"Anupamaa is the face of women empowerment!' - Page 2

Anupama is everything a woman should not be....But RS gets trps and so channel won' t ask him to shut the show anytime soon. His one show running for more than a decade and another show never falling off from the top 3 positions empowers him to say anything he wants. He is free to demean women and call it women empowerment! Sigh!!!

Suury Rajan Bhai... I agree to dishagree!

Anupama is not the phaees oph women empowermeiiint... But she ij the phaaes oph a dukhiyaari Maaa who phailed to raise her children with her sanskaars... She ij the phaaes oph a distracted mind who wantj to be the Jack oph olll trades but maashter oph none!

I understand that ITV is regressive and such toxic stories are being enjoyed by some audiences who are responsible for high TRP. For long time I waited for its TRP to fall. Now I have understood it's audience wants it that way and if it sells why would PH change anything.

Fine it's one profession to act, they get paid for it, appreciation comes okay. Honestly nothing wrong in playing villain or bad character too, they bring the drama to story.

However, RG herself is educated smart women who should know the story is real women empowerment or not?

There are ways to stay in news and maybe satisfy the ego too. Like say best actress, most professional, dedicated etc..at least be honest to yourself, you know it's anything but women empowerment. I lose any regards for the actor when they blur the reel and real line and justify such characters.

Guys I hope you understand my answer is sarcastic here. RG in real life is everything Anupamaa claims to be but isn't.

We never expected Anupamaa to change the world, we only wanted her to change her own life and subsequently inspire women to change theirs with big steps or baby steps.

And RG's career is pretty empowered now with Anupamaa going in a loop and never attaining any real success.

Originally posted by: Harish111

People weirdly get attached to celebrities and consider them members of their families and treat them like respectable elders in India. In western countries the attraction is usually more lustful where young attractive celebrities are chased and stalked. In India celebrities are treated as Gods and people take outrage if they are criticized, be it Amitabh, Sachin , SRK, the cult and fan clubs are unbearable.

Here I admire western countries where they always mock celebrities and politicians and rich people in their media while they try to protect the poor, handicapped, minorities and lgbt.

India is a weird weird country where powerful celebrities, politicians, rich people and even Gods who don't need protection are the ones people get outraged over, imagine how dumb one needs to be defend a super rich celebrity or a powerful politician and get outraged on their behalf? Do these people really need protection? They have all the money and power and fame.

Meanwhile Indian shows and movies still mock little people, handicapped people, fat people, black people, transgenders etc. These are the people who really need protection as their lives are already miserable. India is a country without heart even though people pretend we are a very kind and hospitable country.

You have hit nail on head in india they worship rich and powerful no matter how they are but thats a different society related issue. Its Mai baap syndrome of kings time that continues. BUT ITV has a unique problem and in patrchial society like india i am shocked this issue even exist in ITV. Because real indian society is not at all like ITV where women dominate over husband and make decisions for everything about ML or his family. In real indian 90% decisions like where to live, where to buy house, where to send kids to study etc is made by men i mean husband only not wives. Even most educated employed women are told all this like which house and where to buy etc its not like only uneducated

You know nowadays after watching anupama kind of serial i feel sorry for male leads

If bollywood ML or hero decides everything from budget to whose heroine to whose music guy etc

ITV is opposite her FL chooses everything story how it goes etc more prominence in most shows

I feel sorry for male actors working in indian TV like i feel bad for bollywood heroines as they have less clout

See the most memorable shows on ITV in 90s and 2000s are where as per story ML or FL got prominence and even in female oriented shows ML was never ignored

I mean kasauti zindagi ki was a FL dominated show but Mr. Bajaj was equally powerful man like prerana, even in jodha akbar serial till the time akbar was shown equal powerful as jodha show was success and after that making jodha dominate on akbar led to downfall of that serial.

In ITV after 2000 its all women domination in ITV, thats also led to downfall in quality of shows and story

You cannot run a show for long where a hero is a simp like anuj kapdiya its so embarrassing to see him fall at anupama nad shahs feet always he has no character or mind of own like a slave

I mean what shall happen if you show anuj kapadiya like a normal business man as powerful as anupama. In real life no husband in india or USA will allow wife to go to ex hubby house like anuj does or allow his kid or himself to be treated like second class etc by wife ex hubby family. They will put foot down and not fall at wife or ex hubby family feet like anuj kapadiya did always. If anuj was uneducated and poor still we can accept somewhere but showing him as millionaire US educated man and behaving so is mocking all educated ppl

We actually mock western countries saying they have no culture and morals values etc marry many times divorce many times money minded society. But in reality every human on earth wants to live in US/UK/Australia/germany etc western nation why? Because there humans are treated like humans and government protects weaker people women, kids, poor and old people. Its not easy to take advantage or trouble weaker sections there as laws are applied strictly. If family and society do not protect than a woman is protected by law and governments there. In old age if kids do not care government will give food and medicine and retirement homes. And if accident happens people do not watch like movi or take selfie like india they help. No police will trouble person who help accident victims etc yet we say they have no culture and morals. In USA/UK street cats and dogs are treated better than weaker/poor humans in asian country no one can hit them abuse or kill them. That is why 8 billion ppl want to run to USA or UK to settle risking lives illegally too

Originally posted by: NiharikaMishra

Admit it!! RG is a great example of real life empowerment. She made a grand comeback at an age when most actresses plan to retire, didn't conform to any typical norms of beauty when compared to leads of other successful TV shows and yet is going strong and successful.

Too bad her reel character didn't do any such thing.

But whom can we blame here because the "market" she caters to is of viewers who still believe that for a woman the only way to be complete is be a mother.

A show about so called empowerment and yet the only achievement the protagonist has had is to be the "victim" with a big bandwagon of fans who are super quick to find faults with ANYONE but Anupamaa. Everyone says Anupamaa has been wronged and her kids, her husband, her exhusband etc are bad but nobody comments on why she is not distancing herself from them.

Viewers with a mentality that I am hungry right now, not because I didn't lift a bite of food to my mouth but because the food didn't walk up to me and place itself in my mouth. Which is the majority of the world's human population!

And RG is keeping them happy and hence is successful. Why bother empowering women who don't actually wanna take charge of their own lives, but would rather watch this show and crib that they are unlucky to have husbands like Vanraj and MILs like Leela else they would have been rocket scientist?

Just keep them happy and mint money! One's own success should be top priority and RG is doing the absolute right thing.

Note that my answer is not to blame the actor. She doesn't owe me anything. And, frankly speaking if the makers would have shown Anupamaa make a successful dance career, not wait for a man, refuse to help Toshu or Pakhi for once, not go back to the house that keeps insulting her, improve her accent, go to therapy for her panic attacks, learn and talk about actual business terms, etc.

she would not have been relatable to the majority women of India who still think taking bold decisions only looks good in TV shows. She is currently appealing to them and looks absolutely fine.

All good and fine but the entitlement and privilege in saying that "Why bother empowering women who don't actually wanna take charge of their own lives, but would rather watch this show and crib that they are unlucky to have husbands like Vanraj and MILs like Leela else they would have been rocket scientist?" is amazing.

Indeed irl, women do not have billionaires obsessed with them for 26 years to financially support and empower. Not one of us on this site will ever see let alone be married to a billionaire like Anuj.

Divorce lawyers take money, fighting social stigma requires financial security, just surviving requires money. You should see the employment data how few percent of women are employed in secondary and teritiary sectors and all women are paid less than male employees. Many time even educated empowered married women do not have control over their own money. Women find it very hard to start working in their 30s-40s, especially if they have been married off in their teens. Women also are socialised to tolerate their husbands. India has not criminalised marital/spousal rape yet. So yes, there are social and financial reasons why many women remain stuck in abusive marriages. Not because they are lazy and sit around worshipping this shitty show

Not all viewers who watch itv shows are women/senior citizens who cannot or do not intend to take control of their lives. Based on the comments I have seen on Twitter and Instagram, some viewers are young unmarried college-goers and even unmarried working women. Some viewers are men too.

In short, many who lead empowered personal lives are also watching a show that is nowhere close to women empowerment. Why do they watch? Don't know. Everybody has their own reasons to watch a show just like every person has his/her reasons to stay / walk out of a abusive relationship / marriage.

However, collectively the kind of content trp viewers are supposedly liking (based on numbers) is not realistic, empowering, and progressive. Hopefully, in a decade or two we see a change!

Originally posted by: Time_to_move_on

Not all viewers who watch itv shows are women/senior citizens who cannot or do not intend to take control of their lives. Based on the comments I have seen on Twitter and Instagram, some viewers are young unmarried college-goers and even unmarried working women. Some viewers are men too.

In short, many who lead empowered personal lives are also watching a show that is nowhere close to women empowerment. Why do they watch? Don't know. Everybody has their own reasons to watch a show just like every person has his/her reasons to stay / walk out of a abusive relationship / marriage.

However, collectively the kind of content trp viewers are supposedly liking (based on numbers) is not realistic, empowering, and progressive. Hopefully, in a decade or two we see a change!

Watching a show ≠ endorsing a show. Film studies is a legitimate field of study. This literally an illogical dictat to impose on anyone. Birdgerton is an equally problematic show but does its audience get shamed or excluded from empowerment eligibility? The makers and the channels have to be the ones held accountable for profitting off misogyny. There were good shows on doordarshan that the audience loved, Ekta started mass-producing these cringe-saas bahu sexist shows. There has been restructuring of the trp model without any audience input.

Reach of itv shows (hindi and other regional shows) is well-beyond people who are active on social media or constitute trp markers. Having an employment and/or education is not equal to empowerment. Women do systemically get paid less than man, women have lesser control over their resources than man. There is a huge huge huge disparity in female and male literacy. There is social stigma. Shaming people for watching escapist shows is just umm. Let channels air Satyajit Ray films or Centurion films for the audience to watch lol.

These shows are an absolute contradiction of their claims.

Kitne hi toh issues hain.

Dekha jaaye toh the trend of female centric shows on Television was perhaps with a view that women are the major consumers and they needed a reason to draw the consumers to that. It was perceived women would identify with them and shows were perhaps written to represent the resilience of the women of the time. And connected they did and How!

Television became the medium to showcase what they wanted to see in society. Unlike now, it was not just showing the mirror of the society but providing a thought provoking solution.

Imagine the leads such as Shanti(Shanti), Svetlan(Swaabhimaan), Priya(Saans), Amrita(Alpviram), Kalyani Singh (Udaan), Priya(Kora Kagaz) and Rajini(Rajini) Such powerful women in the face of adversities.

Why did they work? (My interpretation only)

1. There was a solid story.

2.a. The finite series was well within the realm of the storyline and plot.

2.b. The shows were weekly hence, shooting, editing would give room for fewer errors.

3. The audience's intelligence was nit taken for granted or underestimated.

4. May not be a potent point. There was 1 - 2 channels and was self-regulated. Fewer competition, larger penetration, potential to make amendments and corrections.

Every single one of them have degraded over time.

Changing so many things at a time is tough. The easiest, perhaps is regulating what gets telecast.

Just the way I asked before, there is not regulatory body to stop, (if not for anything) misrepresentation of culture and traditions.

Originally posted by: Blueeeee

So yes, there are social and financial reasons why many women remain stuck in abusive marriages. Not because they are lazy and sit around worshipping this shitty show

Quite the opposite. They worship this show because they are stuck in abusive relationships. It suits their narrative that it's not their fault that they have been suppressed and unable to make careers.

I have legit been called homebreaker by my own relatives simply when I asked the men to make do with Roti, Rice, Dal and One curry for lunch and they were scolding their wives for not making Two curries instead.

And guess what the women supported them and turned against me.

So this is years of gaslighting that wires them to think of stuff like family first, career women are losers, and being a MAA completes them. This show is not making them think like that, but only validating them and hence is a hit.