Exclusive: 31 years have passed since the premiere of “Tara,” India’s first 90s soap opera; author Vinita says, “The nostalgia that I feel is bitter-sweet.”

Today marks 31 years since the premiere of Tara, India’s first soap opera of the 1990s. In the program, Vinita’s writer discusses Tara (Navneet Nishan), the casting of Navneet Nishan, and how women are portrayed on television.
Speaking about it, Vinita said, “I get sentimental every time I think of Tara, who blazed as a pathfinder from 1992 to 1997. However, I quickly recover since I understand that the proper moment is still ahead. The majority of the 1990s was devoted to promoting women’s autonomy, participation, and equality in India.”

Vinita discussed the transition from progressive to regressive storytelling, saying, “We saw some of the finest storytelling on television come from women; these were tales that almost destroyed patriarchy. Then, however, the tyranny of male autocracy emerged to reclaim its hegemony and halt the advancements. They relegated women storytellers to the dungeons of inflexibility and pulled back the positions that women had earned by fifty years, once again hiding their beauty and tenacity behind a mask.”
“We are witnessing today what two decades of the most backward narratives have done to India,” she said. Thus, my sense of nostalgia for Tara is conflicted. The notion of where we might have been with our tale today and where we really are prevents me from fully appreciating its success, even when I choose to own it and bask in the glory it brought to me. The only powerful woman is the one who can bravely share her tale with the world.”