Serial- killers!

They arrive at your living room every day, night after night after night for years. They make our poor menfolk sob and weep and wail for mercy. Our women sit glued to the idiot box shedding tears, laughing and gritting their teeth, depicting all emotions that we might have never seen, looking at these killers- soaps. My animosity towards soaps has a long history, dating back to the 90s when SunTv forayed into serial making. Doordarshan's serials were funny, the characters would be seriously discussing an issue in the sets caked in compact powder and with rivulets of sweat rolling down the sides of their faces! Rolling my eyes in apprehension is all that i could do, i knew Mother would even trade our dinner time with her favorite soaps. I had some reprieve when KB's entry into small screen was a thumping success with "Rayil Sneham"- I fell in love with Jesudas' rendition of the title song.

Yeah...there is the brown handbag! Devyani as Abhi
Image courtesy- chakpak.com

Then came Sun Tv and its bandwagon- its TRP boosting serials of primetime, featuring the two loooooooooongest featured leading ladies- Radan fame Radhika and Abi@ Devyani. Mother switched from DD to Sun then, hooked onto Radika's serials, starting from Chithie, Annamalai, Selvi....running 3 to 4 years each, the characters crying, cursing, fighting, sobbing, yelling in fits of hysteria...But there was a bit fun watching Speaker Poo famous Devadarshini and her serial husband Ponvannan. If not for the duo, i would have choked on the serials. Why do serial villains always hurt and hurt and hurt the heroine so much that we almost feel like falling on their feet asking them not to do so. And why are the heroines so submissive and silent, bearing the brunt of everyone else's foolishness? Special mention to Abi @ Devyani in the serial Kolangal, who had the energy to fight and fight and fight against Adhi for 6 years. In the meantime, i got married, two kids- me and Devyani infact had our deliveries at the same time, as per soap she was in Mumbai and US conferences respectively during those deliveries. She must have carried that blue folder and handbag more than her babies at home! And probably director Thiruselvam liked the serial to be an antique one he named his character 'Thol'kappiyan! When the serial finally ended, i felt so relieved that i felt like someone back from the loo!



Oh....Mr Selvam, i do pity you! And the women watching you
tsk...tsk...tsk...



I vowed no more serials again, but oh...you know average Indian housewives, we always like serial heroines so much...sob....sob....sob....But this time, for a change i became a huge fan of Thirumathi Selvam- the serial named after the missus, but the sobs this time are exclusively reserved for the mistuh! haaaaa....Tragedy! The male lead character is so miserable i feel like patting his shoulder and saying, " Don't worry brother! I'll give you some money to buy a toolsbox". God knows how many years the poor guy is to put up with his step mother, step brother, step brother's fatherinlaw, sisterinlaw, sisterinlaw's sisterinlaw...Oh my! I am certainly going to pass out thinking his hardships, friendships and realtionships- chuck the ships mannnnn...After many disinterested views, i found Thangam serial thought provoking, especially the parts played by Kaveri. Her antics are really funny, but funnier more are the "Chilly Grinding" episodes. Why such a hue and cry for grinding red chillies, director sir? We do it everyday in our kitchens! And the character Rama...oh...sob sob sob...why must she sob in every episode director? Is her payment overdue, huh?

Still i am forced to watch the stupid soap because- well you know the reasons- I am a housewife and i already have loads of problems. But watching my darling serial heroines' problems larger than the Mt Everest, my molehills look simple! There, i said it! And a small request for the all the Thiruchelvams, Thirumurugans and Thiruvaalathaans- Please KISS and save your viewers....Oh...no, no hasty thoughts...Keep It Short Soapers!