Ekta Kapoor’s shows are women centric
Whether it be Kyu ki Saans bhi kabhi bahu thi revolving around Tulsi Virani, daughter of a pandit who married in a rich family or kasauti zindagi kay revolving around the struggles of Prerna in her love life. Or we talk about Kahani Ghar Ghar ki which showcases the life of the ideal daughter in law of a joint family, Parvati. We have always seen that Ekta Kapoor always has a female protagonist who is main highlight of the show and the male members of the family are always on the sideline which may or may not represent the reality.
Ekta Kapoor has always been encouraging feminism and women empowerment, but her shows always show women as a home maker or as someone who is always dependent on others, or the one who nurtures the family and her children.
Even when we consider the recent shows of her, Yeh hai Mohabattein which also revolves around a female protagonist Ishita who is a self sufficient women, but is always the one who is nurturing and taking care of her family and at the same time is managing her clinic.
Or if we talk about Pyaar ko ho jaane do, the show revolves around mona singh who got married in a joint family, and is struggling with her love life. Here also the protagonist is seen taking care of the entire family, she is a home maker and is always running around pleasing everybody.
Or if we talk about Kalash- ek vishwaas, which again around an ambitious girl who wants to study but her grandmother has the mindset that girls shouldn’t go to school or college to study. It is about the girl’s spiritual bent.
And if we talk about Kum Kum Bhagya, the show is again revolving around this woman who is raising her two daughters.
Through the years, Balaji Telefilms has progressed, they may no longer show woman as homemakers (at least not always) and may have woman being self sufficient, but there is still this stereotypical outlook of it.
Most of the serials show woman drag themselves into our cooking space at the crack of dawn with a bed-head, bleary eyes, and morning breath. Actually, cooking needs a full layer of make-up, tinkling jewellery, and designer saris, even if it is at six am in the morning. Women even go to bed with full make-up and heavy jewellery.
We know now that Karva chauth and its attendant formalities of starvation and worship of one’s husband are the true litmus test of wifely devotion. Husbands are, and should, be generally excused from this.
Every family has the obligatory vamp. If there is no one, then some woman is appointed to this post. This is usually the woman who wears loud make-up, low-cut, halter neck blouses or ‘bold’ modern dresses. Ergo – the stereotype that a woman dressed in modern fashion has to be a vamp! The Vamp has to also talk to herself and have bizarre expressions on her face while plotting the heroine’s downfall. Whether it be Urvashi from KZK or Mandira, Pallavi, Ramola, Trupti- the list goes on and on. Audiences detested these women for their repulsive traits, yet watched intently every time they wrought fire and brimstone on the heroines. The villainesses all had common, underlying reasons for their tyranny. Some had been betrayed in love by the heroes, while others were made to feel insecure by the heroines. A few had ancestral feuds going on with the central families of the storylines. Others were cruelly driven by their lust for money and power. Their means of destruction often involved breaking up the idealistic joint families; they created misunderstandings, kidnapped children, murdered the protagonists, and took over businesses. These atrocious women were mischievous, merciless and malevolent all at the same time. Vamps often plotted in solitude. They would either talk to themselves aloud or mouth monologues in their heads hinting at their next plan of action. The often verbose soliloquies would be accompanied with visual images. For example, the vamp would be playing chess with herself, and at the end of her monologue, would chuck the queen pawn off the board after vowing to terminate the heroine. Another variant of this was the vamp aiming darts at a dartboard, and hitting the bull’s-eye, the photograph of the heroine, at the conclusion of her soliloquy. Other sequences displayed vamps blowing out candles, setting photographs of the heroes on fire, and smashing glass frames of happy family pictures into tiny fragments. The vamps’ speeches to themselves would end with a loud cackle, their signature background tune, hissing and meowing sounds, and flashing coloured lights. The background tune was such an integral part of the vamp’s persona that Ramola Sickand’s entry to her tune in Kaahin Kissii Roz was often compared to that of Gabbar Singh in Ramesh Sippy’s classic film Sholay (1975).
And the stereotypical saas bahu clashes. It is always fun to know how a saas and a bahu live under one roof. Since the clash of ego, ideologies and perspectives is expected, there is no way the viewers can escape their non-stop bickering. Most of her shows captured the changing bond between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws.
Every family has the obligatory very, very senior member, usually a grandmother who is again a female, whose only role is having health problems so that she can coax someone to fall in line with her wishes and marry (ha!). Once the marriage (unsuitable mismatch) is solemnised, she (the grandmother) relaxes on the sofa, guzzles the immortality elixir, and lives forever.
So coming back to my point; Ekta Kapoor always potrays women as someone superior but at the same time as the weak link of the family. For example the one who goes through all the torture and pain without uttering a word, which is, according to me absolutely ridiculous. Though there were shows such as Bade ache lagte hai and Jodha Akbar, were there are male dominant characters, but the role of the female was always hyped.
So the question here arises, is Ekta Kapoor really empowering women?
being ambivert 