Life
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
2002 sorcery story
IT USUALLY is `Amavasya' night. Dark and eerie. Crickets hum their night song, trees sway to strong winds and an occasional thunderbolt lights up the dark sky. Smoke bellows out from a corner and the stillness of the place is shattered by the crushing of dry leaves.
The camera zooms out. A bearded sorcerer is busy invoking spirits with his incantation, his glazed eyes staring into the distance and all aglow in the dark.
Familiar scene isn't it? Yeah, it's the horror fare that is regularly dished out on television. Sorcery, voodoo, `banamati' or `chetabadi' -- call by any name, serials depicting black magic are a regular feature on the telly. Browse channels, particularly in the evenings, and one is sure to end staring in horror at the occult culture.
Rivals are killed by piercing needles in a doll, sorcerers chanting mantras on grain and lime causing hardships and not to mention the macabre rituals to appease those elusive `spirits.'
Do such serials add to the fallacies of audience, a majority of whom are already mired in superstitions? Recurring incidents of persons getting beaten up, burnt alive or chased and killed on charges of practising `banamati' in places not very far away from the city has had many damning such serials which have a dangerous impact on viewers.
But, the conveyor belt of black magic serials seems to be in no mood to stop as the mandarins of Telugu telly churn out one serial after the other laced with voodoo and what not. Says Rajendra Prasad of Maa TV, "we are conscious about the sentiments of viewers and never encourage superstitions. Take a closer look at our serials. They end with a clear message that one should not believe in witchcraft and black magic.''
The horror and sorcery material is dished out on almost a daily basis. Friday fright or a Saturday shriek, everybody at home, kids included, flock the telly. High drama with witch practises as main ingredients seem to have them glued despite the terror trail they leave behind.
One that refuses to fade away long after the show is over. Director, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, came out with `1942 A Love Story' and our telly babus' obsession with sorcery's result is one `Mano Yagnam' here and one `Aatma' there.
It's as good (worse!) as 2002 Sorcery Story, right?
By Lalith Singh T.
Illustration: K. Ramesh Babu
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
|
