COVID, Childhood, and the Precarious Postcolonial Screen
摘要
This chapter addresses the manner in which the family-centric Indian television industry incorporated the drastic changes in viewing habits and working conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing prolonged hiatus in shooting through an examination of the latest iteration of R.K. Laxman’s comic strip-turned-television show, Wagle Ki Duniya. The newest iteration of the show Wagle Ki Duniya – Nayi Peedhi Naye Kissey (2021–2025) has been lauded for its sensitive depiction of menstruation, child marriage, sexual abuse of minors, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), corporal punishment, and multiple other precarities that affect children.