Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has solved one of the greatest riddles in contemporary Bengal by revealing how she copes with stress and “bad news”.

 The answer, my friend, has been breakin’ on television all this while: soap operas.

 “From 11pm, I watch serials. I love watching them. I know the names of most characters and the actors by heart. I know them personally too. I love music-based shows also. I believe every serial has a message. There is always something to learn,” the chief minister told the Tele Akademi Awards of the Bengal government at Nazrul Mancha.

 “I have to say a lot of things through the day. I have to listen to a lot of bad things. But then that is called democracy,” Mamata said.

 As many as 106 awards were presented in 24 categories — all handpicked by Mamata. The winners included producers Srikant Mohta and Raj Chakraborty, actors June, Dipankar De, Paran Bandyopadhyay and
Mita Chatterjee.

 Around Rs 4 crore was spent on the event — loose change considering the impact the industry has
on the state.

 “Wood, stones, bricks and iron alone do not make industry. Television and films are also an industry. They are part of who we are and our heritage. This government will do everything to stand by those involved in this great industry,” Mamata said, iterating a point she has been making to counter critics who feel her industrialisation policy had flopped.
 
“Death of culture is death of civilisation,” she added.

 Ever since Saradha and other occupational hazards crept up on the landscape, Mamata has been advising her supporters to shun news channels and opt for serials.

 Mamata has been practising what she has been preaching, according to an aide who said she usually watches serials for four hours till 3am. A bureaucrat said she sometimes delayed her departure from Nabanna to catch reruns of her favourite serials in case she missed an episode.

 “She refers to many actors in serials by the names of the characters. She is that attached to the serials,”
the aide said.
   Some would say there is no serial to rival the soap opera now unfolding in political Bengal. The Telegraph presents below a selection of serials that might have caught the eye of the chief minister and aided her in the noble task of governing Bengal.

Compiled by Kushali Nag and Mohua Das