MUMBAI: Alpana Buch has been winning the hearts of the audience with her performance in the show Anupamaa. The show is about a woman and her struggle to make a name in society. The actress plays the role of Baa, Vanraj Shah’s mother. She is shown as a strict mother-in-law who only knows to insult her daughters-in-law. Anupama, who was her daughter-in-law earlier, has now become like a daughter to her after Vanraj divorced her. But Baa is still stuck in the past and refuses to move with the times.
While it's a good move to add social and cultural topics to TV shows to make the audience more aware, but the move isn't yet justified as it still misses an element of reality: people stuck in similar situations do not just relate or connect to it.
Baa, an elderly character, is so stereotypical that it's unfair to the storyline. She still wants to control the life of a woman who once was her 'bahu'. She has a problem with Anupama's live-in relationship while being okay with his son's new wife with whom he was having an affair while he was still married. The audience is miffed that Baa treats her son like a king all the time. Instead, why can't she, like a real good mother, knock some sense into him?
Read on to know what a few audience members had to say.
"We see women empowerment and female characters simply taking matters into their hand, but the story still depends on the male," said a Gujarat-based working woman.
"A female character coming out of a mental trauma after going through an abusive marriage is being denied all the rights to be happy by her ex-mother-in-law," said a Mumbai-based college student.
"A female who is ready to marry a married man and destroy another woman's house is shown to be sensible and is justified. A male character however is shown only in a negative light with no justification for what goes in the structure of the character," said a Gujarat-based housewife.
"If there is a supporting male like Anuj, why does he have to be a lover necessarily? He can be a close friend too. If there is an ex-husband like Vanraj, why does he necessarily have to be the enemy? He can be a mature, friendly but not-so-close- type of character too," said a Pune-based working woman.
"Always shown in a bad light, the traditions of the olden times are not all that bad. Ask the people who choose to go for natural products even when they're buying soaps and shampoos. If ayurveda as an aspect of the olden times is accepted, why are some rituals simply rejected? Here's why. TV serials always focus on showing rituals but never with a reason as to why they are followed. However, there's always a justification and logical reasoning given when the rituals are tagged stupid and meaningless. Baa is shown as an orthodox character, in a negative light of course. If a woman wants to go out and work while being pregnant, it's shown as modern, but if Baa stops her, it's never shown with a reason," said a Navi Mumbai-based working woman
"Baa is an orthodox character who is blaming Anupama for being shameless to think about her own happiness. But if she's orthodox, how's she going against her own husband?" said a Hyderabad-based college student.
"The makers are trying to show their responsibility towards the women of modern times, helping them to get out of the traditional world by breaking stereotypes. But is this as authentic as it seems? Or are the problems shown to intentionally touch sensitive nerves and monetize on their problems and frustrations? If not, why are things not shown with more perspective, and most importantly, sense and solutions?" said a Kerala-based working woman.
"Here’s the thing, what if Baa follows the culture in the right way, with the right reasons that are not logical according to the modern times but with reasons of why certain things were followed in the earlier times. That way, the audience doesn't see the tradition and rituals simply as something old and useless but can form a better opinion whether those things should be followed or not," said a Bangalore-based housewife.
"What if Vanraj, an ex-husband, starts giving better reasons for being a hurdle in Anupama’s life? What if the makers break the stereotype of showing an ex-husband toxic and, for a change, show him to be supportive? The makers can still show Vanraj as a greedy person because he is hungry for money not hungry to see Anupama sad. Anupama as a mother is surely shown as caring and wise, but why is it so important that she resolves all the problems for every person?" said a Mumbai-based housewife.
"All we are asking is for a more sensible, more responsible, and less toxic characters and storyline. If that’s too much to ask for, then we already know what the makers prioritise...monetization by playing with your emotions even if it means misleading you in the society," said a Pune-based housewife.
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