Is Saath Nibhana Saathiya Regressive And Sexist? Rupal Patel Aka Kokilaben Says ‘It’s Progressive’

Rupal Patel who plays the role of Kokilaben Modi in Saath Nibhana Saathiya says that her show is about the transformation of a naive uneducated girl into a smart woman, and it's progressive. Do you agree?

Actor Rupal Patel is all excited to be back on the sets of Saath Nibhana Saathiya, a show that was earlier criticised for being sexist and regressive. The season 2 of the show has hit the screens after a viral video that was created on a scene from one of its old episodes. Talking about its content and explaining why it’s not regressive, Patel aka Kokilaben Modi said that the audience shall look for the ‘graph of growth’.

The actor talked to Indian Express in an interview and mentioned that Saath Nibhana Saathiya is actually a progressive show because it shows a mother-in-law preparing her naive daughter-in-law for the world. The actor said, “I believe that if you have to show something in terms of modernity, there has to be a base. The graph of growth is really important. In Saathiya, we had an uneducated girl, who has no knowledge of life and society, being mentored by her mother in law. If we showed her very smart from day one, we couldn’t have taken the story ahead.”

Patel, who also plays an important role in another daily soap titled Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyar Ke, added that the show is actually about the transformation of an uneducated girl into a smart woman who can handle business and family well. Taking the reference of the famous scene from the show in which Gopi Bahu is seen washing the laptop with detergent, Patel said, “This girl who washed a laptop is sent to a school, trained to handle business and get over that ‘bechari’ image. I feel that was so progressive. We might not talk about it openly but there are still many in our society who stop their bahus from working or wearing certain clothes. We present such stories and showcase the journey from wrong to right. And to create it dramatically and in an entertaining way, one does take certain cinematic liberty.”

Patel is joined by Devoleena Bhattacharjee in the show who plays the character of Gopi Bahu. Your thoughts on the show’s content?