Watch at your own risk!

What kind of love is this?

There is an ad for a new TV show which is showing on Life Ok Channel these days. It uses the very attractive ditty from the film ‘Mere brother ki dulhan’ “Kaisaa yeh ishq hai ajabsa risk hai”. A very cute couple is shown undergoing strange work outs. The sweet curly haired modern heroine tries walking on the treadmill balancing a ‘matka’on her head and her well- scrubbed, well- mannered boyfriend supports her endeavor literally as well as figuratively. At the end of trying to balance many pots which keep breaking and trying to wear a saree etc. the girl turns to the camera and says, “Sasural hai traditional, difficult hai situation” and the couple goes on to find a “solution” together. I am already dreading this teeny bopper romance because I can spot the germs of five years of worthless story unfolding in a manner which is similar to so many other regressive soaps running on TV today. If the heroine already knows how to keep the house well and cook for 100s of hungry sasuralwaalaas through the day with a “Ram” like beatific smile, the other ladies in the sasural instead of being happy will try their best to foil all her attempts, making life difficult for her. The other type of heroine who has been pampered all her life (read rich) and has not gone into the kitchen ever, falls in love with someone whose family will only respect a girl who can slave her ass off in the kitchen and feel happy to face their abuses at the end of it. Therefore this brand of heroine needs to be tamed and taught into submission so that all family members can be happy (usually at the end of 3-5 tedious long years). And in all this, nobody seems to do any work (I guess they survive on Mr Montek’s Rs 32/=). They are just floating around trying to cause distress to the heroine (wonder what their pet project was before the heroine arrived). What gets my goat is that these sasuralwaalaas have not reared their children, both male and female, with good manners or education. Yet they have the right to question, complain, abuse, torture the heroine-no questions asked. Who gives them this right? The girl’s parents, however well-educated and well-mannered they are have to bend backwards to please these crass sasuralwaalaas. Why? Because so says patriarchy! Why can’t the son in “Kaisa yeh ishq hai”say to his parents that it is high time you grew up and smelled the coffee of change. He should support and respect his sweetheart for what she is rather than what-she- will-be-once-she-is-tamed-and-becomes-traditional. After all he has fallen in love with a modern educated girl who has been brought up and taught to respect herself. It is time to do away with the ghunghats and the matkas on the head. It is time we show stories that are real. It is time to show respect for the education of girls, for the struggles of so many working women both rural as well as urban, who are trying to balance work and family. It is time to take for granted women’s roles which go beyond the kitchen. It is time our stories changed. Till then crassness will be considered a virtue; a fact brought out by all the violence against women and children in our lives today. No sir! Life like this is not ok and Life will not be OK unless we change what we are showing!Make Life Ok, at least in fiction!