Lessons from ZeeWorld Series.

ZeeWorld and its sister channel Star Life are digital channels that show Indian content, they are predominantly found on DSTV and GoTv.

These two channels have women in a chokehold to the point of naming their kids and significant others, names from the show’s characters. We now have little Pragya’s and Abhi’s moving around.

Now this being one of its popular shows doesn’t mean there aren’t others from both ZeeWorld and Star Life. In as much as it seems weird or feminine to watch these channels by guys (laughs in the same guys watching date my family, love is blind, love island yet hate on ZeeWorld), I am one of the guys that watched the show or used to watch it, here’s some of the lessons I gathered from their shows; but before I do, let me give you a summary of the shows.

The shows follow a Matriachal family (usually the grandmother and mother call the shots, the grandfather and father are either deadbeat, dead or their voice is usually diminished, simply put they are a side character).

There are two plots that these channels follow, the two plots have sub plots and I don’t want to make the blog longer.

PLOT 1

The first plot is the main one, a poor innocent girl who sacrifices everything for whatever reason, will sacrifice her life to save an elderly person that comes from a wealthy family.

The elderly will fall inlove with her and makes a vow to get the girl married to their unknowing son/grandson; who for some reason is treated like a last born child, is famous (an athlete, actor or musician), this person has a bestfriend or past girlfriend who is still in his life, cause the girl is bestfriends with his aunt/cousin/sister who knows that this is not just a friend but someone who is inlove with this manchild. The elderly will arrange a marriage in which the innocent girl will accept and then…

She will start proving herself to this family that has not accepted her, the manchild will hate her, gaslight her, cheat on her but the moment this girl sacrifices her life to save him, she will be either in the hospital or home bed where the doctor will say “chances of living is minimal”, then the man will start having flashbacks, remembering that the girl has been there for him and the family, so he will now feel guilty and will try to save the girl (romanticising pity). After she comes to life the bestfriend and aunt will plot to kill the girl and have the man for themselves.

The SubPlot

The girl will die succesfully and she will become a ghost haunting the family, the man will marry the bestfriend and the bestfriend will now mistreat the man’s child, meanwhile another innocent girl will be introduced or the dead girl will come back to life.

PLOT 2

Who am I kidding, there is no Plot 2, it is the same plot just put on shuffle, make the girl an older woman forced to forget herself for the sake of her ungrateful family, find love and lose it through a jealous ex husband.

Be accused of killing someone and then forced to take care of the kid alone, the kid meets the dad and beef starts between the parents; they reconcile and another villain (either a man who fell in love with the woman but it wasn’t reciprocated or a woman who moved on with the man but now is being replaced for the first love) or just make it a battle for wealth that the other family members feel entitled to, and the poor girl will be fighting to keep the family together or maintain the wealth in the family.

The Overall Subplot

Spinoffs are created where the main characters are replaced for children that are played by the same characters (time skip which doesn’t change location, outfits, hair, etc) but with different names. These children will go through similar problems like their parents, there is no end to the cycle as they die and they reincarnate to continue the senseless fighting over men or property.

With that out of the way let us get into the Lessons that ZeeWorld series taught me.

EVIL ALWAYS WINS

The first lesson is this and here is why, for no reason someone is getting mistreated left, right and centre, the man they marry (forced most of the time) is the cause of the girl’s problem but is also the saviour of the same problems he has created. Even when the truth comes out, the antagonist always kill the protagonist, even in several reincarnations. The Protagonists out of a hundred episodes, will only win less than twenty times before they get killed.

SOCIAL ISSUES

From the looks of it there are several Social Issues that I have observed on these two channels and I will try to break down some of them, as this is the second reason.

Colorism , This is a very big issue in their programming, Darker skinned people are either goons, extras, beggars, antagonists or killed off ( I know it really does give “old hollywood horror movies”). Apart from Saloni who was a dark skinned girl and the show kind of revolved around that, she still was mistreated and was subjected to the same plots. I have only seen her in that one series as a main and in one more as a recurring character playing her character.

Colorism still being perpetuated teaches me one lesson; the industry or networks are not ready to change and do(be) better with regards to their shows and it also means that they are contributing towards the stereotypes that are rumoured to be prevalent in their country.

Sexism, this is heavily present as Women even when they are the named show are mistreated, gaslighted, abused and all sorts from the start of the show to the finish. The characters are written so poorly that it makes one wonder whether they are fiction or that is how life is from the country the writers come from; it makes me wonder whether this is how people live or if they really are trying to teach us something or just show us what is the norm there.

Saviour Complex, this is particularly on the men of the shows. Even though their characters are writtern poorly outside of them being lightskin, rich with overbearing attitude (usually rage mongers and they are gaslit by their family members, rage baited at its finest) one thing they will do is create problems for the girls and have the girls pray for the boys to come save them.

CONCLUSION!!!

One thing is for certain, the show has rewatch value cause it preys on the emotional intelligence of ladies, obsessing over whether the girl will win and end up with the boy who has to learn to love them back. Okay let us be honest, I believe ZeeWorld needs new writers who have been exposed to global changes, they need to reduce the filtering of their characters so as to be viewed as fair skinned ( I was so confused to find out that Priyanka Chopra was not as light skinned as she was in the shows before she moved to hollywood).

There is a lot that needs to change, they can maintain the cultural things cause that keeps them apart still, they can retain the individual shocked b-rolls, the aggressive drums, wind and sound effects, but they can start writing better characters.

interested in your thoughts, don’t hesitate to share in by commenting. Remember to share my blogs if you can manage. Thank you for the support.