Source ; MTV
Indian TV soaps haven't changed a bit over the years; right from the K - soaps to the current ones on social causes, we give you the lowdown on the ingredients that go into the making of the average Indian TV soap!
There is a reason why Indian TV soaps don't cut ice with youngsters. It took one week of watching them back to back to figure it out: they are all, okay most of them, tragic. Either the heroine is nearly burnt down by her mentally unbalanced husband or the aged parents are mercilessly thrown on the street by the rogue bahu or the entire extended family is facing bankruptcy coz ONE factory burnt down; the average TV soap does its best to make you cry. And succeeds too; the lame plot and over the top actors had us in tears!
The TV industry is the one part of showbiz that doesn't get inspired from its Hollywood counterpart. Oh, hold on, wasn't there a show called Pyaar Ki Ek Kahani something that happily borrowed from the hit show The Vampire Diaries? Another notable fact about these shows is that they are all the same; you see one, you've seen them all. The producers don't bother hiring a scriptwriter, not even to keep up pretences. They have one standard script that everyone copies from, and the shows compete with each other on the amount of tears their heroines can shed. And keeping in mind public interest, we publish all our observations and carefully drawn conclusions just so that you know what you're walking into the next time your remote flicks over to a prime time saga:
The protagonist of the soap is adept at everything except smiling. She's pure as the driven snow, the epitome of all the qualities a good Indian girl should have and most of the time, wears a martyred air. Her idea of letting her hair down is bunking a lecture in college. *gasp* She is supported in her endeavours of being the world's biggest doormat by an equally spineless hero. The hero is normally somewhat good looking but that's where the good news ends. Note to producers: Lots of muscles do not make up for a total lack of acting talent. How about gifting the couple a spine and an independent life instead?
Then comes the vile mother in law who lives with the sole aim of making the heroine's life as miserable as possible. 'Coz she is really jobless and eight different shades of eye shadow at the same time doesn't take up the whole day. (Cheers, Bappi Lahiri. Keeping in mind the amount of jewellery these ladies wear at one time, you needn't limit yourself to ten neckpieces an outfit! Enjoy!) They are all cruel and cold hearted, without an exception. While in any other country, the couple would simply move out as soon the heroine shot her husband one pointed look, Indian heroines chose to stick on. The makers of Monster in Law probably got the idea for the film after watching a couple of these soaps.
And that is about all there is to the average Indian TV soap. Okay, we are being a bit harsh; they do use some creativity every time the show is stuck in a rut (which happens surprisingly often. Shocking, no?) They follow the rule of the thumb and take a generation leap. It beats us WHY though. The current couple fails to rouse interest, what makes you think we are interested in watching the kid grow up into Pathetically Lame Jr.? And then there are some who feel that this route has been done to death and come up the brilliant idea of having the whole amnesia drama. It basically involves the protagonist dying and resurfacing a generation leap later with severe face surgery (talk about unrealistic! Do they even know how much those things cost? Just ask Rakhi Sawant, if you don't believe us!) And living under an alias due to a convenient amnesia. Way to go, people. It's hardly like this idea has been done about a hundred times already.
The bottom line is that Indian TV soaps are in desperate need of a makeover. The storyline for the shows hasn't changed since we were kids and probably won't change till our kids come along. True story.
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Aish - The Fairy Princess
