Star Plus’ popular drama series Anupamaa recently completed 1000 episodes. Anupamaa launched 3 years ago during the pandemic in July 2020 and has been consistently ruling the ratings chart since then. The series has been extremely popular amongst the women for its plot as the protagonist, Anupamaa walks out of a toxic marriage after 25 years and decides to follow her dreams.
In the initial promo, Anupamaa was introduced as a middle-aged housewife who was looked down upon by her husband and children. The show instantly gained popularity as women, especially housewives across the country related with the lead character. Being a homemaker is considered to be a thankless job and most housewives do not receive any gratification or validation from their families. Similarly, Anupamaa’s sacrifices for her family too go unnoticed and she doesn’t receive the love and respect from her husband or children which she rightfully deserves.
Viewers cheered for Anupamaa when she divorced her toxic and narcissistic husband Vanraj and took charge of her own life. Anupamaa’s divorce made many housewives believe that it’s never too late to start over and to chase their dreams. A woman breaking the shackles of marriage and trying to create her own identity at mid 40s is quite inspirational, isn’t it? But under the garb of feminism and progressiveness, it is the same old kitchen politics and saas-bahu drama which is served to the viewers by makers. After watching the episodes one realises that Anupamaa is not about women empowerment or gender equality but is indeed anti-feminist!
Like the lead of every other Indian daily soap, the character of Anupamaa also is way too idealistic which makes her seem unreal and too good to be true. Anupama can cook, can sew, can dance, can single-handedly organize a party or event, can do everything under the sun. She is what they term as “sarvagun sampann“. But often Anupamaa is also seen making anti-women or sexist comments and normalizing the patriarchal ideologies such as – “women must strike a balance between their career and family life”.
Wearing sarees, hair neatly tied in choti, Anupamaa stereotypes the image of an idealistic Indian woman. And while Anupamaa is revered for being the ideal woman, there are other women characters in the show who are demonised for not being like her. Someone is criticised for not being compassionate like her, someone for not being adjusting or accomodating like her, someone for being disrespectful or someone for being materialistic. And then Anupamaa tries to transform them into being “sarvagun sampanna” just like her by giving long lectures on how to be an ideal woman / bahu / maa etc.
Career oriented or progressive and modern women are generally negative or home-breakers in most of our daily soaps and Anupamaa is no different. The character of Rakhi Dave who is the mother of Anupamaa’s daughter-in-law Kinjal, is a rich and successful businesswoman but is portrayed in a negative light in the show for not being a doting mother like Anupamaa. So much so that, Kinjal who herself is a working woman is shown to be more influenced by Anupamaa than her own mother Rakhi. Seems like the makers want every working woman to feel guilty about not being able to give time to their offsprings.
While Vanraj’s betrayal is easily forgiven and forgotten by his family, Kavya is labelled as the other woman and a home-breaker. The character of Kavya, Vanraj’s mistress (now his wife) is modern, independent and ambitious. But after her marriage with Vanraj, Kavya keeps trying to fit in Anupama’s shoes and be the ideal bahu. Vanraj is not just a narcissistic husband but chauvinistic too. Despite himself being jobless, he objects Kavya’s modelling career and in attempts to be like Anupamaa, Kavya is seen giving up on all her dreams and aspirations.
An 11 episodic prequel titled “Anupama: Namaste America” was launched on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar last year where it is revealed how Vanraj and his mother had crushed Anupamaa’s dreams of going to USA to build her career as a dancer, 17 years ago. In recent episodes, Anupamaa finally gets a chance to fulfill her dream of going to USA once again. But this time too she sacrifices it, for the sake of her foster child. Anupamaa’s dance teacher Malti Devi criticizes Anupamaa for her decisions. Here, in flashback viewers get to know how Malti Devi had abandoned her new born baby to become a renowned dancer. Malti Devi is depicted as an evil and unaffectionate mother while Anupama is lauded for her sacrificial nature.
The makers have been trying to create a social impact by highlighting some sensitive issues such as rape or domestic violence through the show. However, in a bid to portray Anupama as a flag bearer of righteousness, they often deviate from the issue or trivialize it. A woman who keeps lecturing everyone about morality but lets her daughter join her husband’s business without any work experience or even completing basic degree in college doesn’t sound too idealistic, right?
Tbh, the male characters in the show such as Bapuji (Anupamaa’s father in law), her younger son Samar and her second husband Anuj Kapadia are the ones who are truly breaking stereotypes with their empathetic and sensitive demeanor. Times have changed and people hardly raise an eyebrow nowadays on mention of divorce or second marriage. Really wish the makers stop portraying Anupamaa as extra “mahaan” or a “Devi” and instead make her more relatable!
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