Bollywood & Small Screen Soap Operas- India’s Soft Power
Posted : January 30, 2007 at 9:14 pm [IST]
Shashi Taroor has narrated his experiences of the way the bollywood films and the soap operas on the small screen are proving itself as strong soft power of India. Barriers of language of the countries do not come in the way. This soft power of Indian brand is enhancing our country’s intangible standing in their eyes.
Bollywood is already doing this by bringing its brand of glitzy entertainment not just to the Indian diaspora in the US or UK but to the screens of Syrians and Senegalese - who may not understand the Hindi dialogue but catch the spirit of the films, and look at India with stars in their eyes as a result. (An Indian diplomat friend in Damascus a few years ago told me that the only publicly-displayed portraits that were as big as those of then-President Hafez al-Assad were those of Amitabh Bachchan.)
India has an extraordinary ability to tell stories that are more persuasive and attractive than those of its rivals. Afghanistan is clearly a crucial country for our national security. But the most interesting asset for India in Afghanistan doesn’t come out of our diplomacy, but from one simple fact: Don’t try to telephone an Afghan at 8:30 in the evening. That’s when the Indian TV soap opera Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, dubbed into Dari, is telecast on Tolo TV, and no one wishes to miss it. It’s the most popular television show in Afghan history, considered directly responsible for a spike in the sale of generator sets and even for absences from religious functions which clash with its broadcast times. Saas has so thoroughly captured the public imagination in Afghanistan that, in this deeply conservative Islamic country where family problems are usually hidden behind the veil, it’s an Indian TV show that has come to dominate society’s discussion of family issues. I have read reports of wedding banquets being interrupted so that the guests could huddle around the television for half-an-hour, and even of an increase in crime at 8:30 pm because watchmen are sneaking a look at the TV rather than minding the store. One Reuter’s dispatch recounted how robbers in Mazar-i-Sharif stripped a vehicle of its wheels and mirrors recently during the telecast time and wrote on the car, in an allusion to the show’s heroine, Tulsi Zindabad. That’s soft power, and India does not have to thank the government or charge the taxpayer for its exercise. Instead, Indians too can simply say, Tulsi Zindabad.
It something that I never knew. We had heard of Pandit Ravisankar, perhaps because of his association with Beatles. Some Babas were also quite popular in US. Iskon is one such example. Quality of Bollywood films has certainly going better with many good films released last year. And the good films can be a real great soft power where India can do better than its rivals. I only wish our small screen improved its image back home also with better story integrated in soap operas. Not that it is impossible. We had some unique serials such as Humlog, and Buniad years ago, when Doordashan was the only channel.
- Indra
Category: Religious/Social issues |
Leave a Comment