sake of TRPs. The question is; why on earth would a girl want to see her rapist’s face everyday? Won’t she rather prefer to be single all her life than have her rapist as her husband? What kind of parents would allow their daughter to go and live with a man who had tormented her and had used her as an object? By painting such a positive picture of rape, the makers seem to make light of the trauma experienced by a rape victim. In their bid to garner high TRPs, they are actually romanticizing a heinous crime. However, the important question is; are only the makers of these serials at fault? After all, the audiences too lap up these stories and relish every bit of it. What is the reason for this strange reaction of the viewers at something that is downright disgusting, illogical and contemptible? The answer can be traced to the deep embedded belief of the society in the superiority of the male species. From the point of view of evolution, a male was seen as the provider and protector for the female and her children. This gave him the unalterable position of dominance over the female species in society; a position which was further consolidated by the social norms and customs. This position of dominance came to assert itself in all aspects of life including sex and reproduction. Also, people tend to associate a man’s masculinity with sexual prowess and potency. For people, it is an acceptable thing if a male tend to be a bit aggressive during sexual intercourse. It is expected of a male to dominate the female in sexual relations. Not long back, in a survey done by the Population Council, Save the Children and Committee of Research Organizations on a group of male between 18 and 29 years from the northeast Mumbai slum, the respondents characterized a ‘real man’ as someone who is “physically attractive, dominant, aggressive and sexually powerful”. Most labeled Salman Khan as their “role model”; an actor who is known for his violent temperament in relationships. According to the respondents, the most important factor that “defined” a man’s masculinity was whether “he could make his girl/woman partner cry during the sexual act”. One can argue that the survey reflected the mindset of only a particular stratum of society which comprised mainly the illiterate and poor men from the slum areas. The survey cannot be said to be the general conception of the society regarding “manhood”. However, going by the popularity of the shows which are based on this “aggressive” portrayal of manhood and popularity of the male protagonists such as Pratham Mittal and Krishna who are dominant and aggressive, reinforces the belief that the survey result indeed reflects the general conception regarding manhood. It is not only accepted but also expected of a man to behave aggressively and dominate a girl during sexual intercourse. As far as ‘marital rape’ is concerned, people don’t regard it as an issue at all. The Indian society suffers from the age-old conception that it’s a wife’s duty to fulfill her husband’s sexual needs and give in to his overtures whenever he makes it. The society has not given the wife the right to refuse. But if the wife does refuse, the society does not regard the husband’s action of forcing himself on his wife as an act of rape. That is what all the male characters of the serial ‘pratigya’ keep emphasizing; that the wife is a ‘personal property’ to be used as one likes. As to the trend in serials of showing marriage between a rapist and his victim, one can only call it an outcome of extremely regressive thinking. People believe that a girl is “suitable” only for a man who had sexual intercourse with her and that, in a way, it establishes the man’s right over that girl. Of course, sane people do not entertain such illogical thinking, especially when it comes to sex that is forced, but it seems the makers of television serials have just stepped out of prehistoric era where a man used force to find sexual partners. A few years back, a rapist had offered to marry his victim in a bid to get the case against him dropped. When the judge asked the victim if she was ready to accept the proposal made by her rapist, the victim point-blank refused because she could not even think of marrying the man who had caused her so much trauma. There was a public uproar over the judge’s action of putting forth the proposal made by the rapist to his victim. The rapist obviously thought he was doing a “huge favour” to his victim by offering to marry her as she has become “unfit” for any other boy. This is probably what the makers have in their minds when they make serials based on rapist-victim marriage. There is only one advice to all those ignorant folks who are busy making garbage called television serials; stop abusing people’s sensibilities by playing with important issues. Stop making heroes out of rapists and sex offenders. As of now, one can only hope that someone takes the bold step and show women with resilience fighting back instead of showing them as the weaker species.
