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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Perfect Bride; A Wonderful Film Needs Your Vote

There’s this show on Start Plus that takes cake in the emptiness of those who conceive it and takes India several centuries into the past, right when Aurangazeb ruled and purdah or pallu was kept, and women were treated as “paraya dhan.”

The Perfect bride is a show which parades young girls before boys and their mothers. Imagine. The girls sit alone on red seats without anyone for help and the boys loll in their seat with their moms beside them. Did I mention red? The girls look perfectly uncomfortable against deep reds, and shocking pinks of the set and also dressed in similarly shocking shades with a lot of tinsel. The eyes blink, the mind blanches.

The boys look sort of triumphant, sort of. One of the mothers says she likes the “intelligency” of a certain girl who is a doctor. The doctor in the group is the star, everybody likes her. (Does it show our mindset?) There is such mundane banter between the boy’s entourage and the girls. What’s notable about the show is – EMBARASSMENT – everybody is so embarrassed. Shekhar Suman tries to make his usual witticisms which only elicit titters; then again the mood becomes sombre. Vishal and his sidekick both are a picture of embarrassment, they don’t know where to look: either this way or that. Their cracks don’t gel.

Ho hum!

What’s the idea behind the show? Just to push some soap? Why are they showing the country as it existed several hundred years ago?

In Passing

Film maker George M. Thomas’s one minute film “Silences” has been shortlisted for the filminute award. He needs your support, so go thither and vote for this film.

3 comments:

Neha said...

aah, now I understood what those hording across Mumbai are all about..."Maa chahe bahu, par beta chahe wife"...I don't watch much of television (I watch only sports and once in a while news), but this is so ridiculous...why do people encourage such shows? everyone must come together and boycott such programs...are ppl blind too?

there was another story of a group of few girls below 18 were conned by some blue-filmmakers and were kept locked somewhere and their obscene videos were shot...hope people become sane soon...

Anonymous said...

john, you picked the show that is one of the least embarrassing! the Cringe Factor for most tv offerings is very low: CF5 where you experience shock and horror in the first 5 minutes, or CF-5 where you anticipate disgust five minutes before the show starts!! there is one serial where a father has actually purchased a woman (sold off by her own parents!) for his son so that he can get a male heir; another in which two 12 year olds are married; finally, a serial which potrays female foetacide. and i love the disclaimers! so trite, so sanctimonious! the show "perfect bride" is like "the bachelorette" or "the farmer wants a wife" aired in the west. agree with you about the terrible sets and costumes. and when will they stop dressing up the poor mothers to look like has-been geishas: all dolled up with garish make-up and clothes!! they all started off looking "normal" in the introductory videos, and then va-voom! god help the country.

Nina Prasad said...

The show just highlights the chauvinistic mindset prevalent in this country. Why aren't there boys on stage with the girls and girls with their mums trying to choose a groom?? Just because a girl is a doctor doesn't in anyway guarantee the fact that she should be a good person.