Everlasting soap

TELLY VISION

In one of the many mawkish serials churned out by Ekta Kapoor's soap opera factory, a woman "" whose family has already cremated her with the required ceremonies ensuring her a place in heaven "" comes back to avenge her "death".

Prior to her exit, the character appeared in a white saree, sans makeup and sindoor, her re-entry was a delightful contrast what with styled hair, dangling pearls, mascara and breezy sarees.

Recently, an actor, also part of the Balaji serial factory, commented, "I flush out my brains before I head to any shoot." Actor Neena Gupta said in a recent interview, "We may be settling for mediocrity right now, but things are going to change for the better soon."

While one wonders when the suhaag-mangalsutra combo on telly will crumble, soap opera bubbles have rarely burst. Look at Guiding Light, credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest-running soap opera in television history. Created as a radio serial in 1937, it graduated to becoming one of the most popular programmes on American television in the early 50s.

And though the serial, lathered with ample twists and turns, has dipped in popularity over the years, it's interesting how the Guiding Light of the fifties is battling for survival in today's times.

While the plot of the story has obviously changed over the years "" it was based on the personal experiences of Irna Phillips, the creator of the series "" the focus in the fifties was on a lower-middle class German immigrant family.

The 15-minute-long episodes turned into a 30-minute-format in the sixties with the introduction of newer characters, while in the seventies the show's writers introduced complex but interesting storylines in the wake of stiff competition faced from other soap operas.

Even if a majority of Hindi serials seem hideously chimerical in their respective avataars, globally the concept of soap operas is an engaging phenomenon.

Why, I recently heard of a Brunel University, London, student doing her PhD on media and gender studies and critically examining the way Indian soap operas construct womanhood. I doubt if this student will ever get to deconstruct Ekta's thoughts on this matter, but in South Korea the government is desperately clinging to soap operas and telling directors to flaunt clips of happy women with children to negate the anti-baby mood in the country.

With the birth-rate having fallen drastically there, the government is banking on drama writers on television to prevent a demographic catastrophe and encouraging them to create scripts that focus on happy families complete with children.

If soap operas in South Korea are attempting to bring a sociological change, in Turkey theatre is finding a fresh lease of life with the increasing interest of people in TV soaps. Like in India, where the television industry is suddenly seeing a spurt of activity, soap operas in Turkey are luring youngsters and creating a television industry.

However, what seems to work for one nation doesn't seem to work in another. Jakarta, for instance, is now involving government bodies and discouraging directors to shoot for serials in schools and institutions.

The government feels that such shoots distract youngsters from their main aim (of studying). This could be a sharp contrast to the Bulgarian society where a group of pensioners recently put in a petition to the municipality to change a bus schedule so that they could watch The Bold and the Beautiful!

(aojha@business-standard.com)