On the 2nd March 2015, a new Indian television channel, &TV ("AndTV") launched a brand new serial named Gangaa. Gangaa is the name of the central female protagonist, a six year-old child widow. The series is about her integrity, self-respect, strong, positive, indomitable spirit and her determined struggle against the restrictions placed on her by some within her community in Benares for being a widow.
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| Ruhana Khanna as Gangaa, before marriage |
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| Gangaa pursuing education, some time after being widowed |
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| Gangaa showing her fearlessly outspoken and feisty nature as she rebukes and challenges Bal Mahant (Samridh Bawa; first from the Left) and his supporters for behaving disrespectfully towards her and other widows |
To give a brief summary of the background details, Gangaa's kind-hearted, affectionate father (referred to by Gangaa as "Bappa") instills within her some wisdom, morals and values of self-respect, being hopeful, positive, determined, fearless and honest while he is still alive. Yet, he decides to have her marry at a tender age. The reason for this is not clearly shown, but one could interpret this is because of his good intentions of ensuring she is well cared for as a result of his concern for the poverty they live in (as is the case with some impoverished villagers), or social pressures created by extremely conservative and influential people in his community, or a result of a combination of both causes. Sadly, on her wedding day itself, her Bappa and child-husband are both killed in a stampede.
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| Gangaa in her bridal clothes (after her child marriage ceremony) and her father, "Bappa" (Raj Singh Verma), moments before his and her child-husband's deaths |
Soon afterwards, Gangaa is saved from falling into a river by a man, Niranjan Chaturvedi. Soon after Gangaa spots and overhears her father-in-law knowingly lie to rescue officers by declaring her dead and after she finds she cannot bear to live with the highly restrictive rules and customs of an orthodox widows' shelter she is taken to, Niranjan decides to offer her his guardianship and takes her into his family home, whose other residents are his cook, "Maharaj Ji", his wife, Madhvi, his sons, Pulkit and Sagar and his elderly mother, Kanta (referred to by most of her family and friends as "Ammaji"). Ammaji is a widow like Gangaa, but strongly endorses orthodox restrictions on widows and is opposed to the idea of Gangaa staying in the family home. Despite this, she allows Gangaa to stay since she befriends her favourite grandson (and youngest son of Niranjan), Sagar.
Until I started watching Gangaa, I thought I never could stand to watch any mainstream contemporary Indian television serial! To tell the truth, I still generally have a strong dislike for Indian television serials of today. My general impression of the majority of them is that they have the same sort of poorly directed and, thus, overly melodramatic, plastic styles of acting, cardboard cut-outs of black and white characters, costumes, make-up and sets that are jarringly and unrealistically gaudy, loud music that irritatingly never seems to stop for a single appropriately placed breath of silence and storylines that are excruciatingly disconnected from reality and fail to engage audiences on a deep level or present any original ideas that are either entertaining or thought-provoking.
Despite all that, I became curious to know why my mother got hooked onto Gangaa, given that she is much more selective than I am about the films and television programmes she watches - so much so to the point of being what some would call a "culture snob"! I was very surprised to see her staying up late for an extra 2 or 3 hours for a few consecutive days in order to ensure she watched all the episodes she missed before the point she started from! When I asked her why she was staying up until 1-2am and told her to sleep, she explained that she finds the storyline engaging, touching, not far-fetched, well-directed, balanced in the view it presents and promoting good ideals of gender equality, along with other ideals of optimism, honesty and integrity.
After viewing all the episodes shown so far, I am convinced that Gangaa is a commendable Indian television drama. If Rajita Sharma (the story and screenplay writer), Waseem Sabir (the director) and the producers will continue the good overall standard of work they have created so far, Gangaa could be a valuable classic.
Before I explain why I strongly like this series, I would first like to point out what I see to be its weak points and flaws. I think it's only fair to warn readers of any elements they possibly would dislike so that I can't blame myself (or be blamed) for what some may find painful! The good news in my view is, with only one exception, these drawbacks are minor surface details. I would argue that the flaws do not outweigh the series' strong points.
Firstly, the only major flaw I see is the abrupt replacement of the actress Priya Wal, who appears later on in the series to play the role of Madhvi's cousin, Barkha, a bicultural young adult with some Western cultural behaviours and lifestyle choices. The new actress' first appearance as Barkha in episode 172, after Priya Wal's last appearance in episode 171, sorely juts out. I understand there may be a good reason for re-casting. Perhaps some unprecedented, extenuating circumstances resulted in this. Of course, extenuating circumstances or death of an actor in the middle of a film or television series is possible and has happened before. For example, the passing away of Richard Harris in 2002 resulted in Michael Gambon being re-cast to replace him in the role of Albus Dumbledore (in the Harry Potter film series). However, my objection is while Michael Gambon resembles Richard Harris while in the role of Dumbledore and replicates Harris' characterisation, the actress who has replaced Priya Wal in Gangaa bears no resemblance to her at all and delivers a noticeably different characterisation that is comparatively lacklustre.
While Priya Wal has light-coloured eyes, a snow-white complexion and sports below-the-shoulder-length, curly brown hair, the new actress has olive-brown skin, dark eyes, straight black hair and has a build and facial features that are completely different. Priya Wal delivers a memorably believable and likeable characterisation of Barkha as being charmingly boisterous, youthful, outgoing, bubbly and jovial. The new actress, on the other hand, characterises Barkha as somewhat stiff, less pleasant, less bubbly and more artificial as a result of overacting and being less convincing in her performance, as opposed to Priya Wal's natural acting. Priya Wal nicely conveys how more Westernised women of India, such as Barkha, can be caring and culturally sensitive towards less Westernised friends and relatives and also have good relations with them. For instance, there is a moving, beautifully natural and realistic moment created partly from Priya Wal's delivery. This is when Barkha allays Madhvi's unwarranted suspicion that she is having an affair with Niranjan through a subtle gesture (perhaps knowingly or unknowingly). The new actress does not show the same natural warmth and ease as Priya Wal when engaging with Madhvi and other characters in the Chaturvedi family and Gangaa. I would argue this somewhat goes against what I interpret as the story's purpose of having Barkha represent those among Indian women who either are bicultural or have more progressive views on gender equality and could have a positive influence on extremely orthodox Indians. Nonetheless, maybe the actress will improve in time, with the proper and focused direction that Waseem Sabir has exercised with others in the cast. Moreover, I would argue that her sudden superimposition is a minor blemish on the beauty of the series.
Secondly, a cautionary note I would give is mistakes in the authenticity of costume design, make-up and set design should be avoided. On one hand, I would argue that most of the characters wear costumes and make-up that are realistic and neither understated nor exaggerated or over-the-top. Nonetheless, in episode 171 broadcast on the 28th October 2015, I noticed that during a scene involving traditional Hindu prayers families have for deceased relatives, a male Hindu Brahman priest character named Gautam (and formerly known as "Bal Mahant") was missing his "Janeo" or a "sacred thread" that is to be worn by all male Brahmans on their torso. In terms of paraphernalia that any male Brahman is supposed to have, this error would be quite glaring for any viewers who have good familiarity with Hindu culture and customs. I would argue that this does not subtract from the strength, depth and realism of the series' plot, themes and ideas, overall direction and character development. However, this does reflect some lack of attention to the authenticity of costume design that highly critical viewers could magnify and interpret as indicating the series' creators have not been thorough while researching their themes and the real-life people the series' characters represent. Repeating this error and similar mistakes could consolidate such views and cause the series' actual depth and substance beneath those surface details to be doubted, overlooked or decried by very particular viewers.
Thirdly, there are occasional moments of melodrama and a few crumbs of slightly tacky visual and sound effects. Echoes are sometimes used when a character delivers a dramatic line or gets slapped. During some of these moments, the camera freezes on some characters' faces while the colour of the film fades to black-and-white, supposedly for the intention of conveying these characters' shock or horror. Nonetheless, in my humble opinion, these elements are sparse blips.
Fourthly, I don't recall a moment of background silence an absence of background music in any of the episodes shown so far. On one hand, I personally think the music score within itself is very good. The music composer, Ashish Rego, and the singers and musicians under his direction are to be commended for their work here. Some of the soundtracks, such as the sad and happy versions of the theme song are beautifully composed and sung so as to be evocative and and atmospheric. I view the theme song as a new addition to timeless classics. The lyrics are beautiful and inspiring for their encouragement of girls and women, as their description of the River Gangaa (Ganges) is a metaphor of the protagonist Gangaa's character:
Gangaa bahee chali jaaye.
Gangaa bahee chali lehron se rastaa banaaye.
Gangaa dukh mein bhi muskaaye.
Iski boondon mein khushiyaa chhupee hain.
Iski lehron ne manzil chhuni hain.
Har rut chale sar uthaaye.
Ye dukh mein bhi muskaaye.
Gangaa dukh mein bhi muskaaye.
English Translation:
Gangaa keeps going.
Gangaa keeps going and, through her own flow, creates a pathway.
Gangaa, even in sadness, keeps smiling.
Within her drops of water, happiness is concealed.
Her waves have chosen their own destination.
She goes through every season with her head lifted high.
She keeps smiling, even in sadness.
Gangaa, even in sadness, keeps smiling.
The soundtracks have been placed very well in some moments of the series. However, I do believe that for some sorts of moments in any film or television series, background silence has a stronger impact than background music and sound effects. Within the field of filmmaking, any included elements should serve the film's or television show's purpose. When aiming to create a powerful film piece about a serious social issue, sound and silence should be used appropriately for increasing the viewers' focus in order to enhance the volume and, in turn, the power, emotional impact and absorption of the story's substance and message, instead of jarring the audience and ironically drowning out the volume with sound. There are some moments where the music is too loud, even when it matches the moments' moods. Appropriately placed breaks between the music for some silence would prevent admirers of more naturalistic filmmaking from being too overwhelmed by the sound instead of the substance.
Nonetheless, having said that, what makes sitting through this easier for me is I like most of the soundtracks. Also, I've become almost desensitised so as to tune it out. Moreover, a point I would like to make to those who may strongly dislike this element is, to be fair and in defence of the creators of Gangaa, they perhaps intend to make a far-reaching appeal in order for the success of their good cause of promoting gender equality throughout India. For that to happen, they ideally must grab the attention of as many people in India as possible, rather than just smaller factions of niche audiences. As annoying as as interludes of high melodrama, garish visual and sound effects and loud music are for admirers of more naturalistic, subtle and sophisticated styles of filmmaking, mainstream Indian audiences seem to like those surface details and, thus, be drawn to watching films and television dramas that feature them. Perhaps they would actually be more likely to be more emotionally engaged, touched and compelled to take positive action to resolve the issues that Gangaa highlights as a result of these very commercial elements that I and other viewers similar to myself might dislike. This is one of the important reasons why I can forgive the inclusion of those features. Another important reason I have is, just like a diamond in the (slightly) rough, the credible, compelling storyline, the very themes and ideas Gangaa presents and the generally very strong, believable acting break through and shine. I find all this admirable substance worth the forbearance of the re-casting for the role of Barkha and the minor flaws within the superficial details.
To explain the main strengths of Gangaa, firstly, the vast majority of the cast has been directed well and consistently show their strong talent by acting naturally, with far between and barely noticeable slips into unnecessary melodrama. In contrast with characters typically seen in forgettable serials that are excruciatingly broken from reality, the main characters in Gangaa are well-rounded, complex and believable so as to feel like real, tangible people with plausible relationships and their own sets of strengths, weaknesses, grey areas, personal struggles and development instead of cardboard cut-outs of black or white characters with unrealistic relationships.
The creators have successfully represented the real mindsets, outlooks, perspectives, attitudes, struggles and issues of differences and disputes within and between generations of conservative, liberal, regressive and progressive people within some families and societies in India. They treat all of them with an objective, balanced, non-judgemental understanding and empathy and, thus, send out a good message to urge their audience to do the same with people in real life, for the sake of bringing about positive change through constructive criticism, corrective action or activism that doesn't involve ingratiation, alienating or antagonising anyone so as to create and perpetuate enmity. I like how they show the diversity of personalities and real lack of uniformity in India. For example, I appreciate how they represent the more progressive and liberal Indians through Niranjan and his endorsement of gender equality. I also like how his wife, Madhvi (played by Gungun Uprari), represents some of the real, more obedient Indian women who are good-hearted and generally wise but uncomfortably pulled in the middle of clashes of outlooks between people like her husband and mother-in-law. Other, more liberated women like Barkha are also represented later in the series. I greatly appreciate how the creators have avoided negatively stereotyping women of Ammaji's generations as narrow-minded, hardened and strictly orthodox, through the side character of an elderly widow called "Pishimaa" (Bengali term for "aunt"). She lives in the aforementioned widows' shelter and nicely represents older generations of women in India who are more gentle, peaceful sympathetic, understanding and flexible towards girls and women like Gangaa. I like how troublemakers and difficult , more manipulative, narrow-minded men, women, girls and boys are represented by Omkar, Prabha, Yash, Chandan and Bulbul. The relationships and differences between all the characters in the Chaturvedi household are an exceptionally good representation of the reality and complexity of family relationships in India, as are also the realistic representations of relationships outside the Chaturvedi household.
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| Madhvi in the middle... All three actors have delivered strong performances to demonstrate some examples of real conflicts of outlooks as well as complications in relationships between generations of some Hindu families. L to R: Hiten Tejwani as Niranjan Chaturvedi, Gungun Uprari as Madhvi and Sushmita Mukherjee as "Ammaji" |
Additionally, I believe that especially crucial roles for the power the series are those of Ruhana Khanna as Gangaa, Sushmita Mukherjee as "Ammaji" (Kanta), Hiten Tejwani as Niranjan Chaturvedi and Swar Hingonia as Sagar Chaturvedi. Ruhana Khanna, a six year-old in real life, gives a stunningly good performance as Gangaa. Through her self-respect, resilience in the face of trials and struggles in the story and with her personal development, strengths and weaknesses, Gangaa is a relatable and very inspiring role model for Indian girls and women. Experienced actors, Sushmita Mukherjee and Hiten Tejwani, as well as the talented new ten year-old Swar Hingonia deliver equally good performances.
Kanta or "Ammaji" is one of the characters who well represents women within the older generation of Indians. What I greatly appreciate is how her character is not depicted as purely evil nor depicted through a judgemental lens, but is instead projected as a realistic emblem and psychological case study of orthodox Indian women, whose personalities are understood by Rajita Sharma and Waseem Sabir as a complex of some good, bad as well as grey areas of contradictions and misconceptions. Without giving too much away, my analysis is that she is shown to have some good qualities and morals. She does stand up for some girls and women like her granddaughter, Drishti (or "Babli") and her friend and widow, Sudha, who are ill-treated by some men such as Omkar, but is also contradictorily misguided in her notions of supposedly prescribed customs for widows and privileges exclusively for males in general and widowers. She is also insecure so as to feel that Gangaa threatens her position in the family and the social status quo prescribed by some orthodox ideals (which she perceives as being prescribed by some Hindu scriptures and being correct). I like that (as the director, Waseem Sabir himself said in an interview) her character and some other female characters in Gangaa represent the reality of how many Indian women share some of the responsibility for the oppression of their own gender. There is a notable number of mothers, daughters, sisters and mothers-in-law who themselves mete out abuse and restrictions to other girls and women, keep rivalry with them and show a lack of empathy towards them.
In contrast with her, Niranjan Chaturvedi's character is a good representation of the progressive, reasonable and mature gentlemen of my parents' generation in India who do exist and are not given much exposure in popular feature films, television programmes and mainstream news stories. He frequently clashes with Ammaji because of his support for Gangaa's personal development and strength that stems from his endorsement of gender equality and hence, education and other equal opportunities for all females, as opposed to Amman's inherent favour of some privileges for males and belief that education for Gangaa and all other widows is unnecessary. He has a good understanding of Gangaa, openly appreciates her intelligence, honesty, boldness and strong sense of self-respect, empathises with her, feels angry and upset for her whenever he knows she has been ill-treated by anyone and frequently stands up for her. He is a highly responsible guardian and father figure for Gangaa, advises her, rebukes her for any wrongdoing and constructively criticises her out of concern for her welfare. Yet he also understands that even though she is innocent, she has also grown up very quickly because of being widowed and orphaned at a tender age. Out of respect for that and her feelings, whenever Gangaa makes a decision for truly maintaining her self-respect, even if it means handling anything alone and causing him concern for her, Niranjan offers her help and advice for an alternative, but does not impose on her. He treats her as well as his sons with sensitivity and a generally balanced approach. Therefore, he is exemplary for young fathers. He is a positive role model for adult Indian males in general because of his constant assertion, sense of justice, respect for girls and women and balanced, gentlemanly nature.
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| Gangaa and Niranjan on their way to the Chaturvedi family home, after Gangaa agrees to live there for the first time |
Sagar develops a tumultuous but heartwarming and beautiful friendship with Gangaa. He grows and matures in terms of his personal development and attitude towards her. I believe his character development effectively represents the same innocence and indiscrimination boys are born with as girls. He is a good representation of how some Indian boys face setbacks of being born innocent, but associated with others who try to negatively influence them to develop prejudices against girls and women, particularly widows and those from rural rural villages of a lower socioeconomic status than them. I find him tangibly real and as endearing as Gangaa. Swar Hingonia's remarkable talent and versatility show through his impressively natural acting and well-rounded characterisation of Sagar. He becomes his role and is, thus, emotionally engaging.
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| Swar Hingonia as Sagar |
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| Sagar and Gangaa sharing a moment of unspoken solidarity |
Overall, I find Gangaa to be promising so far. My only concern is I hope the creators won't repeat one huge mistake typically made by other Indian soap opera creators. That is, dragging on the series for too long with unnecessary filler episodes that are poorer in substance, lacking any sensitively, maturely or realistically delivered messages/themes of much importance and sensibility, in comparison with the episodes broadcast so far. Doing so would distort the overall picture of the series, make it a cluttered mess and damage its beauty. It would be like making unnecessary additions to an already beautiful dress so as to cheapen it and make it tacky. One especially detrimental way of doing so would be to keep creating implausible and torturously long repetitions of storms and upsets in relationships between the positive characters, especially Gangaa's and Sagar's friendship.
The past challenges to Gangaa's and Sagar's friendship are possible and do powerfully highlight and warn of the real negative influences some prejudiced people create to perpetuate problems of classism, sexism and gender inequality. However, since these problems were realised and overcome by them, the creators should stress a good message conveying that while it's obviously natural to make mistakes and sometimes be misguided or manipulated, people should learn from any major mistakes once they realise them and determine not to repeat them too many times. They should demonstrate this by having Sagar and Gangaa trust each other, keep the loyalty and solidarity of their unity and mutual understanding. This would demonstrate a good example of strong, true friendship, mutual understanding, care and respect between boys and girls, men and women and, hence, gender equality. I do hope Rajita Sharma, Waseem Sabir and the producers will not mistakenly decide otherwise for the sake of conforming with commercial theatrics of creating overstretched melodrama of excessively repeated misunderstandings, disputes and complications between the same characters. If they do, what probably will result is the creators may defeat their own purpose of creating a powerful appeal and inspiring positive action and change for gender equality as audiences will become bored or put off and will stop taking the series and its characters seriously. Treating the series itself, its characters and the audience with respect for intelligence and sensibility (instead of unintelligent insensibility and sensationalism), by keeping the plot crisp and focused on continuing to promote critical thinking and good ideals, will result in a consistently good standard that will maintain respect and responsiveness from the audience in return.
To conclude, I would give the Gangaa series an overall rating of 4/5 stars, 3/5 stars for its technical details (costume design, make-up, sound and visual effects, set design) and 4/5 stars for its overall direction, storyline, depth and substance. I consider it to be a commendable Indian television drama for its realistic representations and promoting the cause of obscured Indian girls and women. I hope the creators will maintain the good standard of their work so as to inspire real, positive change for gender equality and that Gangaa will be a classic to be valued by more generations to come.
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