TV Serials and Marriage

Marriage in the Indian Culture is a very sacred and a special bond between a man and a woman. Westerners applaud our indian culture for its values when it comes to marriage and how sacred we hold the view of marriage. We used to be once known for a culture which has less divorces.

Now Indian TV Serials show a completely different definition of marriage. Let's take the show kusum for example: In this serial the character Abhay has 4 wives, Kumud when married to garv, had feelings for kshitij and now when she is married to kshitij, she has feelings for Garv. Kali is marrying nakul just for the sake of getting revenge on Kumud. Not only kusum, There are many serials in all languages that are playing with the idea of marriage. They are just potraying marraige as a way to get revenge on someone. They are showing divorce as simple as 1,2,3. If you have an argument w/ you spouse, well divorce. If you like some other girl after marriage, then divorce.

Research says that TV has a lot of influence on the society. If Tv serials show that you can get divorce for any simple reason, then wouldn't that influence the thought process of today's generation? Wouldn't today's generation too think divorce just some simple thing you can get even after a simple argument.

Some argue that it's just a tv serial and it's supposed to be for entertainment purposes. No one should take anything that a tv serial shows seriously. But do you think the directors should stoop that low just for the sake of giving us entertainment?




Give your views on what do u think on how tv serials are potraying the concept of marriage. Do you think, directors of TV serials should start potraying marriage and divroce as something sacred. Or should they just potray it as they like cause it's just a TV show? Would how a TV serial potray a concept have an influence on today's generation.

Over to you...


Edited by sai14 - 18 years ago

I think that only education and proper upbringing is the solution.  To a certain extent, one has to realize that this is only entertainment and should not be confused with real life.

On TV, divorce is a 1,2,3 process, but in reality if someone was smart enough to understand this, the process is far more complicated than that.

I think the more appropriate question here is "why do directors take the Indian audiance to be so stupid"?  and further more "why are we as an audiance so attracted to this stupidity"?  People still watch Kusum and this show makes no sense...there is not purpose of this show except for suffering....."why do we enjoy all this heart breaking drama", why do we gain by all these shows?"

Thanks

i agree wid u especially ekat kapoor she shows marriage as a joke

well u all probably heard of the song pyar koi khel nahin here it should be "shaadi koi khel nahin" cause its not

and i agree kkusum is the msot f***** up show for showing marriages since its all a playing toy marry sum1 and u get tired so u divorce and then marry sum1 else and goes on......

and i think its wrong to show dat cause in her show and it just doesnt suit her especially when she's so religious and wears that long red thing on her forehead its like shes only pretending to be religious cause i dont think even hindus treat marriage as a joke infact i know they dont and i think that all tv serials should show real life characters and not bored ppl who can get married several time jus cause they want to.

Technically, the divorce rate has gone up even in India, so in that sense, what TV shows portray is not completely inaccurate.

However, the issue here is about marriage and its sanctity. Even today, compared to the West, Indian society is not indifferent to multiple marriages. A more adult audience would watch a drama like Kkusum or Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi and just shrug it off as one of Ekta Kapoor's nonsensical serial formulae. What is a major concern is the fact that younger people who watch TV shows, who idolize the characters will ultimately be influenced by them. They will begin to think that multiple marriages are a norm in Indian society.

Ideas such as commitment and stability when it comes to a marriage are slowly dying out as we see stars like Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan divorcing after 10-12 years of matrimony.

Portraying divorces or multiple marriages is not wrong; some families are truly dysfunctional, but to do so in almost every serial is just ridiculous.

I'd rather have a story which has some meaning even if it contains multiple marriages. Kusum has no story whatsoever; its a rubberband which has lost every bit of elasticity it had ever possessed.

[quote=peaches]People still watch Kusum and this show makes no sense...there is not purpose of this show except for suffering....."why do we enjoy all this heart breaking drama", why do we gain by all these shows?"[/quote]

The unfortunate reason is that in general, we enjoy seeing other people being miserable; its human nature to alleviate one's own misery by concentrating on someone else's messed up life.

That is the reason shows like Kkusum, KSBKBT and Jerry Springer still exist.

 the divorce rate in india is increasing exponentially...that part is quite. however there are many factors responsible for the change including the impact of tv.the way i see it marraiges are breaking bcoz the meaning of relationships and lifestyles and desires are changing.if you analyze the old concepts of marraige and family, it was based on very strong feelings of commitment,sacrifice,living for others with kids and family taking priority over everything including personal desires and ambitions.divorce or breakup was not even an option (unfortunately this also lead to many abusive marraiges).

                   with changes in times, women have become more overpowered and ambitious, guys have become more specific in thier choices. in this fast track lifestyle people rarely spend time trying to devlop the understanding part of the relationships, most concentrate on the the thrill/romantic/fun part of relationships. pre and post marital affairs are becoming a common thing(this taboo a few years old).women are opting for kids outside wedlock(could be birthchild or adoption...this was unthinkable a few years ago).kids are weaned on nannies and daycare centre.while this lifestyle has given everyone a chance to live thier potential to the fullest , it has taken its toll on relationships. most relationships are more based on emotions/feelings than commitment.

               what the tv show potrays may shock us but it shows the extreme version of this changing lifestyle.kkusum and abhay never got along together becoz abhay was never too commited to his marraige initially and later it became a question of his wanting kkusum at any cost(even a few fake marraiges).similarily while kumud tried to be commited to each of her relationships ,the guys never did(they were always suspicious,weak characters with an opportunity of commiting infidelity all the time). garv's handling of his breaking marraige with kumud was hilarious(he never put in an ounce of serious effort or threw the source of trouble kali out). nakul is ready to marry kali inspite of knowing that kali is doing it to spite kumud(a sensible guy would have refused and walked out). incidentally even on this forum there are times when people take marraige too easily(and shock me to core). in ymlh when ronit married poornima and decided to move on ...most members were outraged(people suggested options ranging from divorcing poornima to killing her to ronit having an extramarital with pooja). in jjkn people swallowed the misbehaviour of jassi with her fiance without a second thought(after all she was in love with her boss armaan so her commitment was apparently worthless or compromisable...people blamed it all on purab).similarily armaan's commitment to mallika is compromisable bcoz he is not in love with her.in astitva abhi goes through 3 marraiges without realising what he wants or ever working on a relationship. all his marraiges were designed to please someone(first with simran for himself, second with kiran to please his mom, third to please simran).it is like love is the most important thing in life and getting what you want at any cost is justifiable.while one can blame the tv show directors but the truth is that public/masses does not like oldfashioned values(it bores them).everyone wants to live on edge even if it is through a tv show.i have often wondered if a show like humlog or buniyaad would have any success in present times.

           it is a sorry state but if they younger generation does not imbibe a few of oldfashioned values in thier lives , we are headed for living the soap opera lives in our households in future.

Divorces all over is certainly on the rise.  More and more people are getting divoced than staying married and that trend is certainly the same in India.  Whilst TV should portray reality, I dont think whats shown on these Televison serials is reality. 

Yes, people do get married, the reasons for getting married are even stranger.  I met a couple some time back who got married because they got bored of living together (huh).....  But the media must be careful in what they portray not for the current generation but for the future.  What is the impact that these serials will have on them.  You could probably prevent them from watching these serials regularly, but then you cant prevent your neighbour child from watching and then discussing with your own.  Children today do not completely understand the concept of marriage.   Single parent children are quite common and so are their woes. 

Why can we not have meaningful serials, which promote morals, values, cultures etc.  In todays society, do we go out and have extra marital affairs at the drop of a hat.  I dont think so.  But then, if you go by what is shown on television, that appears to be the case.  As rightly said above, Kumud, when married to Garv, loved Kshitij, now loves Garv but is married to Kshitij.  Is this what we want our children to learn as they go up and then become someone like this? 

Jassi -  whilst it started off very well, today, seems to be instead telling the world that to be accepted, you have to be beautiful.  The ugly duckling has no place in the world today and even the ugly duckling can become a swan to fit into the society.  She has promoted makeover, make ups, glam dollls.  Are we losing our identity and becoming clones of the more famous glam dolls. 

Kyunki, Ektas flagship serial, which when started was into promoting joint families, celebrating Indian festivals and traditions, has turned into a myriad of extra marital affairs.  You cannot take away the fact that Ekta, with this serials, has got some of the old forgotten traditions back to the limelight and viewers have been influenced by this.  But then, why throw away all that for this.....  Many families have an Arti amidst their midst, who for various reasons remains a misfit in the family, but how many such women would actually kidnap a child from the family and disappear off the face of the earth to surface after 20 years.  How many Mohinis do you find in families today. 

Even Astitva for that matter.  I admire the characters in the serial.   All of them are very real and human.  but Abhi has been married thrice already in the serial and now a young woman has developed this crush on him and he is in a dlilemma.  What will happen once it is revealed that Sia is actually his daughter.  Is this the type of society that we live in.  No. I dont think so. 

Where are the days of hum log and buniyaad, of college, where reality co-existed with fiction.  Today is a beautiful combination of disaster, fiction and degeneration of values.  Can we prevent its further decline......

In my personal opinion...............i think that TV is misleading the viewer.................and Tv has a great influence on the younger viewers.............noadays kids are like glued to the TV......................growing up............they are gonna think that it is okay to marry and divorce...................but we obviously as parents need to guide our kids in the right path...............But what about those kids whos parents are working long shifts.................and dont have adequate time to spend with their kids..................the only friend the kid has is the Tv....................

Infact.................here in South Africa recently........................we had two twelve year olds kids who commited suicide after getting hooked on to watching Pokemon.................Can you believe it????????????????.............it shocked the entire community.....................the both were indian kids just for the record.....................Another thing is that nowadays all these Cartoons aired on Tv is way to violent for little kids.................after research it has been proved that kids have become more violent after watching these violent cartoons.........................

 

 

Originally posted by: MysticaMagic

Technically, the divorce rate has gone up even in India, so in that sense, what TV shows portray is not completely inaccurate.

But commonly people don't marry 4 times.

almost all ekta kapoor soaps are like this!there r soooooooooo many marriages n divorses,illegal relations etc!

what is she playing at!i donot understand her!n after all this she says that she is potraying indian culture blh,.... blah.....blah!🤢ya!agreed that she potraysthe ideal indian traditional women!she has made idols like tulsi frm kyunki n parvati frm kahani!but she is sometimes destroying the characters of the men!i hate her!

STILL I WATCH SOME OF HER SOAPS AS THEY R VERY GUD N THEY ROCK!(SORRY)😉

Originally posted by: Selina

But commonly people don't marry 4 times.

Commonly maybe not.  But I know someone who had recently married for the fifth time and that too to someone who is one year younger than his oldest daughter.....  Can you believe that...😡  They separated in 8 months time.  I dont think I want to guess why 😉