Wow Anika's been trying to help Shivaay for so many days, and it all it took was one yelling from Gauri to resurrect Billu. What mashallah research was HS doing where she came to the conclusion that one can yell mental illness out of a person? Uff these ppl make a mockery out of real, important issues, upar se they pat themselves on their backs for it.
This. This is exactly the fucking thing. I’m making jokes about it and all, and I once said to just fix the character overnight because I can’t watch him suffering like this, but THIS is not what I meant. Not even by a long shot.
This is why I hate Gulneet’s BS “oh look, but we’re raising awareness for the issues” argument to defend bad tracks. No. You’re not raising awareness. All you’re doing is perpetuating lazy stereotypes and dangerous falsehoods about trauma and mental illness/toxic, abusive relationships/[insert topic of choice]. You’re being extremely irresponsible as content creators. I’ve seen the argument that TV is just TV, it’s not meant to teach. I don’t agree. Like it or not, accept it or not, a medium like TV has an incredible impact on society. Especially in non-urban sectors. You as a content creator have to be aware of what message you are sending out in the name of “entertainment”. If you are raising these societal issues in your show (and claiming that you’re doing it to raise awareness) then you have the moral responsibility to disseminate the correct information. Yeah, it might not be the most “fun” or “entertaining” thing to do, or get you the ratings. Then don’t raise the topic at all na? Just write the run-of-the-mill dramatic tellywood stuff. Yeh kya baat hui ki hot topic chhedna bhi hai AWARENESS ke naam pe, and then you don’t even show the correct information? It’s just total fucking bullshit. People are already aware of the problems in society; no matter how “developed” or not the audience is. You think people in Tier 3 cities/villages don’t know mental illness exists? That misogyny/patriarchy/rape/intimate partner abuse/dowry/colorism/whatever exists? That they live in some kinda utopia where all these topics are unheard of? No. They know these issues, and have these problems, but have been dealing with them wrongly for all these years. The key part of the “raising awareness” bit of the tracks is the RESOLUTION. Showing how the characters solved the unpleasant issue in a healthy manner. That’s the educational bit, that actually creates change in society. Harneet herself gave the example of Diya Aur Baati Hum inspiring lots of real life women to enroll themselves in the police force. Now I haven’t watched that show, but I believe it’s because that show actually showed a supportive husband, who went against his family and enables his wife to complete her education and do her job. That was the major narrative of the show, repeatedly showing a healthy relationship dynamic (as opposed to just ainvayi ka “support” they show in this show, with characters going back to their unhealthy relationship patterns once a particular track ends.) Change happens when you show a positive resolution. When you build it into the fabric of the show and reiterate it over and over, despite the circumstances the characters are in. It requires thought and foresight and tight writing, to keep the material both educational and entertaining. If that “knowing English is not required to be smart” Shivika track went viral, it’s because they depicted the issue being addressed in a compelling manner, that made people think and revise their long-held POVs, and educated them to change their mindset. If that ‘don’t have kids till you’re ready’ track made any impact, it’s because they wrote it with good sense and balance; having other characters offer the conventionally-held view, and Shivaay countering it and explaining his POV in an entertaining manner. Those tracks were actually done kinda well, balancing education and entertainment. This utter garbage they’re doing of “raising an issue”, and then immediately solving it in their usual tellywood manner with dramatics and crap is DANGEROUS. That fucking #MeToo track, I hate it. They made it soooooooo dramatic, with the retro party and Anika’s sting operation and lord knows what not, that it just came across as a random bullshit plot, not any different from like the time-and-again Nafratbaaz track, or the Mohit one. They completely diluted the actual topic at hand with all the glitz and glamour surrounding it and made it seem like ‘haan things like this happen in the lives of these big-big people; here’s how they dealt with it in their usual dramatic rich ppl fashion.’ It was so shrouded in “rich people shenanigans” that I doubt it made any impact whatsoever on the larger public about how a victim should be believed and supported and empowered following an incident like this. And now the same with this track. They’ve shown Shivaay suffer for 2, 2.5 weeks now, and all it took for him to heal was “the power of his own mind”. (But not really, because we can see him really struggling in the moments he’s alone.) All they’ve done is taken away the support of Anika; he’s isolated himself due to guilt and feeling unworthy of the only person in his corner, and now he’s going to be spiraling, hurting Anika (and himself) even more in the process.
I won’t blame Gauri for yelling at him. It’s what anyone in this kinda situation would have done. What I do fault is the way they wrote how Shivaay perceived the admonition. Clearly what Gauri was saying at that moment (though not articulately, because of her panic) was that “My sister is being severely affected by your condition. You cannot be irresponsible like this and ruin both your lives. She deserves to be happy and safe with you, her husband.” She was telling him, that as Anika’s life partner, he had to BE BETTER at taking care of her (which can only happen when he handles his mental illness in a responsible manner); instead, they wrote him perceiving it as he doesn’t deserve Anika, is ruining her life, and thus should drive her away by hurting her over and over. Just…. FUCK NO. That was not the fucking message to take away here. I am so angry that this was the way they made him perceive it, making Gauri into some kinda unwitting villain in this situation, when she is not. Perhaps she was unkind in that moment of hysteria, but her intention was never to imply that he isn’t worthy of Anika. She was only showing him the mirror, how this situation affects more people than just himself. Which is an integral component of mental illness.
What they could/should have shown is this: Gauri yells at Shivaay, making him realize how it’s not just his own life is being affected by his illness, but a lot of other people too, just by virtue of being related/attached to him. Anika obviously is the one most affected. Gauri is watching her sister’s suffering every day, but also that of a brother figure that she obviously cares a lot for. OmRu and Prinku are utterly lost without their father figure and need him to have some sort of stability and guidance in life. The company he created, that hires thousands and thousands, lies at risk, affecting all those people and their livelihoods. All of these people need him to heal and be at his best and lead them, like he used to. And so when Anika wakes up, he tells her wants to get better, if not for himself, for everyone else. She assures him that she will be by his side as he recovers. He sees a professional, who assures him that with medication and therapy, the mental illness can be managed and he can be just as functional as he was before, he just needs to be aware of his new limitations and learn to work around them. Show Anika and Gauri and Bhavya being supportive as fuck as he navigates this. It just requires an episode or two to show this in a responsible manner. But nooooooooooo. Symptoms ke naam pe toh WebMD page ko ratta maar ke padha aur dikha diya, Grey’s Anatomy se topic ka scene straight chaapa, par TREATMENT (the most important part of the issue) ke naam pe yeh kuch bhi hagg diya. Literally fuck them.
Yes, ok, it’s not wildly exciting to see Shivaay in a doctor’s office. But neither is it ultra glam to see him sitting and drinking tea with Khanna. But those kinda scenes have a purpose. It’s to depict how this character has changed over the years and is living his “new normal”. They could have still had the flashy exciting makeover and his SSO avatar coming back, but to counter OmRu in the office, as he takes over and fixes everything in that domain. Him dealing with the chutiya media/business rivals/etc. etc. They really didn’t need to have it HERE in this context, that he just “fixed himself” through sheer will-power, but is also hurting Anika repeatedly in this misguided process.
gracieabrams
tangentwithtanner
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
dailybridgerton
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
titsay
