SERIAL THRILLER: Looking beyond the son

Jagdish and Anandi meet at the temple where he is trying to seek her forgiveness, but with a selfish motive. Aapkacolors.com

Traditionally, sons have been of paramount importance in Indian families. Sons further the bloodlines, believed to be a support in old age and the pride of most families. But what if the sons are no good?

Balika Vadhu – Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte, the story of child-marriage, evaluates relationships in a changing India and what role women can play in that change.

Anandi (Pratyusha Banerjee), divorced from her childhood husband Jagdish Singh aka Jagya (Shashank Vyas), is planning marriage with Shivraj Shekhar (Siddharth Shukla), the town’s Collector.

Anandi is independent, heads administration of the local government, fights social injustice against women in her district and teaches at the girls school in her village. She is the face and form of change that spells progress at grass roots. Anandi is the kind of women India needs to move forward.

And Jagya? He is the kind of son India needs to stop pampering at the cost of education and equality for the girl child. He not only left Anandi for another woman but kept using her all through. In the bargain, his family disowned him and decided to get Anandi married to Shivraj, a good man. They stopped treating Anandi like their daughter-in-law, instead they made her their own daughter.

Jagya, on the other hand, is now asking for Anandi’s forgiveness at the temple because he knows his family will own him only on her request. Anandi is getting a new life for herself and Jagya wants her to return his old life to him, his family’s love, their heritage home and everything he lost when he left her. But Anandi refused and he is now out to destroy her.

When will Jagya realize he has gone too far? How much worse do things have to get before getting better?

Anandi has lost a lot – a husband she loved since childhood and her mother who died of sadness for her.  The memories of a relationship, of loving and losing are not easy to deal with. Does she not deserve happiness now? How long do I have to wait for a positive twist to this tale?

Almas Meherally lives in Vancouver. She has worked as a journalist in India and Canada and writes about the great Indian soaps for Vancouver Desi. She can be reached at almas2205@gmail.com or twitter.com/almas2205

Tags: Anandi, Balika Vadhu, Colors, drama, entertainment, India, Jagya, serial, Serial Thriller, Shiv, show, soap, television