MUMBAI: When the Hindi Entertainment Industry began garnering massive attention from the audience by portraying typical Indian household-based stories. Public back then loved the portrayal of the typical TV characters as per the story's plot it was supported by the mass ideologies back then, especially when it came to the portrayal of the female protagonists of the Hindi shows and how they abided by the norms of the patriarchal society by maintaining the household peace, protocols and decorum.
Back in the '90s to almost the middle of '00s, the portrayal of typical Indian housewives or bahus was the patent cult adopted by mainstream Hindi (and even regional) soap operas, whose sole purpose was to serve her in-laws and look after the welfare of her family by dedicatedly performing the indoor rituals, so much so that this was considered as the highly-acceptable social norm and the fact that females protagonists can also handle outdoor responsibilities was considered a myth/ hoax. The same concept was even promoted through the various show's storylines.
However, with the triggering impact of westernisation, urbanisation, rise in the levels of education and awareness along with the availability of wide scopes of technological and infrastructural development, the last two decades have witnessed an overall upliftment of backward mentality and ideologies at an extremely massive scale, which has affected not only the youth gen's upbringing but also, the various other aspects of the Indian society at large, including the media industry.
As the constant norm, in order to garner high TRP ratings, the entertainment industry is open to any and every sorts of dynamic amendments that would help serve both the mass' and their requirements and welfare at large. Hence, the media industry has also undergone major small-scale revolutions in the last 2 decades, that also involved experimenting with the responsibilities of a show's on-screen characters and altering the old-school storylines. In the wake of feminism, the roles and responsibilities imparted for a typical Indian soap's female protagonist has also undergone major changes within that same phase, to suit the preferences of the emerging millennial audience.
Consequently, the female leads traditional characteristics of compromise, obedience, irrational and impulsive actions, etc. were replaced by bravery, outdoor skills, street smartness, bold personality, rationality, outspokenness amongst others. Also, viewers witnessed how the dress-code of the female protagonists have undergone alterations as well with sarees and salwars being replaced by western casuals. Nowadays, female protagonists can also be seen sporting short hair.
This change was only possible to come forth as per the duty-calls, i.e. the overall characteristics of the female lead underwent change, owing to the fact that now, these characters can practice various reputed professions (as per the respective story's plot) on-screen. Hence, special work-out workshops are being held to make the actresses physically active just like their male counterparts. This promotional change has helped to broaden the mentality of the Indian public at a massive scale today, if not completely!
Let's take a look at the various outdoor professions which have been portrayed by the telly actresses on the small-screen through their protagonist roles:
1. IPS Officer
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Star Plus' Diya Aur Baati Hum's most popular bahu 'Sandhya' was forced to sport the traditional daughter--in-law avatar owing to her superstitious mother-in-law. However, owing to the fact that the lead character was someone who was brave to dream and follow it even under hostile conditions, Sandhya proved her worth both indoor and outdoor by being the ideal daughter-in-law and getting promoted as 'IPS Sandhya Rathi' as well.
2. Doctor
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Initially, actress Divyanka Tripathi's character 'Ishita Iyer/ Bhalla' in Ekta Kapoor's Yeh Hai Mohabattein was of an established dentist's, who maintained her empowerment skills by continuing with her profession ahead post-marriage. Unlike the yesteryear's daughter-in-law, she was capable of supporting both her own family and in-laws morally and financially.
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This legacy was carried on with the show's spin-off show named Yeh Hai Chahatein, who's female-lead played the role of a gynecologist as 'Preesha Srinivasan'.
3. Lawyer
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Period drama revolving around feminism - Barrister Babu literally showcases the character-development of the show's young female-lead 'Bondita'. The story is of how a young girl establishes herself as a barrister (lawyer) with the help of her feminist husband during the period of pre-colonialism and is set in the timeline of Bengal Presidency.
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Another brief Hindi soap named Dehleez centred around this same profession, wherein the family's mother-in-law and the newly-wed 'daughter-in-law' fought against each other in a courtroom drama as lawyers.
4. TV actress
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For a unique twist, the show Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum focused on the atrocities even a high-profile television actress had to face for getting married into a reputed doctors' family, who don't appreciate small-screen stunts. Actress Dipika Kakar played the lead-role of on-screen TV actress Sonakshi and proved her character's worth as a television actress by the show's end.
5. Entrepreneur
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When Ekta Kapoor's Kasautii 2 underwent a time-leap post-portraying the male-lead Anurag's betrayal, the show's female-lead Prerna Sharma underwent a complete transformation both mentally and professionally by tuning into a self-empowered entrepreneur, who could take charge of her company's latest projects on her own terms. She even turned out being her poverty-stricken family's financial pillar.
6. Sportswomen
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Television industry's longest-running show Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is currently focussing on the reincarnated version of the show's OG female-lead Naira - who has returned into the lives of the Goenka family as 'Sirat', who happens to be a boxer. Being a hardcore only-men's sport, Sirat is undergoing unlimited hardships to prove her worth in the men-dominated world of strength's display. She aspires to be the next Mary Kom.
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Another show that reflected on a girl's on-field potential as an athlete was Meri Durga. The show focussed on the hardships the show's father-daughter lead-duo had to face to leave a mark in the world of athletics for hailing from a remote social background. Not only that, the show's titular protagonist 'Durga' had to face twice her previous hardships post-marriage in order to please her in-laws as well as making her way to the racing track.
7. Teacher
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Star Plus' Saath Nibhana Saathiya created a massive rave amid the audience post-displaying how it's illiterate female-lead 'Gopi Bahu' washed her husband's laptop under the running tap-water. However, the character's transformation from there to a teacher of kindergarten kids was remarkable indeed. At that phase, she was also seen single-handedly parenting her younger daughter in her husband's absence. She set major empowerment goals through her character's temporal evolution.
Source: Internet
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