Impact of Indian serials on our society

Apart from being a distinctive literary genre, drama is a unique tool for exploring and expressing human behaviour, feeling, and emotion. It also highlights the state of a society.
However, the TV drama serial nowadays is one of the most popular forms of entertainment for all ages. The tele-play is a recent art form. It involves the techniques of cinematography and portrayal of situations that give it the capability to penetrate various opaque social realities and provide formidably transparent reflections of them. A drama exerts a powerful impact on modern society. These days, Indian drama serials (chiefly Hindi and Bangla to a lesser extent) have turned out to be a highly popular entertainment in our country. A pretty good percentage of our middle and lower middle-class people now watch Indian television drama serials regularly. The young, middle-aged and the old, even children, remain glued to these plays. An urban family in Bangladesh is hardly found where one or another serial is not viewed regularly. Many vulnerable viewers are seen blindly following the culture and way of life portrayed in these serials. In an indirect way, these plays are influencing our distinctive culture, values and traditions.
While female viewers are generally more interested in these Indian serials, males are now also becoming increasingly attracted to them. The middle-class housewives in the cities spend a significant amount of time watching the Indian serials. The impact of Indian dramas is so strong that it will take a good amount of time to come out of their spell. It is not a matter of weeks or months, but could be years. Moreover, the women spend a significant amount of time watching the serials (Morshed, M. 2012).  The women who watch these plays regularly while having their meals are badly affected by getting engrossed in them. Some women have even reduced the number of dishes they cook because of 'time constraints'.
They forget to eat while watching these serials. They can pass a day without eating, but cannot skip Hindi serials on a single day. (Shuvo, S. 2009). Mothers' attention to their kids has been thinned due to spending a long time watching the television. In this way they waste their valuable time that could have been spent with the family. Paying less attention to their children by mothers leads to personality disorders among the kids in the long term (Ruwandeepa, V. D. 2011). Some husbands are seen being ignored by their wives. They do not pay their due attention to the husbands because of the tele-serials. And the neglect generally results in conjugal-life problems. Moreover, behavioural changes can be observed in some of the people, both male and female, who follow these serials passionately. Slowly, their nature becomes more complaining, critical and impatient. Through these Indian drama serials, we are being detached from our centuries-old Bengali culture and tradition in a very subtle way. The very examples are those of wearing sleeveless blouses, semi-Western dresses, having weird hairdos or cuts etc. Even Bangladeshi weddings are becoming victims of the so-called Hindi serial culture. We can now see Indian rituals followed in our weddings (Shuvo, S. 2009). A large number of people are seen wearing Indian-style clothes and punching Hindi words in common Bangla conversation (Qamar M. et al, 2012). A section of Bangladeshi people, in a way, are adopting the Indian way of life by being ardent fans of these serials, leaving very little space for our own culture. They are imitating Indian fashions, way of thinking etc. This is the extent of influence that Indian serials have on the minds of Bangladeshi people (Anwar B.S. 2005).
Due to the increasing number of Indian television channels and the TV network, people have acquainted themselves with different kinds of daily soap operas. There are many Indian channels which show these soaps every day. The Indian TV channels are easy to have access to. Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony, Star One, Life OK and some Indian Bangla channels including Star Jalsa, Z Bangla, ETV Bangla are popular among Bangladeshi viewers. Through these channels, Indian drama serials have taken the place of popular Bangladeshi TV serials. Many of our viewers hardly watch local TV plays these days, even those special ones telecast on the occasion of the two Eids. It demonstrates the addiction which has been grown towards Hindi serials. Indian tele-dramas centre round family events like inter-personal feuds, jealousy, revenge, family conspiracy, complex web of man-woman relations and sentimentality. Extra-marital relationship is one of the features of the Indian serials. As people carefully follow these serials, they get mentally affected by what they see every night. As a result, an increasing number of city-dwellers are now allegedly engaged in extra-marital affairs, which raise conjugal problems (Morshed M. 2012). These dramas entertain most of the Bangladeshis with their fantasized and absurd stories. Although our people have divergent views on the Indian serials, most of them agree on the common point that the plays broadcast on television in the form of entertainment may encourage moral degradation. Starting with the very plot, the portrayal of characters, their lifestyle, to their dreams and desires --- almost everything speaks of a world totally alien to us. Moreover, they do not assimilate with our culture.
Sociologists have observed that the people who are admirers of these serials finally land in a world of illusion and fantasy --- far from reality. Their presentations manipulate the minds of the previously innocent viewers. Instead of presenting to the people something constructive, they come up with substandard entertainments that leave a damaging impact on them. A sociologist observes, "These shows are not in tune with reality, they are not only impractical, but are inappropriate for young children who have impressionable minds. In addition, these serials affect people's mentality to a great extent."
A recent study conducted by Helal, M A (2004) showed that out of 200 respondents 75 per cent have reported that the female characters in the Indian drama serials are presented in immodest clothes. Our young girls, even the middle-aged women, nowadays, are influenced by these dresses. In many serials, husbands build relationship with their female office colleagues or previous girlfriends, and the wives also maintain relationship with other men. These illicit affairs are presented so nicely that the people who are engaged in these infidelities appear to be right. The plays rarely focus on the severe consequences of these relations. The general viewers are not aware of how the impact of these plays is destroying our family system.

Hindi drama serials provoke criminal actions as has been confessed by 61 per cent of respondents. They show how to do harm to the counterparts, how to spark discord among family members, and even how to kill people. It teaches the viewers how to kill the rivals by mixing poison in food or hiring hoodlums. Eve-teasing is also amply shown by Hindi drama serials as viewed by 78 per cent participants. Girls are also seen teasing boys in many plays. Viewers of all ages, especially the young, follow and apply the attractive behaviours of the serials' artistes to their lives.  
In this study, 90 per cent viewers have admitted that one of the common subjects in Hindi drama serials is conflict between young housewives and their mothers-in-law. They are seen busy hatching conspiracy against each other, which jeopardises the normal relationship between them.  Hindi serials thus are instigating family feuds. Conflicts between brothers and between sisters involving ancestral property or business etc are also frequently shown in the Hindi serials.
The study reveals that 79 per cent respondents have viewed Indian drama serials as a "cultural aggression" on our age-old heritage.
In order to save our own culture and stop cultural aggression, some initiatives are urgently needed such as:
1. The programmes which are hazardous to our culture as well as family and social values should not be telecast.
2. Bangladeshi drama serials have to be made more attractive that can take our viewers back from watching Indian daily soaps.
3. Awareness has to be raised among people about the long-term impact of the Indian drama serials on Bangladeshi family and social structures.
4. Viewers should realise that the Indian society and the Bangladeshi society are not the same.
The writer is Assistant Professor, Northern University, Bangladesh. [email protected]