‘You’re a poem?’ I repeated. She chewed her lower lip. ‘If you want. I am a poem, or I am a pattern, or a race of people whose world was swallowed by the sea.’ ‘Isn’t it hard to be three things at the same time?’Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things
The answer to that last question has been given once and for all by Sasural Simar Ka and it is a resounding NO.
Meet Simar Bharadwaj, who has been a daayan
And Patali Devi
And then, in a completely organic conclusion to this eventful career, a fly
Twitter was a veritable kid on Christmas morning the moment this episode became available to turn into GIFs:
The epic bashing this creative decision received on social media prompted Dipika Kakar, the actor who plays Simar ‘daayan-naagin-makkhi’ Bharadwaj, to respond thus:
The concept of ‘naagins’, ‘daayans’ or ‘makhi’ does not fall into the regressive space. It is more mystical in nature. The Indian audience has always been privy to the stories of these mystical characters and continue to enjoy them because these transport them to a world of fantasy far beyond their imagination.Dipika Kakar
Here is the fly in the ointment (sorry) in this defence:
Social Realism and ‘Mystical’ Insanity Cannot be Bhai-Bhai
Indian soap operas, legendary for their over-the-top nature, have recently started making an effort towards realism. By incorporating issues like deeply entrenched sexism, women’s frustrated ambitions, social evils like child marriages and dowry, Indian TV is trying to become progressive and relatable to young, urban audiences.
You know what is NOT relatable to such an audience?
TV shows have to respect their genre’s demand. Serials which have established their mythological/supernatural framework at the outset are allowed to go nuts with these elements. Turn your lead bahu into a were-bhootni and the youngest daamad into a merman-daanav and we will accept it, no questions asked.
Daayan Bahu? Naagin Beti? Casual Misogyny
When was the last time a beloved ‘beta’ got turned into a male daayan or a naag? A passing familiarity with these shows makes casual misogyny hard to deny. These vampish women, spread liberally throughout any channel’s array of shows, are often characterised by independence, wilfulness, ambition and sexual empowerment. Qualities that make a man admirable are damned as supernatural villainy in women.
Our Newspaper Headlines Show Us Why We Need to Do Away With Such Portrayals
Literacy and education, like other resources in India, are extremely unevenly distributed. Archaic beliefs still have a sizeable population of the country in their grip and these have a sexist bias too. Women who don’t conform to our exacting standards are painted with the black brush of superstition and then atrocities are committed with impunity.
This is by no means an attempt to curb artistic liberty or conclude a cause-and-effect relationship between popular entertainment and cultural beliefs.
But when ‘creative’ decisions across a fraternity, backed by some truly horrendous CGI, insist on playing to the gallery over and over again, we have to reconsider the concept.
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