AN OVERVIEW OF THE MUSLIM ORIENTED TV SERIALS OF INDIA

Transcription

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY ADVANCED RESEARCH TRENDS
ISSN : 2349-7408
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1, 2014
AN OVERVIEW OF THE MUSLIM ORIENTED TV
SERIALS OF INDIA
Zahoor Hussain Bhat
Sub-editor (Trainee) at United News of India
Karipora, District: Budgam
Jammu and Kashmir (Kashmir)
Abstract
India has more than 20 crore Muslim population who has been
maintaining cordial relationship with all other communities of
the country since centuries. They contribute to the country in every
sphere of life. Providentially Indian people of different
communities take keen interest in knowing their way of living,
their cultures and history. This is evident through the fact that TV
serials based on the Muslim background have remained highly
popular among viewers. During the past three decades, numbers
of TV serials have been made on Muslims background and after a
short interval of disinclination during the first decade of the 21st
century; the trend has got revived as is evident through the success
of soap operas like “Qubool Hai”, “Jodha Akbar” and
“Beintehaa”. The main objective of this paper is to give an
overview about the TV serials that have been set on Muslim
background so far. This will include account on the story content,
success stories and other related matters.
Keywords:
Viewers
Television,
Muslim
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Serials,
India,
Popularity,
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Introduction
India is a multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural
country. It is a second populous country of the world with a share
of 17.4 of the world population. It has a great history of
communal harmony. The concept of religious harmony has deep
roots in its cultures. A country credited with being custodian of
countless and centuries old cultures. Indian cultures vary from
place to place. Dissimilarity in demography, geography, history,
religion and languages separates one culture from the other.
According to the 2001 census, 80.5% of the population of India
practice Hinduism. Islam (13.8%), Christianity (2.4%), Sikhism
(1.9%), Buddhism (1.5%) and Jainism (0.4%) are the other major
religions followed by the people of India. There are hundreds of
languages spoken in India. The People belonging to different
cultures speak different languages. However, on the basis of
speakers in numbers, Hindi and English have been designated as
the official languages of the country. According to the census of
2001, about 41 percent of the Indian population speaks the Hindi
language. Some regional languages also have a good number of
speakers. Census of 2001 discloses that Bengali is spoken by
8.11% (83 million) of the Indian population. Similarly Telegu by
7.19%, Marathi by 6.99%, Tamil by 5.19%, Urdu by 5.01%,
Gujarati by 4.48%, Kannada by 3.69%, Malayalam by 3.21%. The
other regional languages too have a good number of speakers.
Most of the people who are the native speakers of different
regional languages, understand the official languages of the
country in addition. Those who speaking Urdu do understand
Hindi as well and vice versa.
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The constitution of India declares India a secular and a
democratic country. This country upholds this honour in letter
and spirit. History bears witness to the fact that this country
warmly welcomed the people of different religions and
civilizations in the past and this development continues in
present as well. Before the arrival of Britishers to this country,
its land attracted a number of Muslim rulers of different
countries to settle down here. It is said that Muslim rulers ruled
this country for more than one thousand years. They treated all
the people equally. There was no discrimination on the basis of
religion during their rule. After the fall of the Mughal Empire,
when India ha completely gone into the hands of Britishers,
people from all religions unitedly launched a freedom movement.
Muslims played an important role in the freedom struggle. Great
Muslim personalities like Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali, Bahadur Shah
Zafar, Abdul Kalam Azad, Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Hasrat
Mohani and others fought enthusiastically against the occupying
forces. In addition Urdu journalism played a vital role in freedom
struggle. The news reports, articles, features and editorials that
would appear in Urdu newspapers had encouraged Indians to rise
against the occupants. Delhi Urdu Akhbar played an exceptional
role in this regard. Even its editor Moulvi Mohammad Baqir is
the first journalist who was martyred by the British army. These
facts make it obvious that Muslims are an integral part of Indian
civilization.
The main aim behind the above discussion was to shed
some light on the religious, lingual and the cultural diversity of
the country (India). No doubt in India followers of many religions
observe
their
religious
festivals
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together
which
help
in
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strengthening of ‘interfaith relations’. Currently, the hostility
that is being witnessed within the world is attributable to the
explanation that countries have developed ‘misunderstandings’
against one another. Ironically, in the present day, gap between
practices of different religions worldwide is getting widened and
to some extent misconceptions against each other prevail in
India. In this 21st century, mass media is a most powerful tool
which if properly used could easily do away with this ‘gap’ and
‘misconceptions’. In fact it is mass media who introduce the
practitioners of one religion to the practitioners of the other
religion. It can be best used to inform people about different
cultures and religions. Among different forms of mass media,
television is credited with being most preferred means of
communication. It has a capacity to cater the information and
entertainment needs of both the illiterates and literates. There
are now exclusive TV channels for entertainment and
information (news). Entertainment channels have a great
potential of eradicating misconceptions prevailing in the country
between different religions. The number of viewers of TV serials
(soap operas) is escalating with each passing day. If the content of
these soap operas is developed with an intention of doing away
with the misconceptions among different sections of the society
and bridging the gaps between followers of different faiths then it
would be the most impact factor of positive changes. This is not a
new idea. Even the content of India’s first soap opera “Hum Log”
was developed keeping in mind a special cause. “Hum Log” a soap
opera based on 154 episodes was telecasted from July 7, 1984 to
September 17, 1985 on Doordarshan. The main aim behind the
telecast of the serial was to entertain and side by side make
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people aware of some necessary issues. The content of “Hum
Log” had incorporated issues ranging from family planning to the
deliverance of pro-development messages. The idea behind using
soap opera “Hum Log” for addressing some social issues was not
an innovative but the same was adopted from soap operas made
in Mexico and other third world countries. In Mexico and other
third world countries the making of pro-development and prosocial began in 70’s. The pro-development soaps operas in Mexico
succeeded to a great extent in educating people about their social
problems. This clearly indicates that TV serials (soap operas)
could best be used to entertain and educate people about different
cultures and religions. Educate the audience about the
background and the way the followers of these cultures and
religions are living. Furthermore, it could play a role of
‘revolutionist’ as far as eradication of the social evils from the
society is concerned. But it is possible only if the content of TV
serials is developed keeping the motto in mind. I don’t say that
content should be developed entirely ‘social reformer’ centred
and entertainment should be given secondary priority. Soap
operas are basically meant for entertainment and developers
(writers) of the content should keep that. But I say a mixture of
entertainment and messages on social issues would fetch two
goals at a same glance.
An overview
During 8th and 9th decade of the 20th century many Muslim
oriented TV serials were aired on television and were highly
popular. According to an Indian Express report during that
period be it the story of Heena (Simone Singh), who struggles
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through an unhappy marriage or be it Juhi Parmar in the title
role of Shaheen, a serial that dealt with extra-marital affairs, and
the iconic Doordarshan show Gul Gulshan Gulfam, which
revolved around a Kashmiri family’s houseboat business being
affected by the insurgency. They were all popular among viewers.
And the reason for their popularity was the attractive portrayal
of social life and particularly the main reason of fame was their
depiction of Muslim families and their culture. In turn viewers
whole-heartedly watched, liked and applauded them. But during
the first decade of the 21st century a sudden break in the making
of Muslim oriented serials was observed. In fact throughout the
first decade of the 21st century, TV serial producers seemed to be
reluctant about the stories based on Muslim background and had
been entirely a decade dominated by ‘Saas Bahu’ infighting. May
be the producers had approached channels with the stories
portraying the Muslim culture and standard of living but
channels had been unwilling in airing them. It is evident from the
Indian Express report in which Mrinal Jha, creative producer of
Muslim oriented TV serial ‘Qubool Hai’ has been quoted as
having said that ‘they had approached many other channels
before Zee TV but were told that the country at this point of time
was not ready for a show with Muslim backdrop.’
The history about the making of TV serials in India is not
too old. Before the making of TV serials, cinema has been quite
dominant in India. In fact the portrayal of Muslim culture in
India cinema was highly preferred. Jasbir Jain writes in the book
edited by him ‘Muslim Culture in Indian Cinema’: ‘During the
decade of the 1940s and thereafter, most of the movies were set
on Muslim culture. Urdu Ghazals would express the feelings of
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ones heart. Most of the people were reading, speaking and
understanding Urdu language. Script and dialogue writers from
Agha Hashar Kashmiri to Rajinder Singh Bedi, Saadat Hassan
Manto and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas were all Urdu knowing people.
Lyricist like Sahir Ludhianvi and Kaifi Azmi, music directors like
Ghulam Haider and Naushad Ali, singers like Suraiya, Noor
Jahan, Mohammed Rafi and Talat Mahmood were also Urdu
knowing people. Directors like A. R. Kardar, Mehboob and Kamal
Amrohi grew up in Muslim culture.’
It is believed that making of the Muslim oriented TV
serials resulted from the growing popularity of Hindi movies
portraying Muslim cultures and their standard of living. The
movies like Mere Mehboob (1963) and Bahu Begum (1967) are
entirely Muslim oriented. If we look at the Hindi movie Coolie,
the most popular movie of 1980s, was also Muslim oriented and
its song "Mubarak Ho Tumko Haj Ka Mahina" had remained
highly admired. During 1980s few other movies portrayed
Muslim culture and later the movement was carried forward by
TV serials in 1990s. Although, during the first decade of the 21st
century, a sudden break in the telecast of Muslim oriented serials
raised a question mark about the reluctance of the stakeholders.
However, Muslim oriented TV serial made a great comeback in
the second century of the 21st Century and the serials like
“Qubool Hai”, “Jodha Akbar” and “Beintehaa” remained highly
popular among viewers. The serials of 80s and 90s, like Heena,
Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, Shaheen, Khwaish, The Sword of Tipu
Sultan, Phir Wahi Talash, Farman, Mirza Ghalib and the others
were too rich as far as the content is concerned. Through these
serials the actual social life, social issues and the feats of great
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Muslim personalities were portrayed. An attempt has been made
here to present a key review of some Muslim oriented TV serials.
Heena
TV serial ‘Heena’ was aired on Sony Entertainment Television in
five seasons from 1998 to 2003. A serial directed by Talat Jani
and created by Rajeev Tandon. The role of the protagonist
‘Heena’ was played by Simone Singh which brought her name
and fame in the Television Industry and was afterwards known
by the name of ‘Heena’ by millions of TV viewers. The opening
theme song of the serial, in fact a Ghazal, was sung by Jagjit
Singh and the lyrics were written by Kaifi Azmi. The story of the
serial revolves around a Muslim woman named ‘Heena’ and
about the troubles and trials she faces throughout her life. Heena
gets married to a person named Sameer who reveals to her on the
very first day of the marriage that he loves another woman
named ‘Ruby’. Later their dejected marriage ends in separation.
After their separation, Heena marries to Akram who happens to
be a friend of Sameer. When the duo started living a new life,
Ruby enters into the life of Akram as his second wife, therefore,
makes the life of Heena hell again. Again Heena chooses
separation. Heartbroken Heena after suffering massive setbacks
pledges to live a normal life. However, bad luck does not let her
live a normal life. Pregnant Heena gives birth to twins. But her
one child gets kidnapped. In order to calm down Heena from
getting downhearted, her father lies to her, convincing her that
one of the children was born dead. Afterwards she comes to know
that her one child was kidnapped and after an untiring struggle
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she gets her child back and the latter again marries to Sameer
and both start living a happy life.
Gul Gulshan Gulfaam
TV serial ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfaam’ was based on a Kashmiri
Muslim family. It was aired by government owned Doordarshan
on its DD National Channel, in the year 1991, an only TV
Channel of the time and ran for 45 episodes. The serial was
directed by Ved Rahi, produced by Prem Krishen and written by
Pran Kishore. Almost 18 years after the telecast of the serial,
Pran Kishore published a full-fledged novel entitled “Gul
Gulshan Gulfaam”. Like TV serial, the novel was also appreciated
by the readers. Nonetheless, the serial proved to be the first serial
portraying Kashmiri Muslim family and Kashmiri culture. This
serial received nationwide admiration by the viewers. After one
decade the same serial was re-aired by Sahara TV in the year
2002. The award winning music for the serial was given by noted
Kashmiri music composer Krishan Langoo. The story of the serial
tells about a Kashmiri middle class family who owns three
houseboats named ‘Gul’, ‘Gulshan’ and ‘Gulfaam’. The family is
solely dependent on these houseboats as far as family expenses
are concerned. However, their business gets a big jolt when
insurgency starts in Kashmir resulting decline in the number of
tourists visiting the place. The serial tells about the suffering of
the family due to the start of the insurgency in the Valley.
Overall, the serial pictures the negative effects of insurgency on
people’s life. The most outdoor part of the serial was shot in
Srinagar. Kunal Khemu, a native of Srinagar, started his acting
career with serial.
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Shaheen
TV serial ‘Shaheen’ was aired by Sony Entertainment Television.
This serial was produced by Ajay Shah under the banner of
Arvishi Cine Vision ‘Production House’ and was directed by
Pravesh Bhardwaj. Juhi Parmar was portrayed as ‘Shaheen’ in
the serial. The story of the serial revolves around a Muslim
woman named Shaheen. This TV serial projects the present day
standard of living of Nawabs. Underlines the differences between
two cultures of Urban Mumbai and that of Traditional Lucknow.
And particularly informs about those girls that are being forced
to tie knot without considering their will, who therefore, bear the
burnt after marriage. Although Shaheen wants to get further
education, however, gives up study after she is knotted to a
Lucknow based Nawab named Junaid by her father who was very
much keen in this relation. Nawab Junaid is much older than
Shaheen. But that is no issue for her. When Shaheen reaches to
Lucknow, she comes to know that Nawab Junaid has already a
son through her departed wife Nadira. Now she feels deceived by
her own father. She argues why her father conceals all this from
her. After some time she notices undying love in Junaid for his
dead wife Nadira. She was undecided whether to leave or stay.
However gathers coverage later on and decides to pursue further
studies in Lucknow. She joins college where she falls in love with
a poet named ‘Rafee’.
Khwaish
TV serial ‘Khwaish’ entertained the people of both India and
Pakistan when it was aired. This serial was aired by ‘Sony
Entertainment Television’ in India from July 16, 2007 to April
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24, 2008 and by ‘ARY Digital’ in Pakistan. ‘Sony Entertainment
Television’ telecasted it from Monday to Thursday at 7:30 pm.
‘ARY Digital’ too telecasted it from Monday to Thursday, but, at
9:30 pm. It was later aired by Afghanistan based Television
channel ‘Ariana’. The serial was directed by Talat Jani, Muzzamil
Desai, Vijay Saini & Swapnil Shahane and produced by Ekta
Kapoor & Shobha Kapoor. It is said that Ekta Kapoor had a
desire to make a TV serial based on Muslim culture and therefore
the formation of ‘Khwaish’ can be considered as the
accomplishment of her wish. However, she was more excited
when this serial was telecasted in Pakistan and became a first
Indian TV serial to be lawfully aired there. The story of
‘Khwaish’ was written by Harsha, Ved Raj, Koel Choudhary &
Vinod Sharma. Screenplay of the serial was written by Pooja
Shrivastva & Divyanna Khanna. The serial was created by Balaji
Telefilms Nivedita Basu. The story of the serial is based on a
Muslim lady named ‘Afreen Hussain Khan’ (Priya Bathija) who
resides in Dubai with her family. She is a very simple girl with a
simple dream of getting married to a respectable person who
could ensure her happy future life. Luckily her dream comes to
true and Afreen gets married into a rich and a highly regarded
family. She gets a good-looking and a caring husband. But her
happy life does not last for long as her husband Kabir Khan
(Sumeet Sachdev) dies in a road accident. Circumstances lead her
to marry his brother-in-law named Azaan Khan (Yasir Shah).
However their relation soon gets engulfed by hostilities and
misunderstandings against each other which badly affect their
relation. But with the passage of time, they start feeling love for
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each other. One day they see a person who resembles with Kabir
and thereafter, the story takes exciting turns.
The Sword of Tipu Sultan
‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’ is a historical drama. It was aired by
DD National (a government owned TV channel) in the year 199091. Later it was re-telecasted by ‘Star Plus’ in the year 2001 on
Sundays at 8 am. This drama is based on the Bhagwan S
Gidwani’s best selling novel ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’ and
portrays the life and times of great the king of Mysore ‘Tipu
Sultan’. 60 episodes of the series were shown. Viewers had
greatly admired this historical drama and even viewers abroad
had loved it. The reason for their appreciation was the finest
display of Tipu Sultan’s empire of Mysore and standard of living
of its people. The translated form of the episodes was shown in
various languages like Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam. Film
producer and director Sanjay Khan produced this historical
drama under the banner of ‘Numero Uno International’
production house. First 20 episodes were directed by Sanjay
Khan’s elder brother Akbar Khan. However, the rest of the
episodes were directed by Sanjay Khan who also played an
imperative role of ‘Tipu Sultan. Sanjay Khan was awarded with
the honour of Gem of India Award for the making of this
historical drama. The music for the drama series was composed
by legendary musician ‘Naushad Ali’. This drama presents a
summary of ‘Tipu Sultan’ who is considered as one of the
courageous kings of Indian history. It puts in picture an account
of his loyalty towards his territory, the wars he fought and let
viewers know about all those who revered and let him down.
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Phir Wahi Talash
TV serial ‘Phir Wahi Talash’ was telecasted on DD National
during 1989-90 on Sundays. It was directed by well-known film
director Lekh Tandon and won the President's Best Serial of the
year award. The serial was greatly appreciated and liked by
viewers. The presence of Urdu Ghazals in the serial had received
a great admiration from viewers. Especially the title song “Kabhi
haadson ki dagar mile kabhi mushkilon ka saffar mile, yeh
charrag hain meri raah ke mujhay manzilon ki talaash hai
mujhay manzilon ki talaash hai” and Ghazals like “mere hum
safar mere saath tum sabhi mausamon main raha karo…..” and
others had deeply amused viewers. It is said that the title song
was sung by Chandan Das and music was given by renowned
music composer Anil Biswas. Dr. Ashwini Kumar, Poonam
Rehani and Neelima Azim had played leading roles in the serial.
The story of the serial is about a boy who comes to metro from a
small town where he falls in love with a girl who comes from a
well-off family.
Farman
TV serial ‘Farman’ was directed by Lekh Tandon and produced
by Gul Anand. It was aired by Doordarshan in early 90’s. It was a
popular serial of that time. This serial is based on the top selling
Urdu Novel of Rafia Manzoorul Ameen entitled “Alampanah”
which enlightens the life of Hyderabadi Nawabs. The lyrics of the
Ghazal ‘Yaad’ in the serial were written by Sulaiman Khateeb.
The artists who played their roles in the serial were Kanwaljit
Singh (as Aazar Nawab), Deepika Deshpande (Aiman), Raja
Bundela, Navin Nishchol, Vinita Malik, Kalpana Iyer and Neha
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Sharad. Deepika Deshpande was awarded with the honour of
‘Most Promising Newcomer’ for this serial.
Mirza Ghalib
‘Mirza Ghalib’ is a television drama series based on the life and
literary contribution of the great Urdu and Persian poet ‘Mirza
Asadullah Baig Khan’. This series was written and produced by
another prominent poet Gulzar. ‘Mirza Ghlaib’ a biographical
series was aired on Doordarshan’s DD National Channel in the
year 1988 in a single season. Famous Indian film actor and
director Naseeruddin Shah played an important role of Mirza
Ghalib in the drama, on the other hand, Tanvi Azmi played of
Umrao Begum and Neena Gupta of Nawab Jaan. Urdu Ghazals
sung and composed by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh were also
incorporated into the series. Ghazal written by Mirza Ghalib like
Dil-e-Nadaan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai….., Kabse Hoon Kya
Bataaoon….., Unke Dekhe Se Jo Aa Jaati Hai….., Tere Vaade Par
Jiye Hum (Ye Na Thi Humari Qismat) ….., Zulmat-Kade Mein
Mere….., Hazaaron Khvaahishen Aisii….., Aah Ko chaahiye Ik
Umr Asar Hone Tak….., were sung by Jagjit Singh for the serial.
The story of the drama series tells the viewers about the poet
(Mirza Ghalib) who migrants to Delhi from Agra where he faces
financial crunch. Although he initially fails to impress local poets
of Delhi with his poems, however, very soon he impresses all of
them with his creative, logical thought provoking poems.
Alif Laila
Alif Laila is a TV Series based on the 30 stories from the Novel
‘Arabian Nights’. This series was aired on DD 2 (it was a channel
of Doordarshan Network) in 1997 and afterwards on ARY Digital.
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The totals of 143 serials were shown on DD2, however, it is said
that a total of 260 episodes of the series were made. It had
remained well-liked by the viewers from the very first season on
DD National. India Cine-goers Academy awarded Alif Laila with
the ‘Most Outstanding T.V. Serial’ award. Its popularity can be
estimated by the fact that many other channels also re-aired it
and was dubbed in many other Foreign and Indian languages.
Like BTV aired it in Bengali language. It was also telecasted in
South Africa, U.K., Bangladesh, and Srilanka. Sagar Films (Pvt.
Ltd.) is credited with having produced this very much liked
series. It was directed by Anand Sagar, Prem Sagar and Moti
Sagar. Mukesh Kalola was its creative director. The series begins
in an exceptionally reasonable way when Princess Scheherazade
engages Sultan Shahryar in the world of exciting tales in order to
avoid any more killing of women by Sultan. In fact Sultan
Shehryar’s wife had turned disloyal to him which prompted the
Sultan to hate women folk. He would marry a new girl one day
and behead her the next day. Vazir’s daughter Sheharzade
decided to change Sultan, hence, married to him. However
Sheharzade was clever enough to engage Sultan by way of
narrating stories to him. At every morning the story would end at
a point which aroused the Sultan’s curiosity to know what
happened next, as a result, the trend of executing a bride on next
morning got changed. Many popular stories from the Arabian
Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) have been incorporated
into the series. Be that Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Ali
Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the
Sailor or others, all stories had to a great extent engaged viewers.
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This series is credited of entertaining each and every member of
the family.
Jodha Akbar
Jodha Akbar is an Indian historical drama that is being presently
aired by Zee TV in India and Geo Kahani in Pakistan. The drama
was launched by Zee TV on 18 June 2013 and is shown between
Monday to Friday. Ekta Kapoor has produced this series under
‘Balaji Telefilms’ production House. R M Joshi, Binita Desai,
Manish Paliwal, Kirtida Gautam and Mayuri Roy Chaudhary are
contributing as a story and screenplay writers for the series.
Santram Varma is directing this series while Shaalu is playing his
role as a creative director. Rajat Tokas and Paridhi Sharma are
playing the lead roles of Jalaluddin Muhammed Akbar and
Rajkumari Jodha Bai in the series. It is believed that making of
the series resulted from the big screen film ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ by
Ashutosh Gowariker. Ekta Kapoor in an interview with the
Times of India has said that she wanted to make a historical show
and feels excited about the series. This serial tells about the story
of political marriage that took place between Mughal emperor
Akbar and Rajput princess Jodha Bai in the sixteenth century. It
lets know the viewers how their marriage though a political one
brought love in their lives and about the impact this marriage
had on the future of India. Moreover Mughal and Rajput relation,
wars of that period and the functions of the Mughal empire has
been brought into fore. The Jodha Akbar serial is loved by
viewers for a number of reasons and few among them are it deals
with love, tells about warriors, informs how empowered the
women in Mughal rule were, etc.
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Qubool Hai
‘Qubool Hai’ is presently being aired on ‘Zee TV’ in India and on
‘Geo TV’ in Pakistan. It has been produced by Gul Khan and
Nissar Parvez under ‘4 Lion Films’ production house. It was
almost after one decade that with this serial, Muslim oriented TV
serial returned back to the TV screen. Although the idea of the
producer was to target Muslim viewers in the country and abroad
but the serial gained surprising fame in all the communities. In
its beginning this serial was on the outstanding place as far as the
TRP chart for the channel was concerned. The new content
offering in the story did not take time to win hearts of viewers.
The main reason behind it was that viewers were fed up with
every day ‘Saas Babu’ sagas and were keen to see something new.
Producer of ‘Qubool Hai’ realized the requirement of viewers and
therefore, came up with unconventional and striking story. Its
makers were open to reveal that the objective of their serial is to
drive out misconceptions about the Muslim community as a
result of Muslim culture depiction. Viewers did not take time in
loving it and only after few months of its telecast the serial
turned to be No. 1 of all the soap opera’s being telecasted on Zee
TV. Merely 10 weeks of its telecast won for it the ‘number one
serial’ tag on the Zee TV with TVR of 3.4. The serial which is a
narration of the ‘family saga’ was at the start dominated by the
three protagonists, Zoya, Asad and Ayaan.
Beintehaa
‘Beintehaa’ is being aired on ‘Colors TV’. It has been produced by
‘Fortune Productions’ with Farhan Salaruddin its creative
director. It is being directed by Maan Sinh Minku. This serial was
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launched on December 30, 2013 replacing famous show Bigg Boss
7. It is being telecasted at 9.30 pm between Monday to Friday. It
is believed that making of the serial resulted from the growing
popularity of another Muslim oriented serial ‘Qubool Hai’ being
telecasted on Zee TV. The story of ‘Beintehaa’ tells us about the
saga of Zain and Aaliya, chasing them all the way through love,
hate, marriage and particularly acquaints us about their journey
of discovering each other after their marriage. If we talk about
main protagonists in the serial ‘Beintehaa’, female lead Preetika
Rao being featured as Aaliya and male lead Harshad Arora as
Zain. Both the protagonists are performing outstandingly in the
story. Preetika who is the sister of movie actress Amrita Rao
made her lead role debut in television with this serial. According
to a Deccan Chronicle report, she likes the serial being based on
Muslim background. Harshad Arora had been in modelling
previous to joining ‘Beintehaa’ as a male lead character in the
serial. If we see the role of the protagonists through the prism of
a story, Zain plays nicely the role modern boy who has studied in
London and Aaliya of traditional Bopal girl with a good
acquaintance with culture and religion.
Conclusion
In fact most of the TV serials of the present time are showing the
identical theme which mostly revolves around and demonstrate
‘family infighting’, however, the overview of Muslim oriented
serials reflected their diversity. Muslim oriented serials have
almost covered all subjects ranging from social life to
demonstration of beautiful olden times of the country. No doubt
TV serials like Helena, Shaheen and Khwaish are women centred
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in nature but their stories are very much exceptional. They tell
about women's issues that exist in society in the present time too.
They tell about the trials and tribulations of the women. They tell
about the post-marriage suffering of the women folk whose wish
is not considered important at the time of getting them knotted.
Generally makers of the present day serials hesitate in choosing
the subjects of the kind. In overview we also had a look on the
historical series like The Sword of Tipu Sultan, Mirza Ghalib,
Jodha Akbar and Farman. Through these serials viewers came to
know about the warriors of the country like Tipu Sultan,
Jalaluddin Muhammed Akbar and Rajkumari Jodha Bai. In
addition to that they had a chance to know the centuries old
history of the nation. Whereas The Sword of Tipu Sultan, Mirza
Ghalib and Farman have been aired in 90’s, Jodha Akbar that is
being presently aired is a fresh bonanza. Ekta Kapoor and ‘Balaji
Telefilms’ production House deserve an applaud for its making.
In the overview we also came to know about an enemy of ones
solace and economy called ‘terrible circumstances’ in ‘Gul
Gulshan Gulfaam’. Serials like Phir Wahi Talash, Qubool hai and
Beintehaa provided unlimited entertainment to viewers by
showing diverse love stories and Alif Laila was full of natural
adventurers. Therefore, the discussion revealed the diversity of
the Muslim oriented serials. As far as popularity among viewers
is concerned, all the serials discussed in the overview were highly
popular. The latest example for this is of ‘Qubool Hai’ that
merely after 10 weeks of its telecast won the ‘number one serial’
tag on the Zee TV. Most of the discussed serials are award
winning. The usage of Urdu language dialects and inclusion of
Urdu Ghazils in most of the serials had added in their charisma.
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What makes all the serials striking is the presentation of the
Muslim culture and the striking story content. Furthermore, the
popularity of all the serials gives an impression that ‘there is
much scope for Muslim oriented serials all the time in India’.
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AN OVERVIEW OF THE MUSLIM ORIENTED TV SERIALS OF INDIA

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