ABSTRACT
Introduction Earlier soap operas on Indian television such as Hum Log (We People) tackled the issues of emancipation of women with some success. Research has shown that such pro-social soap operas were immensely powerful in disseminating messages, particularly those concerning gender issues (Singhal et al. 1993). However, since the deregulation of television in India in the early 1990s and the resultant proliferation of private television channels, it is essential to understand the modifications in representations of women in soap operas in the era of post-economic liberalization. This chapter states that although there is greater representation of women on television, these are bounded by national as well as patriarchal considerations. Further, the chapter argues that contemporary images have erased the earlier gains made in television representations of women in India. The popular drama serials have disposed the emancipated role models and replaced them with those that focus on the traditional cultural values as well as participation in global consumerism.
