Hoton Pe Aisi Baat used song in a fantasy show called 'Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta'

            Inserting movie songs in a serial has been done from more than a decade. The suitable movie songs are included in a serial to make the scene more effective and presentable. Many times, the songs included are favourite of many people so they watch those scenes with more interest which in turn increases the TRP of the shows while making the viewers happy. But what if a movie song included in a show which was set centuries ago that is during medieval times? It sounds weird to even think of such a possibility to happen. But this is what actually happened in a fantasy show called Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta which airs on Saturday and Sunday at 8pm on Colors channel. This show is based on the classic Indian novel Chandrakanta written by author Devkinandan Khatri. A famous Bollywood classic song ‘Hoton Pe Aisi Baat’ was shown in last week’s episode of Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta.

                                         Poster of Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta

            The scene where this song was used was about the new female lead Surya(Pooja Bannerjee) dancing on this song at a palace disguised as a dancer covering her face with a mask. The original female lead is Chandrakanta(Madhurima Tuli) who is presently killed in the show by the male lead Virendra(Vishal Aditya Singh) along with the 3 female villains Iravati(Urvashi Dholakia), Bhadra Maa(Mallika R Ghai) and Gehna(Renee Dhyani) and is said to be actually alive only to return later for revenge according to the future story twist. This shocking twist was brought in the show to improve the decreasing TRPs of the show. The character Surya dances on Hoton Pe Aisi Baat song as part of the celebration for Virendra and Gehna’s engagement that also on Chandrakanta’s death anniversary. This is the first time in the history of Indian Television when a Bollywood song is used in a fantasy show set in medieval or even ancient times. Last month, in this same show the music of another Bollywood song ‘Aankhon Ki Gusthakiyaan’ was used in the mehndi ceremony of 2 supporting characters.

                                         Pooja Banerjee as Surya in Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta

            This serial don’t even shows 5% of the novel Chandrakanta let alone it being based on the novel. The story in the serial has been distorted from the novel from day 1 of the show. This serial based on Chandrakanta novel don’t even have the main villains from the book like Shiv Dutt and Kroor Singh though Shiv Dutt was only mentioned and not ever shown while Kroor Singh was hardly shown in few scenes but none of these 2 characters were hinted as villains. Instead, the show has villains which are not written in the novel. The male lead Virendra is given the characteristic like the villain Shiv Dutt who was the actual villain of the novel when Virendra was actually a kind and gentle person. Chandrakanta who was supposed to be always a princess was shown as a daasi(maid-servant) at a palace unaware that she is a princess herself who became an orphan after her parents were killed by the villain Iravati. In this show, Virendra and Chandrakanta are married in the 7th episode when in the novel they marry at the end. Instead of marrying out of love like the novel, Virendra marries her for some kind of revenge just like it is shown in many TV shows in India. When TRPs started decreasing, more distortion followed including ridiculous insertion of ‘Aankhon Ki Gusthakiyaan’ music and ‘Hoton Pe Aisi Baat’ song in a fantasy show set in medieval time which no other fantasy show ever did. May be this is not the last time the viewers will get to see Bollywood songs used in this show. 

5 Indian TV Serials That Should Be Banned For Showing Degradation Of Woman

                 The content of Indian Television is hitting all time low. All thanks to the regressive serials shown on television from almost a decade. Our parents and grandparents were lucky to have progressive shows like Hum Log, Shanti, Idhar Udhar, etc. which were ahead of their time. But the current TV serials shows content which takes us 50-100 years back. Below are the 5 current shows which should be banned for showing and promoting degradation of women.

1. Ishqbaaaz- In this how, one of the male leads forcibly marries the female lead by threatening to kill her 7-8 year old brother by car blast. Instead of being angry, the female lead starts loving the male lead. And after few months, she forgets everything as if nothing happened. Then after few more months, they happily remarry after confessing their love to each other. There are 2 more sets of lead couples. In this show, the heroes having multiple affairs are taken coolly and as fun including when one of the heroes were doubted to be father of a baby which from other woman. Recently, the 3 brothers are shown having fun with a girl while being drunk and under the influence of drug. But on the contrary, 2 of the female leads are insulted and abused very badly by their male leads even they thought that they had affair with other men let alone them doing the above things which heroes did. The situation is not at all cool and funny when it involves the female leads.

2. Jeet Gayi To Piya More- In this show, the male lead is not less than a criminal. He forcibly marries the female lead after threatening to kill her family including her 7-8 year old niece. The female lead who was a final year medical student changes drastically after marriage. Instead of finding a way to get out of this forced marriage, she starts her mission to change her animal husband into a human. Her husband and in-laws torture her everyday but still she wants to change her husband.

3. Tu Suraj Main Saanjh Piyaji- In this show, the male lead who is from a very conservative family forcibly marries a female lead from a modern family as he thinks that God has given him a signal to marry her. He is a very conservative man whose mentality is of the past century. He thinks that a wife should be submissive like a daasi(maid-servant) and entertainer like Rambha(a dancer in mythology) to her husband. After marriage, she is forced to follow many rules like not wearing western clothes like she wore earlier, not using cell-phones, drinking gomutra(cow urine) not drinking tea, waking up very early in the morning, not eating non-veg, not touching a woman on her periods and so on. When her brothers, one of whom is an ACP, comes to know the reality of her marriage, they file complaint against her husband and puts him in jail but instead of getting happy the female lead gets him out of jail as she starts falling in love with him even though her husband not at all regrets what all he did with her. She is only shown trying to please her husband and in-laws.

4. Kumkum Bhagya- In this show, the male lead marries the female lead as he thought that she snatched his sister's love which was not true. He sleeps with his girlfriend on the wedding with his wife thus cheating on her. He keeps his girlfriend and his wife in the same house from 3 years since their marriage. He is shown so dumb that he never understands how evil his sister and girlfriend are. This serial shows the repetitive things like the female's lead kidnapping, the plotting of male lead's sister and girlfriend against the female lead, the male lead acting dumb, the female lead not able to prove the 2 evil women wrong as they are too smart, the male lead stuck and confused between his wife and girlfriend, the accident of either female lead or male, memory loss of either male lead or female lead and so on. When the female lead was framed into having an affair with her ex-fiance, the male lead insults her very badly and tell her to prove her innocence in 24 hours or else leave the house but the same man shamelessly keeps his wife and girlfriend in the same house from 3 years.

5. Ek Mayavi Prem Gaatha- Chandrakanta- This show is based on the classic Indian novel Chandrakanta written by author Devkinandan Khatri.  This serial don’t even shows 5% of the novel Chandrakanta let alone it being based on the novel. The story in the serial has been distorted from the novel from day 1 of the show. This serial based on Chandrakanta novel don’t even have the main villains from the book like Shiv Dutt and Kroor Singh though Shiv Dutt was only mentioned and not ever shown while Kroor Singh was hardly shown in few scenes but none of these 2 characters were hinted as villains. Instead, the show has villains which are not written in the novel. The male lead Virendra is given the characteristic like the villain Shiv Dutt who was the actual villain of the novel when Virendra was actually a kind and gentle person. Chandrakanta who was supposed to be always a princess was shown as a daasi(maid-servant) at a palace unaware that she is a princess herself who became an orphan after her parents were killed by the villain Iravati. In this show, Virendra and Chandrakanta are married in the 7th episode when in the novel they marry at the end. Instead of marrying out of love like the novel, Virendra marries her for some kind of revenge just like it is shown in many TV shows in India. Recently, Virendra is shown killing Chandrakanta and then getting engaged to a female villain Gehna on the 1st death anniversary of Chandrakanta. He was revealed to be pretending to be in love with Chandrakanta from the start when in reality he was only working for his evil step-mother who wanted Chandrakanta killed after getting a magical dagger from her. The people who watch this show will have bad impression on them regarding the novel Chandrakanta with the way this show is ruining a classic novel of India.

                  The above shows should be banned for showing and promoting degradation and abuse of women. Shocking, these shows have high TRPs while the shows which actually show good and progressive contents gets low TRPs which forces the makers of those shows to show regressive contents in their to increase their TRPs. There are many good shows that end early due to low TRPs as people of today's generation especially teenage and youth girls are attracted to the shows where the male lead tortures and degrades the female leads and later those female leads change the male leads with their love. The shows where the heroines start as modern and bold women are soon changed into traditional and doormat to increase TRPs as people especially girls of today's generations can't accept women as modern and bold who is grey in character but they are ready to accept the male lead even if he has done many crimes. And the blames are given to women who in the age group of 30 to 70 when in reality these same women watched and accepted the progressive shows like Hum Log, Idhar Udhar, Udaan(old show of DD), Shanti, Saans, Rajni and many more such shows in 80s and 90s era which were ahead of its time and showed the women as modern and independent unlike the women in current TV shows. This shows that current generation are to be blamed for deteriorating contents in Indian Television in present time. The content in the present shows have spoiled the mind of today's generation girls which makes them unable to accept progressive content in TV serials of today.

Diwali- Expectations vs Reality

            Diwali has come to an end yesterday. Every person celebrated Diwali in different ways. Below are some common expectations and realities of Diwali.

Expectation 1: Waking up early at 5a.m. morning ubtan bath.

Reality 1: Ubtan bath? What is this? Waking up at 8a.m. or 9a.m. and bathing normally with soap or body wash.                    

Expectation 2: Early morning firing crackers.

Reality 2: Suddenly waking up at 6a.m. due to noise of bursting crackers and getting irritated before saying that you need 2 more hours of sleep.

Expectation 3: Wearing new clothes preferably Indian wear all day.

Reality 3: Who wears heavy Indian wear all day? Stick to normal daily wears.

Expectation 4: Wishing family, relatives, friends, colleagues personally by calling.

Reality 4: Wishing all the above ones by forwarding the same message on WhatsApp.

Expectation 5: Making sweets and namkeens at home.

Reality 5: Buying sweets and namkeens from shop.

Expectation 6: Making very big and complicated rangoli design by hand.

Reality 6: Making very simple rangoli design that also with the help of rangoli stencil.

Expectation 7: Celebrating crackers free Diwali.

Reality 7: There will be no pollution by bursting only few crackers.

Expectation 8: Eating lots of sweets.

Reality 8: Being health conscious and eating only 1-2 sweets.

Expectation 9: Buying lots of expensive clothes from shop.

Reality 9: Buying branded clothes with high discount online.

Expectation 10: Lighting earthen diyas after filling it with oil or ghee.

Reality 10: Lighting readymade wax or gel diyas.

So these were few expectations and realities of Diwali. It will be not a surprise if majority  of people agree with at least 4 points from the above 10 points of expectations and realities.

       

       

Delhi Ban On Crackers(Temporary Title)

            The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on sale of crackers on 9th October in Delhi NCR. This ban on sales of crackers will last till 31st October. This ban is brought into existence to stop people from bursting crackers this Diwali in order to not repeat the last year incident of drastic air pollution causing smog for days which caused breathing problems and asthma attacks in residents including children.

            The Supreme Court itself observed that “the air quality deteriorates abysmally and alarmingly and the city chokes thereby, leading to closure of schools in view of the health emergency situation.” Crackers are made of highly toxic heavy metals such as copper, cadmium, lead, manganese, zinc, sodium and potassium. These harmful metals, if present in the air, can cause an asthma attack, severe headache and respiratory problems, apart from chronic cough to people coming in contact with them.

            This ban is a good step to avoid air pollution and protect the environment. Due to large numbers of crackers being burst during Diwali, elderly people as well as people suffering from breathing related diseases like asthma and bronchitis gets affected very badly. Some people even suffers from hearing problems due to extreme noise pollution from crackers. Even animals gets disturbed due to noise and air pollution. Many animals are mistreated by people who puts or ties crackers on them for fun. Residents preparing for exams or important work of their offices gets disturbed to continuous noise. This ban is a blessing for many people who will get a huge relief from it. Diwali is a festival of lights, happiness and bonding. Diwali should be celebrated by visiting families and friends, buying sweets, shopping for new clothes and lighting diyas and hanging lanterns in our houses instead of bursting crackers and creating noise and air pollution.

            Even though the ban is executed but there is no guarantee that it will be as effective as expected because people who bought crackers before 9th October will burst crackers anyway. Bursting of crackers will only be reduced to some extent but can’t be stopped completely. So it would have been better if the apex court had banned the bursting of crackers instead of sales of crackers as many people buy crackers weeks before Diwali begins. Or the apex court would have banned the sales of crackers a couple of months before Diwali instead of banning it just a week before Diwali.

            On a different take, there should be ban on only sales of highly explosive crackers but sales of low explosive crackers should be allowed along with sales of basic crackers like sparklers, anar(flower pots or fountains) and chakras. People should be allowed to enjoy bursting of crackers but only basic and low explosive crackers. There should be time limit given to burst crackers to the people like a couple of hours instead of being allowed to burst crackers all night till dawn disturbing the residents and animals of the area. Diwali comes only once a year so people should be allowed to burst crackers as long as no disturbance is caused to the people as well as the health of people is not compromised. There should be attempts by the people to not cause noise and air pollution due to their celebration of Diwali by bursting crackers.

Mission Women Entering Sabarimala Temple

           After many fights by women rights group resulting in women being finally allowed to enter Shani Shignapur Temple in April 2016 followed by women being allowed to finally enter Haji Ali Dargah, the next mission is of women of menstruating age group of 10-50 years being allowed to enter Sabarimala Temple situated in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. At Sabarimala, the deity is worshiped as Ayyappan and as Dharmasasta. The shrine of Sabarimala is an ancient temple.  The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a five-judge Constitution bench regarding the ban on the entry of women at Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court by the Indian Young Lawyers Association challenging the custom of the temple to prohibit entry of menstruating women in the 10-50 age group calling it as discriminatory and violation of women’s rights. The fate of women entering Sabarinala Temple will be decided by this five-judge Constitution bench.

It is a good initiative by the Indian Young Lawyers Association with several women rights group supporting the cause but there are already someone against this cause. Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president Prayar Gopalakrishnan created a controversy by saying that no “self-respecting” woman born in a “decent” family would enter the Sabarimala Temple even if the Supreme Court lifted the ban.  “We will not allow Sabarimala to become Thailand,” he said on Friday, hinting that if women are allowed to enter, Sabarimala will become a tourist centre. “Even if the court allows entry of women of menstruating age into Sabarimala, no self-respecting woman will go up to the hill shrine,” he added. The hill shrine in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district is managed by the TDB, which has restricted the entry of menstruating women of 10-50 years age group. Gopalakrishnan said that it that was a matter of security as well as tradition. “What will be the situation if women between the ages of 10 to 50 have to climb uphill under challenging weather conditions without any safety?” he asked. “If women are allowed to enter the shrine, women police will also have to be deputed for security. This will lead to a lot of issues, including immoral activities,” he added. How can he compare a temple to a tourist place of Thailand? How can he say that women being allowed in temple will cause immoral activities?

Kerala Minister for Devaswom and Tourism Kadakampally Surendran contradicted what the TDB chief by saying that he had insulted the women community and Ayyappa devotees with such a comparison. He wanted the TDB president to tender an apology for his remark. This comes as a relief that if someone is speaking against rights of women then someone else is speaking for the rights of women. The foot in the mouth statement by the TDB President adds to the list of other foot in the mouth statements by several political and religious leaders in the past. Don’t know what these people of public figure thinks before saying such statements?

Why menstruating women entering Sabarimala Temple is such a big issue? Why menstruation is termed as dirty and impure in this day and age? Menstruation is a natural process in woman which indicates her becoming of a woman. The world will end if menstruation in women would not exist. Then why this same reason is becoming the hurdle between women entering Sabarimala Temple? The patriarchy existing in India is one of the main reasons of women being banned to enter the temple due to menstruation which is seen as if it’s a big disease. It is such a shame to insult a natural process occurring in women. It is a sad reality that menstruation is still a taboo in India where women talk in whispers and code words regarding their menstrual cycle. They feel shame to talk about it in presence of men. Girls from their childhood as soon as they get their periods are conditioned by their mother, sister and other female relatives to not tell about their menstrual cycle to any boy and man. Women are shy to ask for sanitary pads in the shop if a man is present there. Why are women are shamed into not disclosing such an important fact about their own body? We can only wish that this mission is successful with women winning their right to enter Sabarimala Temple after winning their rights to enter Shani Shignapur Temple and Haji Ali Temple. If women are allowed to enter Sabarimala Temple then it will be third back to back victory after Shani Shignapur Temple and Haji Ali Dargah victories.