Civil Services Mains 2020 Results: In or Out ? Way ahead, gratitude and Pain
The Civils Mains result has been declared. This thread is for sharing your grief , joy , mixed feelings - absolutely anything and everything.
Been a silent trawler of this thread since it started. Sorry to backtrack the discussion a bit here but I just watched the last episode of Aspirants (yes I live under a rock) and can I just say it was underwhelming at best. Don’t get me wrong the characters are quite well-written, albeit highly dramatised. But where are the female aspirants??? Dhairya and Guri’s ex are the only two women shown in the entire series and we get absolutely nothing from them. They’re just plot devices to give more depth to the male characters. It’s not even as if a bit of character backstory would deviate from the storyline, given that Sandeep Bhaiyya is clearly a crowd favourite. Not trying to rant, but as a woman I felt that beyond the usual Laxmikant-Yojana jokes I couldn’t really relate.Although, I agree with you on many fronts, but lets not bring the gender issue here.
Women are indeed give good roles.
Guri’s ex did make it to SPSC. Her confidence while confronting Abhilash’s negative approach is well appreciated.
Dhairya always had clarity of though. Unlike Abhilash, she read terms and conditions of fee back so well. She helped Abhilash get a new specs. She always had Plan B of going to rural areas and fight against drug abuse. She did it.
The landlady where Abhilash was staying, had more wisdom than her husband. She made him shift TV to next room.
Kusum kept waiting for Sandeep Bhaiya for years, honesty, loyalty, sacrifice is not just in everyone’s character.
Women are indeed shown in glorified manner. So what if not UPSC, their personaliy is shown way much better than Abhilash, Guri, Sandeep, SK combined. Sandeep, Abhilash were so much self centred. Men were the ones who realised their mistake at the end.
Agree with you. I only feel these glorified women should actually have been shown. Most of what we know about them (Dhairya's NGO story, Pragati and SPSC, Kusum entirely) is not seen on screen, it's shown only through discussions between the men. I want to actually see Dhairya kicking ass at her NGO instead of the continued childish fights of the guys. Better than glorifying their personalities is to just _show_ them as people!
While I don’t think they meant to undermine the active role of women in the whole UPSC world but I think the bigger problem was not showing women as normal people here. Their vulnerabilities, their achievements, their fears, their emotions etc. were all missing. Women in this show could see themselves in this show but only through eyes of those men and not their own. TVF failed to be different from the mainstream here completely. I was so shocked to see Dhairya being shown as all cool when Abhilash walked into that marriage. Seeing him after some 5-6 years. You could feel how SK felt, how Guri and Abhilash felt but damn that girl is the person who should be feeling the maximum emotions here. Nothing there.
And agree to the part that limiting a brilliant mature girl Dhirya to 2 identities Abhilash’s ex and Guri’s to be wife was too childish. NGO part also felt like it was for the sake of it.
Agree with the gender issue.
But ab surname se bhi problem 🙄.
What next , movies m surnames ka bhi quota fix ho jaye ?
Me Bhi Kota fix ho Jaye??
Kaafi intellectual argument.
Anyway, when 20 per cent of the population is actively over-represented everywhere, from executive to Judiciary to cinema to literally anywhere, it is an important talking point. Even more so when some from that specific community feels they have done nothing wrong in the past and a sense of superiority based on the callous reason of birth.
Do some basic google, see the representation in literally every field and you will understand. So next time onwards, do not hide your lack of knowledge behind rhetoric ridicule instead and try to engage in a productive discussion. It is very easy to spew nonsense hiding behind a cloak of anonymity. :)
Now finally coming to Surname see problem kyu? Let me give you an example-
1) Permanent Roommates- Leads are Sumeet Vyas and Nidhi Singh
2)TV tripling- Leads are three siblings surname, Sharma
3) Panchayat- Lead Abhishek Tripathi
4) Kota Factory- Lead Vaibhav Pandey
5) Aspirants- Lead Abhilash Sharma
Similar examples can be given from literally any field of your choosing. So yeah Kota movies me fix karne ki zarurat nahi hai, 10-20% of the community has it fixed already. :)
Entertainment industry is purely based on talent and audience acceptance. I don't understand what made you invoke caste here.
The invocation of caste was done because most of the people in the industry invariably belong to the so-called "upper castes". With every caste, there is a certain worldview attached. This worldview is often reflected in the movies( the surnames are just an extension of that worldview). For diversity of expression, there should be an active debate and discussion about how more people from different walks of life can be included. This is not asking for reservation or anything, just a step towards acknowledging the fact that an industry manned by certain communities cannot claim to represent the entire country. Some active steps are a must I feel, beginning with discussions.
I have a different view on this. People can get away with their worldviews in Bollywood, but not when it comes to OTT platforms, Youtube, etc.
Internet is merciless and it's extremely important to strike the cord with your audience and that's why talent assumes primary importance here.
I think that we consumers tend to over-estimate our powers. For example, post SSR death row, there was serious discontent with Bollywood, portrayed via comments, dislikes and what not. This went on for months and months. But what change did it bring? Did nepotism products get any fewer movies or did they do too terribly? No.
Why? Because most of the industry is controlled by a handful of families and their priority is safeguarding their interests, rather than striking a chord with the audience, which definitely was against nepotism.
On a much lesser scale, OTT platforms work in a similar way. The UC voice is so strong and powerful that most of the dissent or disapproval gets subdued IMO.
I believe that until and unless the artificial socio-economic ceiling with regards to the production of content shatters, nothing can be done just by voicing discontent.
Plus, I believe more than Talent, content moves on acceptance. Carry Minati and Amit bhadana are not the topmost YouTubers not because they are more talented, but because they have a wider acceptance.
@Villanelle 's example of THE LAST OF US fiasco is an example of how acceptance is the prime mover of content and not talent.
Therefore, new ideas of gender and caste equality are less likely to thrive even on OTT platforms since they enjoy lesser acceptance among the "upper castes"( Incidentally, they also form the bulk of heavy internet users).
@thepolicydreamer one insider information from my side is that most of the original TVF team have left TVF and it is not what it used to be at present.
I think there were news articles mentioning that few months ago and was confirmed by few older members of TVF. should be pretty genuine information.
mehuifs,Is it just me or anyone else feels like, while pandemic has been hard for aspirants, the friends are getting new highs in corporate sector. Every friend of mine is getting unexpected hikes, even multiple offers.
PS: yes I know, our life should not be about comparing and blah blah blah .....................
Very true. Demand for IT-based products has risen tremendously ever since the pandemic came. This coupled with the flexibility of work from home resulting in uninterrupted services, and massive infra savings by the companies, salaries have gone through the roof. I mean last year one of my friend's salary doubled with a huge bonus. Meanwhile I was like papa paise de dijeye Vision ke tests lene hain. :P
Been a silent trawler of this thread since it started. Sorry to backtrack the discussion a bit here but I just watched the last episode of Aspirants (yes I live under a rock) and can I just say it was underwhelming at best. Don’t get me wrong the characters are quite well-written, albeit highly dramatised. But where are the female aspirants??? Dhairya and Guri’s ex are the only two women shown in the entire series and we get absolutely nothing from them. They’re just plot devices to give more depth to the male characters. It’s not even as if a bit of character backstory would deviate from the storyline, given that Sandeep Bhaiyya is clearly a crowd favourite. Not trying to rant, but as a woman I felt that beyond the usual Laxmikant-Yojana jokes I couldn’t really relate.Although, I agree with you on many fronts, but lets not bring the gender issue here.
Women are indeed give good roles.
Guri’s ex did make it to SPSC. Her confidence while confronting Abhilash’s negative approach is well appreciated.
Dhairya always had clarity of though. Unlike Abhilash, she read terms and conditions of fee back so well. She helped Abhilash get a new specs. She always had Plan B of going to rural areas and fight against drug abuse. She did it.
The landlady where Abhilash was staying, had more wisdom than her husband. She made him shift TV to next room.
Kusum kept waiting for Sandeep Bhaiya for years, honesty, loyalty, sacrifice is not just in everyone’s character.
Women are indeed shown in glorified manner. So what if not UPSC, their personaliy is shown way much better than Abhilash, Guri, Sandeep, SK combined. Sandeep, Abhilash were so much self centred. Men were the ones who realised their mistake at the end.
Agree with you. I only feel these glorified women should actually have been shown. Most of what we know about them (Dhairya's NGO story, Pragati and SPSC, Kusum entirely) is not seen on screen, it's shown only through discussions between the men. I want to actually see Dhairya kicking ass at her NGO instead of the continued childish fights of the guys. Better than glorifying their personalities is to just _show_ them as people!
While I don’t think they meant to undermine the active role of women in the whole UPSC world but I think the bigger problem was not showing women as normal people here. Their vulnerabilities, their achievements, their fears, their emotions etc. were all missing. Women in this show could see themselves in this show but only through eyes of those men and not their own. TVF failed to be different from the mainstream here completely. I was so shocked to see Dhairya being shown as all cool when Abhilash walked into that marriage. Seeing him after some 5-6 years. You could feel how SK felt, how Guri and Abhilash felt but damn that girl is the person who should be feeling the maximum emotions here. Nothing there.
And agree to the part that limiting a brilliant mature girl Dhirya to 2 identities Abhilash’s ex and Guri’s to be wife was too childish. NGO part also felt like it was for the sake of it.
The series fails Bechdel's test(a test for gender bias in movies) on all three grounds:
- Two female characters (preferably named),
- Who talk to each other,
- About something other than a man.
@SergioRamos Wide acceptance does remain the prime mover. But, it doesn't always pan out negatively when Creators do take a stand. Like in this Last Of Us controversy, what followed was a classic Streisand effect. The game got even more popular, and had a reach far and wide, even outside the gaming community (like me :P), and just a wider demographic in general. I think cases like these are an eye opener even for the people in the Industry that what they've, all this while, been catering to is a rather narrow and homogenous base, and it doesn't have to be like that necessarily.
Been a silent trawler of this thread since it started. Sorry to backtrack the discussion a bit here but I just watched the last episode of Aspirants (yes I live under a rock) and can I just say it was underwhelming at best. Don’t get me wrong the characters are quite well-written, albeit highly dramatised. But where are the female aspirants??? Dhairya and Guri’s ex are the only two women shown in the entire series and we get absolutely nothing from them. They’re just plot devices to give more depth to the male characters. It’s not even as if a bit of character backstory would deviate from the storyline, given that Sandeep Bhaiyya is clearly a crowd favourite. Not trying to rant, but as a woman I felt that beyond the usual Laxmikant-Yojana jokes I couldn’t really relate.Although, I agree with you on many fronts, but lets not bring the gender issue here.
Women are indeed give good roles.
Guri’s ex did make it to SPSC. Her confidence while confronting Abhilash’s negative approach is well appreciated.
Dhairya always had clarity of though. Unlike Abhilash, she read terms and conditions of fee back so well. She helped Abhilash get a new specs. She always had Plan B of going to rural areas and fight against drug abuse. She did it.
The landlady where Abhilash was staying, had more wisdom than her husband. She made him shift TV to next room.
Kusum kept waiting for Sandeep Bhaiya for years, honesty, loyalty, sacrifice is not just in everyone’s character.
Women are indeed shown in glorified manner. So what if not UPSC, their personaliy is shown way much better than Abhilash, Guri, Sandeep, SK combined. Sandeep, Abhilash were so much self centred. Men were the ones who realised their mistake at the end.
Agree with you. I only feel these glorified women should actually have been shown. Most of what we know about them (Dhairya's NGO story, Pragati and SPSC, Kusum entirely) is not seen on screen, it's shown only through discussions between the men. I want to actually see Dhairya kicking ass at her NGO instead of the continued childish fights of the guys. Better than glorifying their personalities is to just _show_ them as people!
While I don’t think they meant to undermine the active role of women in the whole UPSC world but I think the bigger problem was not showing women as normal people here. Their vulnerabilities, their achievements, their fears, their emotions etc. were all missing. Women in this show could see themselves in this show but only through eyes of those men and not their own. TVF failed to be different from the mainstream here completely. I was so shocked to see Dhairya being shown as all cool when Abhilash walked into that marriage. Seeing him after some 5-6 years. You could feel how SK felt, how Guri and Abhilash felt but damn that girl is the person who should be feeling the maximum emotions here. Nothing there.
And agree to the part that limiting a brilliant mature girl Dhirya to 2 identities Abhilash’s ex and Guri’s to be wife was too childish. NGO part also felt like it was for the sake of it.
Totally. I was looking forward to that scene expecting that she'll have at least some kind of reaction. But nothing. She was just silently making the pheras. It would have been exactly the same scene with any other person as the bride. Had she had any role in that scene, she may have been more than a prop for their egos. It was really disappointing to see her character go to waste like that.
But I'm happy that we've at least come to a stage where we are sensitive to these faults and realise they exist. Small steps. :)
mehuifs,
The intent behind every creation matters. Noonacademy is not an organization that would like to invest in parallel cinema-like content where female and caste representation would stand out. So to expect such high standards from them is like fooling ourselves. Majority of the pop culture thrives on emotion and not on character-driven stories which mirror the society. Moreover, they released their product not on their App but on Youtube. Free of cost. So the intent is quite clear and we all know what it is.
P.S.- I haven't watched the show. I don't intend to watch it in the future as well.
Thank you@DeekshitaP @whatonly @SergioRamos @Villanelle for raising, and very well articulating the concerns of gender and caste.
Though there is abundance of literature to support my commrades in their arguments, but for others, I have right now only one thing to say- dear, it's leviOsa, and not leviosAA.
Lemme quickly drop this to cement what, to my mind, @SergioRamos is intending to say. Watch it everyone.
Been a silent trawler of this thread since it started. Sorry to backtrack the discussion a bit here but I just watched the last episode of Aspirants (yes I live under a rock) and can I just say it was underwhelming at best. Don’t get me wrong the characters are quite well-written, albeit highly dramatised. But where are the female aspirants??? Dhairya and Guri’s ex are the only two women shown in the entire series and we get absolutely nothing from them. They’re just plot devices to give more depth to the male characters. It’s not even as if a bit of character backstory would deviate from the storyline, given that Sandeep Bhaiyya is clearly a crowd favourite. Not trying to rant, but as a woman I felt that beyond the usual Laxmikant-Yojana jokes I couldn’t really relate.Although, I agree with you on many fronts, but lets not bring the gender issue here.
Women are indeed give good roles.
Guri’s ex did make it to SPSC. Her confidence while confronting Abhilash’s negative approach is well appreciated.
Dhairya always had clarity of though. Unlike Abhilash, she read terms and conditions of fee back so well. She helped Abhilash get a new specs. She always had Plan B of going to rural areas and fight against drug abuse. She did it.
The landlady where Abhilash was staying, had more wisdom than her husband. She made him shift TV to next room.
Kusum kept waiting for Sandeep Bhaiya for years, honesty, loyalty, sacrifice is not just in everyone’s character.
Women are indeed shown in glorified manner. So what if not UPSC, their personaliy is shown way much better than Abhilash, Guri, Sandeep, SK combined. Sandeep, Abhilash were so much self centred. Men were the ones who realised their mistake at the end.
The issue that I was bringing up isn’t just confined to whether or not women are portrayed in a good/negative light. I’m talking more about the depth of the characters as far as backstory or even an arc. Guri’s ex (Pragati if I’m not wrong?) is nothing more than Guri’s ex who serves the purpose of driving the plot point that ORN ke relationships are temporary. We know nothing about her beyond that. And frankly, this could be my personal bias she was pretty irritating as a character whose only personality trait was that she argued and helped Abhilash realise that he has a negative approach.
as far as Dhairya is considered, there is no insight or perspective about how she feels about the whole “weird barter”. There is absolutely no backstory or insight into her character. Besides the fact that she is a “serious aspirant” her character is hardly ever fleshed out or given depth. She just appears one day in the office with a smile and just like that she gets married with a smile, there is absolutely no nuance there.
And its not really about the gender angle, but one of the massive pressures that most female aspirants face is that of marriage hanging like a Damocles sword above their heads. This could easily have been a small yet relatable issue to explore without much effort.
I personally felt that the female characters were just convenient tropes who help to move the plot forward rather than characters that are given thought and good writing.
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