Hindi TV Serial - Uttaran - More problems for Ichcha, and the truth about drug addiction problems

In Uttaran, Ichcha has been facing perpetual problems with Vansh now. The concept was that if she would get married to Vansh, then he would have a strong incentive to reform himself and not go back to drug addition; further, the amount of love he would get from a strong loving wife would help even further. But, this does not really seem to be working, since Vansh remains forever suspicious of Ichcha, and her relationship with Veer. Veer has gone away from the house, but not yet gone to the United States as he told everybody, and Vansh gets to know about this.
Further, anything Ichcha does gets Vansh angry, whether she has gone for shopping outside and takes too long, or if she is late for a dinner that Vansh has cooked. He remains hyper-active, ready to become very angry, and also not very friendly towards Veer.
And then a shock for Veer. He meets a doctor who specializes in drug addiction cases at a party, and then hears some very shocking advice from her. When he tells her about Vansh and the marriage, and how they are attempting to cure Vansh through the marriage, she tells Veer that they are doing something that is not right.
The way to solve such cases is by taking the person through a drug de-addiction program, and then ensuring that they get proper treatment. Marrying them off to somebody and hoping that love will cure them is something that does not work, and can result in severe problems for the wife, since the person will remain temperamental, prone to fits of severe anger, and other such problems, and the wife will have to face all this, something that Ichcha is already facing.

Sony - Powder - The story of the fight against a drug lord and story of people leading the fight

Powder is a relatively new serial on Sony, the story of the fight against drugs. The fight against terrorism and the underworld is now mixed with the story of how they control the entire drugs scene, especially the scenario of recreational abuse of drugs by a young fast generation (who are not addicts in the classical sense but more active users). To cater to this generation, there are a new series of people trying to make their riches, and being much smarter about how to stay one step ahead of the police.
In this fight, there is also the depiction of jealousy and fighting between the various Government agencies, with the pivotal fight against drugs being led by the Narcotics Control Bureau. They have a honest team led by Usmaan Malik; and they are after drug lord Naved Ansari.
The current episode of the serial focuses on a lady Binata from Kohima, who is otherwise well educated and accomplished, and who needs to be admitted in a drug rehabilitation center. She also accuses the people over there of not knowing anything about the North East states. In a different situation, Naved wants to go to Dubai, but the don over there, Musa, refuses to let him come over there.
The show shows a lot of the actual goings on in the narcotics scene, including places where foreigners come for drugs (including places in Himachal Pradesh); it also shows the interactions between lawyers and the drug control officials via the legal system.

Raising the question of substance abuse in Hindi Serials

Substance abuse may be defined as the overindulgence in and dependence on an addictive substance, especially alcohol or a narcotic drug. Of the two, drug abuse is far more fatal and dangerous as it has the power to handicap and debilitate the future of our society-the youth of India. Drug trafficking is the third largest business in the world with a turnover of around $500 billions. India too is caught in this vicious circle of drug abuse, and the numbers of drug addicts are increasing day by day. According to a UN report, one million heroin addicts are registered in India.

Drug abuse is a difficult trend which has various social, cultural, biological, geographical, historical and economic features. The break-down of the old joint family system, lack of parental love and care in modern nuclear families where both parents are working, decline of old religious and moral values etc lead to a rise in the number of drug addicts who take drugs to escape hard realities of life. Drug abuse has a damaging impact on society. It has led to increase in the crime rate as incidence of eve- teasing, group clashes, assault and impulsive murders increase with drug abuse.

Given the seriousness of the problem it is strange that the television medium refers to be mum on the subject. Leave alone a whole show, not even a marginal character gets to talk about this grave issue. While the bold new face of Hindi Television is raising its voice about a number of taboo topics, like rape, female infanticide, extra marital affairs, we are yet to come up with shows that also deal with such problems. There are only two exceptions to this. One is a newly started show on Sony Television called Power and the other is a character in Color’s Uttaran called Vansh.

Powder is set in the frightening scenario of substance abuse. Powder is the story of drug lord Naved Ansari and his empire. It tries to provide an insight into the world of drug peddlers and pushers. The vicarious system is often operated by those who are either addicted to the dangerous stuff themselves or those who will never give in to temptation. Powder is also the story of an honest team of officers from the Narcotics Control Bureau led by Usmaan Malik who plans to nab Ansari. The web of power, compulsion, money, values, corruption, justice, and deceit is what powder will take you through on its journey.

Vansh is an important character in Uttaran. He is an addict and has been so since childhood. His struggle to fight off the addiction has been a major turning point of the serial. If Vansh is able to emerge victorious he will help to send out a positive message to other people in the same boat. Uttaran producers deserve a pat on their back for daring to make a ‘junkie’ a major character in the serial, thereby helping to raise awareness about substance abuse.