After child bride, it is a child groom’s marriage to an adult that is being portrayed as an emotional fairytale. Team Viva pans Pehredaar Piya Ki
In the busy mall square of Noida, buzzing with new aspirations and shopping fervour, unfurls a banner hoarding depicting a young boy, of not more than 10 years, applying vermillion on a full grown woman, definitely more than 20. In lavish period getups and with a medieval castle as the backdrop, Sony TV’s poster for Pehredaar Piya Ki is not just propagating regression of a new order but convincing each young boy child that he has the right to lust after and marry an adult woman. This is Noida. One trembles to think what this visual image of an adult bride acting coy with her underage minor husband would mean in midtown India that is grappling with exhibitionism of sexuality in general and misplaced ideas of romance in particular. Can we show a minor boy romancing an adult woman for no apparent reason in an emergent IndiaIJ
Is it right to justify marital legitimacy of a young girl, no matter what the cultural, contextual or temporal reference, in contemporary IndiaIJ This goes anti-thetical to the mass awareness of women’s empowerment that is being propagated in most other shows.
Pehredaar Pyar Ki, starring Tejaswi Praksh as a eighteen year-old girl named Diya and Afaan Khan as a nine year old prince Ratan Singh, has a bizarre storyline of a non existing Indian custom. Ever since the promotional video released of Diya being married to Prince Ratan Singh, the show has been slammed by people with viral intensity. Diya’s character is also said to be doubling up as her child groom's bodyguard. Alrhough gift-wrapped in the colour of Rajasthani culture, there is no current tradition to justify a social transaction of this nature.
The show is apparently premised on the Vani tradition which is a cultural custom found in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan whereby a young girl is forcibly married as part of punishment for a crime committed by her male relatives.
Actor Karan Wahi criticised the show through his facebook account saying, “Dear producer and channel, I understand we can’t make shows like how I met your mother and friends, and honestly I don’t expect us to also, but for the love of god and for the reason we all got in this industry please don’t sell stupidity in the name of content which gives trash because honestly no one is watching this. leave aside other people, I think the fraternity only doesn’t. I wish and pray well for everyone who is a part of this show also but it would be great if we started enjoying our work and not just working because we don’t have an option... Not to sound arrogant but we can be better than this.”
As strange and peculiar as it gets, the show is giving a wrong glimpse of the Rajasthani culture which is not relevant in today’s democratic India. The large poster of the show across the country is delivering a wrong message to the masses and the young generations, who easily get influenced by visual presentations. In the course of television, visual appeal holds a prominent place more than anything else. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the romance relationship shown has no significance in present day. There are many scenes and typical elements of adult romance that are not for a pleasant viewing. The trailers itself have already agitated people and made them question the sanity of the content of the TV show producers.
The first two episodes show Rani Padma (Kishori Shahane) worrying about Choti Thakurani’s control over her young son, Ratan. Recalling previous night's incident while on their way to Kishanpur, she tells her husband, Datta Maan Singh (Parmeet Sethi) how she fears threat to her son’s life. She asks him to appoint a pehredaar (guard) for Ratan's safety. On reaching the Mahal of their friend, Ratan who sneaked into the treasury box to trouble his mother, opens the chest and sees an 18-year-old Diya. He is shown to be smitten by her beauty and calls her a fairy. He begins to follow her, and clicks her pictures wherever she goes. In no time, he proposes to marry her. Diya laughs it off initially, but then jokingly asks him to talk to his parents about it, if he wishes to take things further.In the next episode, Diya’s father fixes her match with Kunwar Abhay Singh (Suyyash Rai) and Diya is elated to hear the news. The roka ceremony is fixed the next day. In the middle of it all, Ratan accidentally falls off the rooftop, but manages to hold the wall. Others look around to help him, while he tries to save himself from the electricity wires.
A professor from a well-known media institute feels that a show representing females as 'dumb dolls' whose ultimate goal is marriage in this modern and democratic society is appalling. "Children have an impressionable age which gets distorted with such ideas being propagated. The effect will be more severe in rural areas when compared to the urbanised and educated sector. Realistic visualisation of the atrocious traditions is necessary to create mass awareness. But such idiotic and irrelevant ideas should not get space in the society, let alone a national broadcast."
Dr. Samir Parikh, psychiatrist, Fortis healthcare, shared, “Television viewing, internet, video games, films are some of the interactive visual media and they do have a basic impact on the youth's impressionable mind which is scientifically proved. Whether it is aggression or abusive language , depiction of something stereotypical like showcasing dark-skinned, fair skinned, fat or thin, any of these characteristics which are portrayed in the media in a certain way leaves an adverse effect among the immature growing mind.
"Sometime it increases stereotype, cause prejudice or cause aggression. It even questions the way you look at things whether it is socially or morally. If you go by legal standards it gives a wrong portrayal. It is not fitting in with the social and legal values are absolutely unhealthy for youth minds. It would result in a kind of a cognitive dissonance, creating a contradiction in the youth minds. And that’s why media literacy is important from a very young age which means making one literate to be able to filter the uncontrolled media content. Anything that glamorises or reconfirms any view that has been rejected socially and legally is something that the children are best not exposed to”.
Meanwhile show producer Sumeet Mittal continues undaunted, “I completely enjoyed and cherished the backlash. This has never happened with us and it was a first time experience. The audience is yet to know the real concept and storyline and they are bound to judge you. I am waiting for the show to go on-air and that’s when the criticism will come crashing down. Mittal further added, “First and foremost it is a fiction show. It is a story of a girl, who has been given the job to protect this royal prince from the impending threat. To be with him 24X7, she decides to marry her. She is a pehredar (protector) and the bond that they share is a very pure one.”
lastly, reacting to Karan Wahi’s post, Suyyash Rai, who plays Kunwar Abhay Singh on the same show, opened up on his Instagram account and urged people not to jump to conclusions too soon. He wrote “Guys whatever Karan Wahi said it’s his point of view. No1 can question him neither me nor you guys. But this doesn’t change the fact that WE the whole team of #PPK love this show and we have worked really hard for it .Our motive is to entertain you guys not promote child marriage or anything. This show is different, please don’t judge it and jump onto conclusions if a channel like Sony Tv has approved the show they must have thought something rightIJIJIJ Even the producers must have thought a lot before making this and investing on it. It’s my request to all, please watch it first and then decide.