The dipping fortunes of Balaji serials from Ekta Kapoor's stable have been in the limelight with curtains coming down on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' recently. K-serials have been considered somewhat retrograde, portraying women in an unrealistic light.
The hidden meaning these serials convey will be analysed using semiotics (science of signs) at a conference being organised by Ahmedabad-based Antarnad Foundation's Institute of Psychotherapy on November 29 and 30.
"The seminar seeks to link the two disciplines of literature and psychoanalysis, which are both about narratives. While the former puts experiences in words, the latter tries to do so," says Y Venugopal, head of the institute.
Says Seema Khanwalkar, expert in semiotics and CEPT faculty, in her paper on Balaji serials: "The serials are of women, for women, by a woman. Women are each other's friends or foes, while men are onlookers in the unfolding drama. The serials promote joint family concept, middle-class values, Hindu traditions, nationalism and the Mother India' concept."
The women, whether Tulsi, Parvati, Ganga or Prerna, spend their entire life battling family politics, trying to balance traditional obligations with modern aspirations. The characters are either saccharine-sweet or bitter-than-gourd. The guilt-free bitching in the serials has a cathartic effect on viewers, explains Khanwalkar.
Interestingly, the paper brings out that Ekta Kapoor herself was a food and television addict as a child and the serials project her own need for security.
Six dreams of one of the greatest Gujarati writers, Govardhanram Tripathi, will also be explained by a faculty member of Psychoanalytic Therapy and Research Centre, Mumbai. Tripathi, who belonged to Nadiad, penned the classic Sarasvatichandra' which was also made into a Hindi film.
Analysis will be based on Tripathi's Scrap Book'. The writer embarked on his magnum opus Sarasvatichandra' to reform and regenerate Indian society. Having initially planned a series of essays, he thought a narrative reflecting reality of those times would attract readers. "Gujaratis as a people must be made, and not simply left, to read," he said.
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray' and Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake' will also be under the scanner at the conference. In the former classic, the protagonist's portrait ages and gets ugly as his character deteriorates. In Namesake', made into a critically acclaimed film, the character Gogol, is more than a confused Indian boy who has grown up in US.
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