Sometime back everyone wanted to ban the show Pehredar Piya Ki because it showed the marriage of a 10 year old boy to an 18 year old girl. There was nothing romantic about it but just a display of friendship but everyone had a problem. The show was eventually banned and it’s format changed. Now we see a new show by the name of Barrister Babu on Colors where there is a similar situation with roles reversed. The little girl with sindoor in her maang, mangalsutra and this saree is shown with an adult guy, why is this not a problem to anyone? Because this is so common in Indian history? Because little girls can be married off but little guys married puts the wrong impact on the society?

We need to stop this cliche thought process and ban this program. She is a little girl who is going to carry this large sindoor because no one seems to have a problem with that. We cannot support any kind of depiction of the girl child while continuing being okay with a men dominated society setup. If a little guy cannot be shown married to an elder woman, this should hold true for a little girl married to an elder guy as well, no matter the context. I hope whoever started the petition to ban Pehredaar Piya Ki wakes up now as well.

My biggest concern is why shows like balika Vadhu and Barrister babu are being allowed when a fictional show like Pehredaar Piya Ki was not. If anyone is watching this show we know that there will be romanticisation of this relationship very soon. On the other hand I watched PPK for some time and there was nothing like this shown. Even the modified version called Rishta Likhenge Hum Naya never ended with their marriage. But almost every Indian show shows girls being exploited by their in-laws or their step-parents. Barrister Babu may have the right motive but then why the sindoor and the saree and the extreme pressure on the girl. Maybe they could have shown her older or removed this dress up. Because if PPK was putting the wrong impact, how is this putting the right impact in any way.

I need supporters to help put the right message across to the society that if we want to give an equal place to girls, we need to stop their depiction in any way and instead bring in more shows that have the right message put across in the right way.