Kusum Lata

Family, Gender and Nation in Indian Television Serials: a Sociological Study of Hindi Soap Opera Kusum Lata

This book is a study of the representations of family, gender and nation in Hindi soap operas from the days of State-owned channel Doordarshan to the private transnational satellite channels. It traces the genesis of Indian soap opera on Doordarshan and private satellite channels and explores that the soaps on Doordarshan and satellite channels have different genesis, which is predominantly the reason behind the differences in their content and representations of gender and nation. While investigating the representation of family, gender and nation, the study found that there are three forces that shape the hegemonic understanding of being an Indian woman i.e. the Nehruvian State in the post-1947 India, liberalization and the militant growth of cultural nationalists.