TV's THE FAMILY: Sonia Kapur's blog - week 5

Here is the latest instalment of our reporter Sonia Kapur's blog on the Channel 4 reality TV show The Family, which followed the lives of Indian family The Grewals from Horton in the Royal Borough.

Absolutely loved this week's show!

Come on.... as bad as you all may feel, you all know that you love prying into other people's lives, and especially watching people argue. 

The producers of The Family must have thanked their lucky stars when an unexpected family explosion happened right in front of their eyes – Big Brother style.

Director David Clews says in his own blog: "We were planning on showing the DVD and then leaving the family to their night at home, so the production team were still in the gallery recording what was happening."

So, before show producers knew it, they were caught up in a family rift, all based around their documentary that exposes the lives of the Grewal family from the small village of Horton.

But was it all because of this? I think not. We saw in episode five that tension between certain family members had been brewing for quite some time.

This week's episode, entitled Little Pinchings, hit some typical Indian family issues that had not yet been discussed. I was happy to see that they were being brought to the attention of the British public.

It was good to finally see what Kaki and Shay's relationship is like, and how difficult it is for a daughter and a daughter-in-law to live under the same roof.
And specifically how Indian parents expect their sons to live in the same house as them, with their own wife and children.

It was also highlighted that son-in-laws are given special treatment from their mother and father in-laws.

Mr Grewal explains his relationship with his family, and admits: "Jeet - I don’t say much to him, because he is my son-in-law. In Indian families a son-in-law is a lot higher in your heart, than anyone else. He is like a king to you."

I have seen this in my own extended family. My aunties and uncles make a big fuss over their son-in-laws when they come over to their homes, and make sure they get their best china out when serving the samosas with an infamous cup of Indian chai!

If Mr and Mrs Grewal regard Jeet so highly, then what caused this grown man to break down into tears this week?

Was it because he is feeling the effects of breaking Indian traditions, by not living with his parents, wife and children, but instead living with his in-laws?

Or was it because he has had enough of everyone fussing over Shay – the 24-year-old who has been living in this house for more than five years?
She has been married to Sunny, 33, for five years, but only under British law.

I think it was a bit of both.

At the end of the day, Jeet is a traditional Indian man, with traditional Indian values. We hear his disapproval of Shay choosing her boyfriend over her family.

He says: "If Bhavi did the same – I would never talk to her. Parents give birth to a baby and give them education and give them so much love, and then they go and do this? My parents are everything."

I expected my own mother, who is from Punjab, India, to agree with Jeet. I expected her to turn around to me, as we watched episode five, and say to me – 'don’t you ever do what Shay has done'.

But all she said was: "Sometimes things happen not how you expect them to, and you just have to deal with them. It is just a misunderstanding."

Let's see if Shay's mother and brother realise this and turn up on her wedding day.

COMMENT: What did you think of Sunny and Jeet's argument and this week’s show? Tell us below.