The Declining Popularity of Balika Badhu!
Don’t raise your eye brows or don’t rate me as a biased page3 journalist who is driving a new TRP war.
The truth is, I am a DD man who lived in Malgudi Days and often sang Tanana...Tananana...na. I used to be a big time Fauji serial fan. SRK used to be my style icon since then! Serials of 80's & early 90's Ramayan, Mahabharat, Guniram, Neem Ka Ped etc. have their own spark in my memory lane. Then came "Hum Paanch" when Zee was newly launched in 1993. But thereafter, no serials could abide me to sit in front of the TV as TV was reduced to be an idiot box. Until recently, when I returned from USA, there was this new channel Colors spreading its wave across India.
My mother, a die-hard fan of "Kyun Ki Saans..." had also lost her patience from TV serials until my newly wedded wife brought up the news of "Balika Badhu". Every evening when I would be reaching home by 8.30 pm, TV would play Balika Badhu. I never watched it...never even stopped her till that day! I was passing by the drawing room...Balika Badhu was on...Anandi & Jagdish were in full swing...Sugna's Mehndi was progressing and she was in blue moon dreaming about Pratap. Then all of a sudden I told my wife, stop watching this if you don’t want to cry next week. She said why? I said this Pratap of your Sugna's dream will die soon!
Now, don’t ask me how I knew...I just said...blame my sixth sense...Pratap died...and I was glued to Colors!
Since then I have been watching this serial. What I liked was the sanctity, purity & cultured rhetoric of the drama. Dadisa's mental torturing of her Bindni's, her fight for holding the propitious old traditions and bhairav's infighting to transform her towards modern society. The sudden introduction of Farida Aunty was nothing less than an icing on Cake and Shyam could have not been more charming the way he fell in love with Sugna.
Slowly, day by day, this drama looks to be losing its charm. May be, by now Soloni is no more Chhoti Miyan as she has grown up to be Gangubai, may be Shaym is married and started staying with Dadisa, abandoning his parents, what’s intriguing is Balika Badhu is slowly losing its popularity. The directors of the show seem to be extending the drama unnecessarily. For instance, Anandi's parents losing their land and begging in front of Dadisa to get it back episode was so frustrating. The old Kajol Bhai of Hum Panch, Bhairavi Raichura, looks to be overacting (crying and crying!). Her fear for what would happen if Dadisa comes to know about their poverty (landlessness) doesn’t correlate with her begging for Dadisa’s interference infront of Ananndi! (At least they have money to buy a new land!!) Like me, many might have felt awkward in last episode! Similarly, what happened to Shyam’s plans to do justice to his studies! At least he could have moved to a city searching for a new job instead of staying at In Laws’ place!
The directors need to focus on the message they want to spread. The sole idea of abolishing child marriage should depict the serial’s unfolding stories rather than what happens to her Parents' agony for land! The drama should showcase transformation of old rigid society towards a modern one! The more you divert from this theme to extend episodes, the plot will get weaker and so as viewers like me would lose interest!
The truth is, I am a DD man who lived in Malgudi Days and often sang Tanana...Tananana...na. I used to be a big time Fauji serial fan. SRK used to be my style icon since then! Serials of 80's & early 90's Ramayan, Mahabharat, Guniram, Neem Ka Ped etc. have their own spark in my memory lane. Then came "Hum Paanch" when Zee was newly launched in 1993. But thereafter, no serials could abide me to sit in front of the TV as TV was reduced to be an idiot box. Until recently, when I returned from USA, there was this new channel Colors spreading its wave across India.
My mother, a die-hard fan of "Kyun Ki Saans..." had also lost her patience from TV serials until my newly wedded wife brought up the news of "Balika Badhu". Every evening when I would be reaching home by 8.30 pm, TV would play Balika Badhu. I never watched it...never even stopped her till that day! I was passing by the drawing room...Balika Badhu was on...Anandi & Jagdish were in full swing...Sugna's Mehndi was progressing and she was in blue moon dreaming about Pratap. Then all of a sudden I told my wife, stop watching this if you don’t want to cry next week. She said why? I said this Pratap of your Sugna's dream will die soon!
Now, don’t ask me how I knew...I just said...blame my sixth sense...Pratap died...and I was glued to Colors!
Since then I have been watching this serial. What I liked was the sanctity, purity & cultured rhetoric of the drama. Dadisa's mental torturing of her Bindni's, her fight for holding the propitious old traditions and bhairav's infighting to transform her towards modern society. The sudden introduction of Farida Aunty was nothing less than an icing on Cake and Shyam could have not been more charming the way he fell in love with Sugna.
Slowly, day by day, this drama looks to be losing its charm. May be, by now Soloni is no more Chhoti Miyan as she has grown up to be Gangubai, may be Shaym is married and started staying with Dadisa, abandoning his parents, what’s intriguing is Balika Badhu is slowly losing its popularity. The directors of the show seem to be extending the drama unnecessarily. For instance, Anandi's parents losing their land and begging in front of Dadisa to get it back episode was so frustrating. The old Kajol Bhai of Hum Panch, Bhairavi Raichura, looks to be overacting (crying and crying!). Her fear for what would happen if Dadisa comes to know about their poverty (landlessness) doesn’t correlate with her begging for Dadisa’s interference infront of Ananndi! (At least they have money to buy a new land!!) Like me, many might have felt awkward in last episode! Similarly, what happened to Shyam’s plans to do justice to his studies! At least he could have moved to a city searching for a new job instead of staying at In Laws’ place!
The directors need to focus on the message they want to spread. The sole idea of abolishing child marriage should depict the serial’s unfolding stories rather than what happens to her Parents' agony for land! The drama should showcase transformation of old rigid society towards a modern one! The more you divert from this theme to extend episodes, the plot will get weaker and so as viewers like me would lose interest!
Comments