Opening the television after a hectic day, what I’d expect to find is something that will make me smile. It should cheer me up. But what I find is a couple of women fighting over a man, a damsel in distress (who’s “distress” is that the guy she loves, loves someone else) and a lot (read truck load) of spine-less men. Sometimes all of them are in the same drama. This article will sound like a rant, but this is the time for this rant. Abhi nahi tou kabhi nahi!
People love to cry for dramas. I don’t get the logic behind it but they just love to love the fictional characters so much that they cry for them. I admit, even I cried for Pyaray Afzal‘s death but the fact is that his character was a treat to watch, and before making us all cry, he made us smile a thousand times. That’s the way a character should be written.
This world is cruel. It is filled with people who have suffered. More or less. But what was the TV invented for? Was it invented to make the people of this world depressed and disgusted? Or to provide them entertainment? By the way, what is entertainment?
The oxford dictionary defines entertainment as, ” The action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment.” Tou bhui directors aap kya de rahe hain hame? Drama makers aim at creating the most depressing dramas. Whether they become totally unrealistic. Whether they make the audience cringe. It’s sickening to think how the channels come up with those stories and how they have the audacity to ruin every living person’s mood with them. Even those people who have actually suffered problems in life. Would a victim of domestic violence watch the same thing on his/her TV screen? Is being ridiculed by the most important people in their life not enough that they’d want to go through with it all over again?
Ok fine, lessons should be there. But let’s not forget the main purpose of dramas, E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-M-E-N-T. So the lesson based dramas should have a limit. Where is the suspense? The thrill and action? The horror? (Oh wait, the horror is there, just not in the right way).Are the drama makers saving their money and energy by giving us one cheap drama after the other?
The point is, that we want proper dramas, with proper stories, that belong to proper genres. We don’t want domestic violence, rape and shadi issues to be used as entertainment. We refuse to use a raped, abused girl’s story as our source of enjoyment. We would prefer if her story was dealt with sensitivity and professionalism and used to give us all a lesson. Not modified to entertain us with cheap thrills. Talking about cheap thrills, anyone remember the promo of Ek tamanna la-hasil si?
I am not asking the directors to stop creating awareness. I am asking them to limit the abusive scenes. Do we need detailed scenes of a husband hitting his wife? A mother-in-law torturing her daughter-in-law? A man molesting a girl? No! Those scenes are traumatizing. They should limit their amount and spend more time on how the abused person develops confidence to stand up for his/her (mostly her) rights.
Other than that, as I have previously mentioned, even the victims of such things would never want to watch them and be traumatized all over again. Depressed or not, people watch TV to be entertained.
Drama makers want to close us in a shell and tell us that there is no way we can lead a happy life. Something has to go wrong. I would like them not to spread hopelessness in this society and give happiness to the people.
Areeba Mohsen
