Pehredaar Piya Ki Actor Tejasswi Prakash Defends Her Show; Calls It Progressive!

Pehredaar Piya Ki, Sony’s new TV soap, maybe getting a lot of flak for showing regressive content but the lead actor Tejaswi Prakash maintains it is progressive. She says she doesn’t understand why people are being so judgemental about her show when they appreciate something like Game of Thrones for the same thing.

The soap shows an 18-year-old woman married to a nine-year-old boy and having her ‘suhag raat’ and even enjoying a honeymoon.

In an interview to IANS, Tejaswi drew a comparison between her show and HBO’s hit fantasy drama to put her point across. “It also happened in Game Of Thrones... People love Game Of Thrones and if same thing happens in Pehredaar Piya Ki, then it’s an issue,” she added.

Tejaswini is perhaps referring to the marriage between Tommen Baratheon, a young king and Margery Tyrell. The two get married when his older brother, Joffrey Baratheon dies. The boy is shown to be about 13-14 years old while Margery is 21-22.

However, while Game of Thrones is based in what would be similar to the Middle Ages, when child marriages were common practice, Pehredaar Piya Ki takes place in the present. Margery and Tommen were never branded as a love story but more like a cunning woman manipulating her innocent, impressionable husband to have her way in everything. Sony’s show has this a ‘love story’.

The show’s synopsis on YouTube reads: ‘While Diya takes up her duty of a wife and wilfully commits to the relationship, Ratan is enamored by her beauty and considers her to be a pari from the fairy tales he has heard from his Maasa. Though being a miss matched couple, both create a comfortable world for themselves. While 9-year-old husband tries to cheer up his wife Diya with his cute gestures, Diya keeps up the promise to protect him and nurture their relationship. Will Diya and Ratan rewrite the pages of history with their love story? Is age only a number when it comes to finding true love? Watch the unfolding of a beautiful fairytale as Pehredaar Piya Ki presents the most unique Jodi on Indian television (sic).’

Tejaswini says she can’t do anything if the viewers choose to be judgemental. “I think it’s really progressive. But again, a lot of people believe in judging a book by its cover... They love being judgmental and people have nothing better to do than judging somebody else’s work. Then okay, what can I do?”

“I feel it’s just a story and fiction. It’s just a story that we are telling people. So how can you judge any story? You like it okay, you don’t like it, so, you don’t like it. We are not professors, we are not trying to teach you anything,” she said.

She adds that she is not bothered by what is being written and said about the show. “No, I’m an actor. I just get my script, go on the set and I perform. Honestly, I’m not on a lot of social sites to be aware of any such comments... I am only active on Instagram. Nobody calls and says anything to me. It’s probably the creatives... They should talk to the creatives about the criticism,” she said.

The actor doesn’t mind reference to suhaagraats and honeymoon: “No, it’s not what a normal ‘suhag raat’ and honeymoon is like. Obviously, me and Ratan are not married to have babies. It’s different. Once people watch it and then they find it yucky or anything, then I would be fine and understand.

“There is nothing wrong that we have shown.”