Opinion
Shyam Benegal and hope
Living in the year 2024, it is hard to imagine the 90s as anything other than a golden period. But when I was growing up, there used to be a TV serial called Sankranti. It was by Shyam Benegal and it was an anthology of short stories set in the contemporary India of those times. Many of these stories featured young people who had lost hope and were apprehensive about the future. And in most (or all? I am not sure. It was a long time ago), there was a hopeful ending where characters expressed optimism about the future.
When I sometimes watch those episodes now, I see the fears are the same. And that many of the fears expressed in Sankranti have actually come true. Some dangers have been avoided. In some cases, the optimist outlook has come and gone.
But what stands out also is the hope that tomorrow can be better. Not that it will be better mind you. But that it can. And also that no matter how dark it seems, there is always the possibility of light in the hours, days, weeks, and months to come.
Desperation is a contagion. Stories of hope are the antidote to that contagion. Everything spreads fast on the information superhighway. Sankranti is from a time when hopelessness wasn't mainstream. Stories of today have to work harder, but the work is the same.
Vimoh
Links
Sankranti by Shyam Benegal
The Prasar Bhart archives on YouTube has the full playlist of Sankranti episodes. I remember watching these on TV and feeling worried as well as hopeful as a kid. If you haven't, please do watch these.
youtube.com
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