Atul Subhash and the Curious Case Of Indian Television
At least three Indian TV shows have suddenly started men-as-victims tracks immediately after the much-talked-about case.
"The lie that is told loudly is heard by all, but no one wants to listen to the truth spoken softly. Especially when an accusation is made by a woman, because nobody wants to hear the man's side"
The words may seem like a monologue from a film or a drama series, but this is how actor Salman Khan opened the weekend episode of his reality show Bigg Boss last week. He was referring to an allegation made by one of the contestants, Kashish, against another, Avinash Mishra. The allegation itself was a strange one: Avinash said Kashish came to him to 'create an angle'. What that means is anybody's guess. The objection to this statement, however, was raised not even by Kashish but by another contestant: Sara Arfeen Khan, a mind coach who has also acted in the Singham franchise.
As far as one could gather from the events that followed, Kashish and Avinash sat near the swimming pool flirting with each other around ten days ago, after which Avinash supposedly made this damning (?) statememt. Then, suddenly, Sara remembered this statement by Avinash and mentioned it during a task, and soon, it became a full-blown issue. A mock trial was constituted inside the Bigg Boss house, with Avinash being the defendant. Words like 'character assassination' and 'woman card' were thrown around freely. The trail ended with Avinash being given a clean chit, and in the weekend episode that followed, Avinash's innocence and Kashish and Sara's guilt were further cemented by Salman Khan. Sara was eliminated and evicted from the house the next day.
If you don't watch Bigg Boss and if this has left you bewildered, you are not alone. Even those who watch Bigg Boss regularly are equally befuddled. This writer would like to mention in his defence that he is not a regular viewer, but this 'issue' caught his attention because of one reason: This happened exactly while the rest of the world was talking about Atul Subhash. The now deceased Subhash had recorded a long video of himself, narrating how his wife had been suing him for divorce and demanding alimony in crores of rupees, how she was manipulating the laws traditionally designed to support victims of domestic violence and abuse and even had the judge on her side. He also left behind a 24-page suicide note about his ordeal before taking the extreme step.
The incident sparked off outrage and concern, and rightly so, among everyone. But outrage comes in different forms. Some outraged with logic, others outraged with emotion, and there were those who found the perfect incident to use for their own agenda: How women are the real villains and how all the cases they file are false and how the laws of the land are skewed terribly in women's favour and against men. Someone actually used the term 'legal genocide' to describe the 'plight of Indian men', even as a sexual assault accused secured bail, murdered his victim and dismembered her body.
Is it, then, sheer coincidence, that Avinash Mishra's old statement was suddenly dredged up and turned into a trial exactly when a section of society was milking the Atul Subhash case to the fullest? Maybe. But just before Bigg Boss, the same channel shows another serial, Mangal Lakshmi, a story of two women facing various challenges in life. Of these, Lakshmi is currently grappling with a similar challenge, where the vamp has filed a false case of molestation against Lakshmi's husband. As with most TV serials, facts and logic have taken a vacation. Over the few days that this writer, in the interests of fearless journalism, put himself through the serial for research purposes, the vamp has kidnapped the defendant's lawyer, destroyed all evidence of his innocence and attacked Lakshmi physically as well. Her lawyer has repeatedly told her how the laws are 'in favour of women in such cases' and how this was the 'easiest case he ever fought', even as the ashen faced defendant was taken away to prison in handcuffs in a trail that began and ended in record time; the kind of time we wish actual cases of molestation were settled in our overburdened courts.
Television, we have always been told right since school, is a powerful medium. The content you see on the screen has the power to shape opinions. This is the reason why the greatest filmmakers, the late Shyam Benegal included, also made powerful content for TV as well. And it is not as if we don't have experience handling sensitive matters like sexual assault when it comes to television content. One still remember the serial Shanti for the way it handled the issue of sexual assault, and the careers it made.
How healthy, then, is it for popular TV serials to pander to a dangerously one-sided narrative rather than choose a more balance, sensitively handled approach?
For decades, we seem to have missed the point: crimes against women and crimes against men are two issues independent of each other, and need to be approached independently. There is nothing to be gained by turning it into a war. Both sides have enough issues of their own without getting caught up in a bitter fight against each other. Just to cite a small example, the new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita has no provisions whatsoever to take legal action against forcible unnatural intercourse on men. We, however, see no hashtags trending on social media, no protest marches, no signature campaigns and no demands for amendments.
Meanwhile, just before starting this article, this writer saw the trailer of an upcoming episode of Lakshmichya Pavlani (Through the feet of Goddess Lakshmi), a Marathi serial that is as popular as the Hindi ones mentioned above. The plot? The police turning up at the male lead's doorstep to arrest him in a molestation case, and the female lead rising to his defence.