Distortion of history through television programs and its lasting effect...

And that's what is called "Artistic" freedom. History is often distorted, yes! even in textbooks we had to read in schools. The ruling elite put more emphasis on their Idols, rather than on truth. I have read chapters and chapters about Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, but sadly not much if at all about, Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri, of for that matter, Alluri Seetharama RajU or Sri Potti Sri Ramulu from our state. I have always been skeptical about one single source of information and always seek second opinion, History or medicine.

i have been reading a lot about the past leaders and i realize most of them were ordinary with major flaws. I mean the likes of bhuttos, indira Gandhi, rajiv gandhi and even mahatma gandhi. But then we can go by what is written about them by others so we will never know. I feel history is actually distortions of fact. The really good ones like bhagat and jp narayan never got their due. In fact Indira gandhi was very ordinary but very few talk about her major blunder called emergency in 1975. Her creation of bhindranwale and subsequent storming of golden temple to kill him shows her in very poor light. But then she is painted out to be a martyr and a great leader. History is unreliable.

Vandana! I agree that facts should be adhered to especially when history is narrated. Normally, when a person writes a story there is a disclaimer in the beginning that some characters are fictitious and naturally some episodes would also be so.But , despite thIS we do read the novel and enjoy reading it. WHen the novel is picturised or even otherwise this is bound to happen. Serials are meant for adults who can sift the chaff from the grain and not for children.[I do not watch serials and I do not know how bad this is however]

Vandanaji Namastey, i saw a discussion from you after a long gap. You are probably talking about Jhansi ke rani, if my guess is correct.The film makers are very clever, to avoid legal disputes they always put a disclaimer in the beginning. I agree with your views, but can we do any thing? Even facts shown in Ramayan/Mahabhart are distorted. Govenment should take some action. Thanks for sharing Cheers. God bless you, have a nice day ahead. Professor ‘Bhuwan’. .

Vandy, you are really good. I noticed this tendency in every country, but I did not think of making it a discussion here. I just rated you... I like it. In Indonesia, only about 14 years ago that we knew the government had been distorting a part of our history and dictated it in school since we were a child. After it was uncovered that what we had known for years was not a true history, the government was forced to pull out the history books from schools and till now we do not have any. It's tragic. And no one dares to rectify the real history, caused it could reverse the whole history and damage some big and supposedly heroes people in our country. Now back to the TV programs, since that revealing time, we do not have any programs with related to that part of a history, yet. But I know some dramas in Korea also temper with the history, as well as some dramas and movies in China. When it is a business, people do tend to forget the morality of a story.

Vandanaji They should not do this, they are disfiguring our history our culture, the kids read one thing in book but see some thing else in the tv, it is natural they get confused.. Thanks for this timely discussion Cheers. God bless you, have a nice day ahead. Kalyani ‘Namastey’. .

I wish they would keep historical things factual. But it's all about money, really...

Just like me you too have woken up rather late to realise the hogwash that we see on telelvision and other media. It was such a relief for me when I decided to call it a day when it came to watching serials which I used to putting aside all other acitivities. It did eat into my lifestyle and in a way I could say put my life in disarray. Better late than never and so here I am totally liberated from the bonds of these good for nothing serials.

Dear Vandanaji As I mentioned on Misterwit's box, It is the politicians that want the history to be written the way they want. Lallooji got into the Books with special topics dedicated to him. There are many embarrassing things about Gandhiji that are now not mentioned in any book on him, those who tend to write them, get banned. The media is more focussed on the scams than on the history - they publish things as long as they want it and then let go of it as if they knew nothing about it. I also remember the first thing that the UPA govt. did when it first came to power was to remove all the hoarding on the roads that glorified the BJPs work and initiatives to the Golden Roadways or the Joining of the rivers. Though the Supreme Court issued an order that the Policies etc. should not be named after politicians, nothing got implemented. So why the Television stays back...? I am not worried about the kids as they study. The problems will arise when they would search the Internet, find contradictory things and get more confused as to who or what is right...

All media distorts the truth. They either make it a hollywood romance or they dramatize it, or completely make up fake background. The only way to truly learn what really happened is to read written documentation from people of that time (like letters).

All media distorts the truth. They either make it a hollywood romance or they overdramatize it, or make up completely fake historical information. The only way to learn the real truth is to read actual documentation from people of that time.