Pehredaar Piya Ki - Sony cancels TV show; here is why we think it's a good decision

The pehredaars of Pehredaar Piya Ki have got it all wrong!

Even since the Kapoor Khandaan of the small-screen world unleashed the K-serial contagion on mankind in 2000, Hindi televisions serials have hit one low after another. For years, the Hindi television industry has battled contentions ranging from plagiarism to regression. But nothing could have prepared the world for the curse that is Pehredaar Piya Ki (which will henceforth be referred to as PPK), which makes Sasural Simar Ka seem like Carl Sagan's Cosmos in comparison. If you haven't been living under a rock, by now you know what I am talking about. PPK is a teleserial that the senior executives at Sony TV approved when they were probably high on some fumes. How else do you think such a disgusting story line would have made the cut? Sony recently pulled the plug on the TV show.

For the uninitiated, PPK revolves around nine-year-old Rajasthani Royalty Ratan and his infatuation with a woman twice his age, Diya. Last time I checked, boys that age usually go through a severe woman-hating phase. What has understandably irked 103,106 people (the ones who have signed the change.org petition) is that it normalises marriage and a romantic relationship between a child and a grown woman. There are contentions that the serial has paedophilic undertones thanks to a suhaag raat scene among other cringe-inducing ones.

The outrage is understandable. Indian minister of broadcast and information Smriti Irani has written to the BCCC, asked for its ban. That's something, considering Irani used to be a television actress herself! But what has had me puzzled is a small section of defenders (that surprisingly don't include the people involved in the production and their relatives who are obligated to watch the serial) has risen to PPK's defence saying that the outrage against this television gem is unjustified. They say it is snobbish on our part to tear down "a story of rare bonding" between a creepy nine-year-old and his 25-year-old mom-bride when we lap up all the glorified incest and rape scenes in HBO's Game of Thrones.

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Says one eloquent gentleman on FB: "and what about incest and sex scenes of GOT !!!! total hypocrisy no body forcing anybody to watch !!!! clapping for indian audience"

The argument runs on the same lines as the You-think-marital-rape-is-bad?-Do-you-know-how-many-men-get-framed-for-false-dowry-charges? retort. The implication is that since GOT is revered despite its many moral issues, PPK should at least be allowed to exist on Indian air waves. So your justification for continuing with your tomfoolery is that something even worse exists? I don't know whether this is how the idiom is used but "two wrongs don't make a right!"

Far from being a GOT fan, I am someone who is equally repulsed by how the series has managed to normalise sexual violence and carnage and how it has polarised the viewers against the non-viewers. Getting and making GOT references in conversations can open doors for you. But the difference is, GOT is also set in an era where civil and moral codes were very different from our modern-day ones, whereas PPK is set in today's age. The characters in GOT are semi-fantastical, with magic and dragons being dominant themes. But in PPK, the characters are regular people like you and I. It is possible that the audience can create a mental distance from the nonsense carried out in GOT, but the same cannot be said about PPK. Furthermore, GOT has a niche audience in India whereas PPK has got a wider reach. The damage done by the latter would be far lesser than that done by the former.

My point is, justifying PPK saying GOT is far worse is by no means a legitimate excuse. I know there is a risk of incurring GOT fans' wrath, but I'd be the happiest person to watch both these television serials go. But these useless justifications should stop.

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