Cinema and television have a huge role to play in shaping the culture of our society. One of the shows that ruled the roost and entertained us for over a decade has been Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. At a time when the saas-bahu saga was in vogue, a sitcom with characters that were relatable and did not take themselves seriously came across as a breath of fresh air. There were problematic aspects involved in the earlier episodes too, but since the show was all about innocuous humor, viewers perhaps did not find anything wrong with it.
Earlier, we laughed at different characters trying to navigate through their lives’ challenges, and now we are perhaps supposed to empathize with their melodrama. Over the years, the show has kind of metamorphosed itself into a sermon-preaching drama. The makers seem to have taken the responsibility of imparting values to society upon themselves. That is where the show has become a bore-fest and kind of exacerbated some of the problematic bits.
While the entire show was conceptualized based on stereotyping characters belonging to different states, one of the characters in the popular sitcom has perhaps taken the concept of stereotyping to an extreme level.
Yes, it is none other than Patrakaar Popatlal. Popatlal is a character played brilliantly by Shyam Pathak. It has become an iconic character over the years, but it is quite surprising that there has hardly been a conversation about how problematic that character is. To start with, the entire character is based on the perception that single men are unhappy. While there is no doubt that there are single men who crave companionship, yet to convey that being single is some sort of curse is propagating the false notion that marriage is the be-all and end-all of human existence. It is an extremely caricaturish portrayal of a single man.
Even worse is the way uncourteous behavior with the opposite sex is justified and passed off as desperation and a consequence of loneliness. Approaching random women and initiating conversations around their marital status in the first interaction is deplorable and unbecoming of the socially conscious journalist that the character portrays. It again reinforces the misconception that once you cross a certain age, the concept of compatibility and understanding goes for a toss, and you are supposed to make a compromise to be willing to share your life with literally anyone out of desperation. Maybe the character could find closure when the show ends (which doesn’t seem to happen anytime soon) by realizing there is more to life than your marital status.
It is high time that the makers understand that certain behaviors cannot be passed off in the name of comedy. Stereotyping beyond a point gets irritating. More viewers need to call out such acts and characters that propagate problematic bits so brazenly. With the show tackling multiple social issues, they need to reflect on their own story tracks and characterization and ensure they don’t come across as hypocrites. The show that was meant to herald a change has eventually sunk so low that watching it feels reminiscent of watching melodramatic early 2000s TV shows with such one-dimensional characters.
I hope the makers revamp the show, and considering the popularity the show enjoys, stop normalizing acts that should never find acceptance in a plural society.