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Family TV

We Indians are family oriented people. At least we used to be. But how do our TVs show families? Do these families really represent us?

Let us talk about some of these soaps shown in Start Plus or Zee TV. The Gujarati families in which there will be a very stern mother in law whom everybody respects and fears, the benevolent father in law who does not have much say in anything, lot of sons and daughters in law, the small and big tussles between them. And the best part is the way they adorn themselves with jewels and sarees, in each and every scene.

And kannada soaps, I see only one. That is mukta, mukta (the next sequel will be called mukta mukta mukta. When will we be mukta from them?) There are many families here. The middle class family of Nivedita's parents, the almost aristocratic family of Devanad and now the family of Binga. Binga the villian's daughter is in love with the almost saint's son. But does not express it and agrees to marry her father's friend's son. But on D day she finds out how wicked her parents and future husband had been and runs away. Again this does not look like a typical Indian family.

And English soaps. They normally ridicule families and family values. Sheldon's mother in Big bang theory, Charlie's mother in Three and a half men are typical moms and dads if at all any,  in those soaps. But once in a while we get good family oriented soaps like Modern family, and now Parenthood. In Modern Family, the father who marries a lady half his age, the son who is married to another man and the daughter who is married normally are in fact close to each other. And Parenthood is about a elderly couple who are having marital troubles, but still care and try to help their children. The son who is having a son with Asparagus syndrome, the divorced daughter who is dependent on brother and parents, another son who is learning how to take responsibilities and a daughter who is struggling to balance her career and family.

Well we ridicule the families shown in our serials and watch with open admiration (and mouth) the very rare family dramas shown in English channels. Why?

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