So I watched the drama called #SunoChanda as requested by a friend specifically to highlight how such dramas are affecting our society as a whole and our kids as individuals. I will be honest here I stopped watching dramas a long long time ago but still at times while switching the channels I stop over few scenes and get the chance to applause myself again on sticking to this "NO DRAMAS" policy. However, since I was asked to watch this drama (Episode 11 to be precise) and play the role of an active speaker/blogger/influencer in raising my voice against the content, I did & here is what I have to say about it:
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| Social Dilemma of Pakistani Media Industry - Who reviews the content to be aired? |
Apparently the drama is specifically made for the blessed month of Ramadan, but to my surprise the story line was no different from any random drama we see these days! Typical family politics, conspiring against the other family members, blackmailing, lying and invading other's privacy by listening to their private conversations is being shown in the drama like its a usual routine thing (and a preferred way of behaving as well). It is totally OKAY to scream back to your parents and negate them in the pathetic camouflage of humor. It is OK for the adults to plan a way of making their elders happy just for some materialistic benefits they can suck out of them. I am unable to understand what such dramas are teaching our future generations. Are the content managers of the media industry (if they actually do exist) are actually reviewing the content or not. Kids listening to their adult's personal conversation AND making a video recording of that ??? How exactly is this supposed to be funny and interesting? Are you telling the children its ok to behave like adults and lose their innocence at such early ages? Men having interests outside their marriages is again a very COMMON thing in the dramas making the kids think its totally fine and rather "accepted" in the society. Imagine our chidren taking their relationships so easy in the future, are we not putting our own daughter's (& sons') future in stake by showing all this. Where are the social, moral & ethical values where people need to understand the other person's space & behave with appropriate amount of dignity. Kids need to act their age & not to yell back at their parents. What are we teaching our children by watching such dramas in front of them. Believe me even if you think that they are just playing with their toys, they are watching & observing every single thing. Every small thing makes an impact on their mind. Please do not contaminate their little brains with all this content. In this age where even the cartoons need to be filtered as appropriate/inappropriate for the kids, we as mothers need to be very careful what content our children are exposed to. Please wake up and open your minds.
My request to the media industry will be to please re visit their content policies, humor is not always cheap. Invest in quality content humor and please start rating system for clarifying which content is appropriate for a certain age group. Showing extra marital affairs, cheating, screaming, conspiring and much more is not always the formua for a successful & profitable project.
Considering the criticality of the situation, I personally think that the biggest responsibility lies with us as an audience. The media industry is bound to show the stuff which gets them money, ratings & viewership. Its a business at the end of the day. They will do whatever gets them more money. Once we educate ourselves and understand that we do not have to watch every single thing on the tv, we need to cut down on the content which is inappropriate, unethical, immoral and illogical. Only when we as a society will stop watching such things, the industry will revisit its mindset and modify the content. As long as we are watching such things, they will continue making more of such displays. It is high time that we realize our responsibility as the viewers. Please wake up & act before its too late. No one else will be harmed except for our children, our future, so we need to act fast. Let's start it from our homes and the society might follow. Let's be the first stone to roll in the right direction, we may or may not get followers but at least we would have played our own part.
