divine soaps

I could not resist commenting on the ongoing trend in commercial serials or the so called soaps. It was exactly a year before that “swami ayyappan” turned up in asianet. Lured by its commercial success, many serials in its line have turned up. Some well accepted and some failing to make the presence felt.


Media, particularly the private channels have grown unbelievably and have reached a stage where they exercise considerable power over the way people in the society think and behave. But sad to say, that people associated with the industry are least aware of the responsibility that rest on their shoulders, i.e. to guide the society, along with providing the necessary entertainment. And as a result such programs with mere commercial targets will certainly run the society into a state of chaos and anarchy. The recent school shoot out at Gurgaon is just a hint to such developments. I remember, once seeing a serial in which the heroine was trying to commit suicide. It was so minutely shown, that one child tried to imitate it at the house and lost her life in the process. Who should be blamed? I think, right from the director, everyone who sees the serial; thereby supporting it has to bear the responsibility. A similar scene was telecasted yesterday in a very popular serial, and I was afraid whether such mishaps repeat.


When considering such incidents, I think, it is a good development in making the serials with stories from Puranas. At least it will not be as bad as the usual “painkilies”. But I am shocked with the quality of the soaps that r telecasted now a days. Writers are interpreting the stories as they like so as to meet their commercial requirements. And as result “ayyappan” is acting like an ordinary soap hero. Only the sets have changed and their costumes. It is just like “the old wine in new bottle”.

Well, I remember being filled with extra ordinary bhakti, in my child hood days by seeing serials like “Jay Hanuman” and “Mahabharata”. But not only I feel pity for the viewers of today’s soaps, but also I am deeply alarmed, with its social implications. One may wonder what r their social impacts. It will certainly result in the degradation of religion and if religion dies the entire society dies as is evident from the situation in the western countries. I am afraid that Hinduism has become merely a religion of tales and stories; with the Hindu completely unaware of the rich philosophical message it carries so as to improve our life on earth. Perhaps the religion of Vedanta is the result of the work of millions of people through various centuries. But today the Hindu is behind mere idol worship. And that too has become a show off. And I don’t know where the religious leaders, who should be guiding the society, are? It seems that no body is worried abt the religion but abt the money it carries. I wonder whether there will be at least one in the entire Devaswom Boards, who could say at least the name of four Yogas!

Signing off
RK