Hindi Serials These Days

SAAS - BAHU (Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law) episodes are so passe. Now a days the Hindi Tele serials fall into mostly three categories, often old wine sold inside new bottle :

1. MYTHOLOGY -  Mahabharat, Ramayan or recycled versions of the same in the guise of "Surya Putra Karn" , "Hanuman" and again the same name "Mahabharat". Hairs of the actors are invariably long, Shakuni still limps and twitches his moustache running over his beard, rubs his palms to roll over the invisible dice, perpetually playing his game, even if he is not actually playing opposite to Yudhisthir. Duryodhan is more muscular with six packs, a sign of changing times. 

2. HISTORY - (80% fiction and 20% history). Best example is "Chakravartin Ashok", where it the King of Kalinga (modern day Odisha) is named as Jagannath. I am not aware of any king of Odisha with such a name around when the famous Kalinga was fought in 261 BC.

Neither, there is any mention in history of Karuwaki, the princess of Kalinga living in Magadh and engaged to Ashok. Nor did King of Kaling, the state who valiantly fought against Ashok, ultimately handing the later a Pyrrhic victory, was a petty thief who stole the revenue from Magadh while he was Bindusar's royal guest, as shown in the serial.

 

Nor I think Karuwaki jumped down a 500 feet waterfall, followed moments later by Ashok. Both come out miraculously unscathed and unscratched, with a moon eyed Karwaki swoons over, being held by the muscular arms of her Knight In Shining Armor Ashok.

 

3. BHOOT PRET WALI : The TANTRA MANTA (black magic), the Ghost & Ghoul serials. They are more comic than horror, but seems pretty popular with the masses. The 2 feet long bearded Tantrik (Black magic man), who weaves his black magic over. The magic weaver can occasionally be a woman too, who substitutes her lack of hair with a big red dot of SINDUR, or vermilion on her forehead) casting her spell chanting MA TARA MA (Hail to Goddess Tara).

 

In one such serials, I saw a Trantrik slow roasting humans who are dangled upside down like tandoori (broiled) chicken over funeral pyre. The dripping juice from their body is collected on a glass vessel to be used for future application as VASHIBHOOT VIDYA (the art enchanting someone into submission).

 

Most of these episodes, which are supposed to be 30 minutes long, are actually 16 minutes serial and 14 minutes of commercials. But 16 minutes of entertainment for masses nevertheless.