DID Supermoms shows you the real Indian bahu

Zee has a new show on air from last night. It’s called Dance India Dance Supermoms (DID Supermoms). And I couldn’t be more impressed. Not because I like gyrating women, but because out of all the trash programmes that you see on Indian reality television and entertainment TV which show women in the most regressive manner possible, this is the one show which stands apart. This programme – most probably unintentionally – is the kind which can improve and educate people about the state of women in middle class India. The dance competition is judged by Farah Khan and choreographer Marzi Pestonji and hosted by Jay Bhanushali. It’s presided over by the high priest of TV dance competitions in India – Mithun Chakraborty. And follows the usual format of auditions, qualifying rounds and finals. [caption id=“attachment_834303” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The logo of DID Supermoms.[/caption] The first episode of the programme showed the audition rounds. To qualify for the auditions you have to be a mother. What makes this show stand apart from the others was the lack of drama. There were no weeping traumatised women who’ve walked barefoot 1000 miles to make it for the audition. The producers had chosen happy stories. Why I like this show is that finally there’s a platform for the mothers and housewives in India to come out and make their dreams come true. While we’ve seen mothers in those awful children’s dance shows, they always fit a stereotype: the dedicated mother focused on making her child a star and looking after her family. I at least can’t remember even one Indian TV programme where Indian mothers have been invited to have fun, let their hair down and express their dreams and desires. And because of the mix of contestants on DID Supermoms, it’s almost like a commentary on the state of married women in India across a certain cross-section of society. If any programme can break the stereotypes and prejudices the average Indian male and Indian in-laws have about the role of a wife and mother, it is this. Keeping in mind the target audience Zee caters to, you couldn’t but be impressed by the contestants and what their experiences said about Indian wives and families. The myths it busted. One of the first female contestants was a 34-year old mother of a 16-year old, who proudly proclaimed that she’d gotten married at 17 and gave birth to her child within 6 months. And that the judges shouldn’t raise their eyebrows because it was a love marriage. She said everything other than the W word – wedlock. Another was a Zumba instructor. Another came with her baby. Then there was Ramona from Romania who is married to an Indian. She lives in a joint family and performed the Bharat Natyam beautifully. There were two sisters-in-law, Darshana and Phulwa. Both qualified. Darshana is a civil engineer. Phulwa is a dancer. They seemed to be fast friends and both received the blessings of their mother in law, who said that she wanted them to qualify so they’d be out of her hair and she could spend some time with her sons and drink aam ras. Lovely. The only sad story, but still one of perseverance and hope, was that of a 33-year-old backup dancer who’s a divorcee and came to the audition with her 7-yr-old son. Her husband tried to kill their son because she didn’t give him money and had also beaten her viciously. Her only sorrow she said was that her son misses her husband. She has been living on her own with her son ever since. And then there was Deshpreet Kaur, whose husband works in the merchant navy. Her Punjabi joint family of some 12 people had accompanied her. When she received the qualifying cape, she ran into her husband’s arms without a care for the rest of the family members looking on. DID Supermoms shows what the average Indian wife and mother goes through. The hopes and desires they have. The simple things that make them happy. And the need to let all women – whether they are playing the role of mother and wife or not – go out and try and fulfill their dreams. Not keep them tied to the kitchen. Because of the contestants chosen, you got to hear about marriage, wedlock, hope, ambition, the wonder of the joint family, the fact that inter-racial marriages are extremely successful, the ability of a foreigner to assimilate into an Indian family. There were supportive sons and daughters and husbands, the contestants flirted with the male judge and it didn’t make them scarlet women or whores. It was all in good humour. The importance of the ability to joke with your husband and pull each other’s leg. And the confidence to stand on a stage in front of a live audience and dance like nobody’s watching. The public displays of affection and that it’s okay to hug your husband. That your confidence has nothing to do with your looks. And of course, the comments on the intrusiveness of joint families and in-laws and how you have to steal moments of privacy. It was almost poignant to hear the women express what they were looking forward to if they qualified. No one spoke of money or fame. They said that they looked forward to not cooking and looking after the kitchen and being able to tease men instead of always being leched at and teased. Suddenly you saw Mother India as a normal woman, with normal desires. And it’s important that entertainment shows like this are made on channels catering to a large mass audience base. Because these are the type of programmes which will make audiences realise that wives and mothers having a voice and having a dream is not a sin or taboo. Audiences will see that a foreigner bahu does not mean the end of the world. Women will see that it’s never too late to follow your dream and that doing so doesn’t mean you’re deserting your family or shunning your responsibilities. This is how you educate people – subliminally, through entertainment. Of course, then there was Dharmendra and Bobby as guests on the show. Which was a little bit of a dampener going by Dharamji’s double marriages sans divorce. Then again, maybe it was a fitting appearance going by the fact that he does like mothers a lot. And let’s not forget what stellar dancers the two Deols are. All in all though, I’m mighty impressed that finally India’s mothers have a programme in which they don’t have to display their culinary or housekeeping or mothering or other wifely skills. This is a programme meant for women to express themselves with gay abandon. If anything is a path-breaker in Indian entertainment television and if there is any silver lining in the mound of turd which is Indian reality TV – this is it.