Small fight against social evils

When television first came into the lives of common man, its primary focus was to disseminate information. With entertainment eventually taking over, the small screen became a strong contender rivalling movies, theatre, and other forms of entertainment. Now, information and entertainment strikes a balance despite the latter being the popular choice. Fighting social evil and creating awareness among the public on diverse issues, the small screen has been the most effective tool in recent times. The number of programmes and shows that revolve around evils in the modern day world are gaining relevance. The small screen has been playing its part too, Bengaluru Chronicle reports.

There are many examples of such socially upright messages on the small screen today — Puttagowri Maduve throws light on child marriage while Subbalakshmi Samsara explores domestic violence, and the serial Avalu deals with surrogacy. “Despite the constant race to stay on top when it comes to ratings, private channels are putting their efforts on infusing awareness against social evils such as female foeticide, domestic violence, dowry harassment, while also creating awareness on education, and many similar issues that exist. Corporates too have started to realise that they have a duty to perform too, and cannot always look at profit-making as their sole means. Television which reaches all, is an effective tool, and programmes and shows which make the audience aware is the need of the hour,” says writer and actor Venkatesh.

Recently, serials like Mounaraga, which is essentially details the struggles of a girl who survives female foeticide but is born mute focuses on spreading awareness. “Deprived of a father’s love and affection even before birth for being a girl child, and being mute, she faces hardship every day.  The only support Raga has is her mother’s unconditional love. Raga lives with the hope of receiving her father’s love one fine day,” say the makers of the serial adding that statistics of the previous census in our country reveals appaling figures. “Around 2.39 lakh girls below five years of age die in India every year, and around 1.2 crore Indian girls have been aborted since 1981. Such is the sad state of the Girl Child in our country.”

The promos of another reality show Kannadada Kanmani is making the right noise with a talented school-going girl explaining about the harsh realities of dowry harassment in India.

“It need not always be a special and dedicated show to create awareness. Writers are infusing messages even in serials and reality shows about social evils. It is the best way to reach people while entertaining them. The percentage of the audience watching dedicated programmes on such evils is low, and regular popular shows intelligently convey such messages across demographics,” senior artiste Srinivas concludes.