Bairi Piya - Digvijay Thakur’s real face to be exposed to his wife, Urmila!

Digvijay Thakur’s (Sharad Kelkar) character in Bairi Piya (Colors) has to be one of the vilest characters ever written for Hindi serials. A serial womaniser, he has scant respect for women in particular and uses them like playthings. The most powerful landlord of his region and belonging to an upper caste, he enjoys a dual advantage. Economically and socially he is placed at the highest rung of the social and economical hierarchy. Women especially are more vulnerable to him as their fathers/brothers/husbands/friends are at his mercy.

Thakur’s only means of salvation is his wife Urmilla (Shubhi Mehta) - a loving and caring human being. She has not only been a good wife to her husband but also a loving surrogate mother to her many nephews and nieces. She looks after everyone in the family including the hired helps. In fact it might have been her good deeds that negated all the evil doings of her husband who escapes unpunished and unrepentant every time. Thakur’s pet fancy of late is Amoli (Supriya Kumari) a poor girl whom he got married to his servant Radhe so that he could take unfair advantage of her.

Urmilla has been so far unaware of Thakur’s evil deeds. She has stood by her husband like a rock, believing him to be a good and decent human being. However things are set to change. Thakur’s planning will see Radhe caught up in a political riot from which he is saved by Amoli. They will take shelter in a temple and complete their last “Phera” (circumventing the sacred fire) and complete their marriage. This will enrage the Thakur further. He will be furious to know that the marriage has been solemnized. He will then drag Amoli to the haveli (palace). Radhe will try to intervene but will fail to stop him.

As soon as he enters the haveli, Urmila will hear the entire conversation that takes place between Amoli and Thakur. He will narrate to her (with Urmila listening in unaware) all his past diabolical plans and threaten Amoli. Urmila will thus come to know that the husband whom she has loved and worshiped for so long is actually a cad. She will come to know that her husband has not only exploited Amoli but also the other girls of the village. Urmila’s faith in her husband will receive a big blow hearing this. Whether she decides to stay back with her womanizing husband or leaves him for good, only time will tell us all.

Devi - A slice of real life?

NDTV Imagine’s Devi in its first few episodes has shown promise in terms of story and treatment. Like most serials of today, it is also set in rural India and talks about the lives of poor villagers who are held ransom to faith, bad weather, lack of opportunities and an evil Thakur (landlord). It has so far been a telling commentary on some of the ills affecting rural India. On the one hand it talks of superstition and old belief patterns and those who exploit the poor in the name of both. On the other hand it brings to the fore the status of women in India’s villages. It talks of the double bind that women find themselves in terms of caste/class and gender.

A baby girl is born to a poor family and the father is forced to abandon the child because of his limited means. Coincidentally the day of her birth sees rainfall in the village after three consecutive years of drought. The village priest convinces the superstitious and God-fearing villagers that the baby is a reincarnation of the Goddess. As more people are convinced of her divine status, a small group of people are out to make money. Her own father and uncle fall in this category and the two in fact end up fighting about who gets to keep the lion’s share of the income she has generated. The villagers throng to catch a glimpse of her as they are convinced that she will rid all the ills of their lives. They even turn in their hard-earned money as offering. Thus as she cries lustfully in the hot sun as she is hungry, the superstitious villagers turn a deaf ear to her wails and keep chanting “Jai Devi”. Their false notions of divinity and reincarnation help them to ignore her cries of hunger and overlook the fact that she is only a hapless little thing.

In the same place where this baby girl is being hailed as a Goddess, her mother is being made a target of the landlords’ evil designs. The Thakur holds her father hostage while her mother begs for his life. The cruel man then decides to trade in the father’s life in exchange of the mother’s honour. The little girl’s mother is helpless-in terms of societal structure since she is located far below the Thakur being poor and a woman. The paradox of the situation is hard to miss-while on the one hand a little girl is being worshiped for being a divine reincarnation, the same child’s mother is being preyed upon for being a poor woman. The irony of the situation is something that is true not only to rural India but also urban India.

Bairi Piya-Amoli, the one who does not have a price, will she finally defeat the Thakur?

The commoditisation of woman in society is a topic that has been much debated upon in academic journals as well as in the common press. Serious art house cinemas have also raised this point time and again. Colors’ Bairi Piya talks about this very pertinent subject, using the idiom of Hindi serials. Set in rural Maharashtra it talks about the impoverished and poor farmers-the small land holders and the landless labourers- who often use the women of their household as one would use money or other possessions. In short women are used as medium of exchange.

The serial begins with a slew of farmer suicides that bring to the fore the miseries farmers have to face in our country. Amoli is the pretty daughter of a poor farmer. Soon she catches the attention of the village landlord, Thakur Digvijay Bhadoria. Her beauty sets his heart aflame with desire and he gets desperate to have her in his life. He tries to marry Amoli, albeit clandestinely, and promises her father to write off his bad debt in exchange. However he is unable to marry her. Thwarted in his evil designs, he tricks Amoli into marrying his man servant, Radhe, a man totally devoted to him.

The diabolical Thakur does his best to lure Amoli into his bed. He tries every trick in the book but fails. Here Amoli, refuses to let herself be used an object owned by either her husband or his cruel master. Her love for Radhe, her unflinching belief in a relationship that is of little value to her husband is wonderful to watch. She brings her strength of character to the forefront every time she resists the Thakur’s advances. Yes, she cries and she laments, but she is also proactive and a firm believer. She refuses to let herself be used as a plaything by the Thakur even as her servile husband stands by meekly.

Fortune favours the brave. And so things have finally started to look up for Amoli. Her husband Radhe has started taking small steps towards the creation of a relationship that can sustain the tag-husband and wife. However Thakur has not given up and it remains to be seen what new tricks he uses to finally fulfill his desire.