Taboo topics take centre stage on TV

If films have brought hitherto taboo topics like open defecation, erectile dysfunction and menstrual hygiene into the mainstream, television isn’t lagging far behind either. Serials revolving around surrogacy (Dil Se Dil Tak), vasectomy (Meri Hanikarak Biwi) and love between a man and a transgender (Shakti: Astitva Ek Ehsaas Ki) have caught the fancy of viewers on prime time. 

Forbidden love stories like Dil Sambhal Ja Zara, where a man is married to a girl young enough to be his daughter, and conversely a 42-year-old independent, single mother of a 15-year-old girl falling in love with a 24-year-old free-spirited young man in the upcoming Aapke Aa Jaane Se are grabbing attention.      

NEW-AGE TOPICS

Sonali Jaffar, who is producing Meri Hanikarak Biwi, says the problems that people face are changing. “We have to make shows on the new-age topics. We were thinking of making a show on erectile dysfunction but weren’t sure if the viewers are ready for it. By then Shubh Mangal Saavdhan also had released, so we did a show around vasectomy. People generally ridicule men who have undergone vasectomy, so with Meri Hanikarak Biwi we want to convey the message that a man’s inability to procreate shouldn’t be the measurement of his manliness,” says Sonali. Not only that she made her hero an alpha male — a wrestler who accidentally undergoes vasectomy, at the hands of his fiancée who is a doctor!

She decided to take a humorous route to tell the story. “If we had taken a serious approach, it wouldn’t work because it would become preachy. But in a country like India where the population is huge, vasectomy should be done voluntarily,” she adds.

Sumeet Mittal, producer of Dil Se Dil Tak, is of the view that issues related to society always attract makers. “We have to move ahead with the times. A new wave of storytelling is coming in. Surrogacy is something that brings emotional turmoil for the families and is a little controversial. We liked this mix of emotions and romance and made the show,” he says.

ACTORS LOVE THE CHALLENGE

For Rubina Dilaik, who is playing a transgender in Shakti — Astitva Ek Ahsaas Ki, it was a big risk taking up the role. “I had my apprehensions. I was risking my career but I found it challenging and there was conviction behind the risk,” says Rubina. For about 28 episodes before it was revealed that her character is a transgender, the entire team was walking on egg shells. To their relief, the show was not only accepted but it has gone on to be screened for almost two years now! “Our audience has become more open and mature. It is liberating when viewers connect with the character’s emotional turmoil,” smiles Rubina.

Suhasi Dhami, who will essay a mature, single mother in love with a younger guy in Aapke Aa Jaane Se, is excited because it is a far cry from regular love stories. “I will get to showcase varied emotions as I’m in love with a younger guy — the age aspect will come into play. Also, because my character is mother of a 15-year-old girl, it will be depicted sensitively. We want to show that this kind of love is also possible,” she says citing the example of her dance teacher who married her student after she parted ways with her first husband. “It was difficult for her daughter to call her classmate papa but she came around. It is not impossible, and that’s what we want to convey in the serial,” adds Suhasi.

BEING RELEVANT

Every era has a new taboo topic to contend with. If in the 90s, drugs, premarital sex and extra marital affairs which were considered taboo took TV by storm, now modern-day issues are taking centre stage. As Vikram Bhatt, creative director of Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara, says, “We are living in a time where India is torn between traditions and modernism at its peak, so cinema and its various formats like TV and web etc, which are a major influence on mass population, must show content which reflects reality more than fictionalise a situation.”