Out of the (idiot) box
How does one celebrate World Television Day in India, when the only words associated with it are ‘regressive’ and repetitive? But those, who work for the TV, slam the contempt and question the adjectives, writes SHUBARNA MUKERJI SHU
From Buniyaad to Naagin, from Surbhi to 24X7 newsrooms, from
Dekh Bhai Dekh to Bhabhi Ji Ghar Pe Hain, the idiot box has come a long way. It has been years and years, from a single channel to a multitude of choices and yet, the multiplication of entertainment pathways has only lead to dilution of content.
Remember this August, when we made such a hue and cry about
Pehredaar Piya Ki that it had to be taken off air only to be brought back into the scene with a new name Rishta Likhenge Hum Naya. Well, of course, it is no longer about the Pehredaar-ni marrying a 10-year-old and talking honeymoons and stuff, but yes it is the same cast and crew, building a story on almost the same premise. Except, the guy is older and the action is more fierce. What’s hilarious is that no one who was objecting to the previous show even realised that it is almost the exact same series.
The vigilante speak
“Television scenario has changed.
Saas-bahu sagas are over but drama still rules. Most TV shows come back to the drama which is typical. Few shows are regressive and the fact is that they too have an audience,” explains Shashank Vyas, of Balika
Vadu fame. While he might have agreed to regression, others vehemently deny it.
“What exactly is regressive about television? Yes, the soaps are all about women – but they are the target audience, the serials are all written from a woman’s perspective. The regression comes in with the devices, there are some soaps where the leading lady is a nagin, or there are some where they show the ladki so naïve that she washes a laptop and puts it to dry because someone asked her to clean it, but you cannot make a blanket statement saying all television shows are regressive!” blasts Nageen Mirza, who is the writer of Yeh Unn Dino Ki Baat Hai.
Bucking up
With the production scales increasing, actor Rahul Sharma believes television has changed a lot. “Shows are coming and going off air in few months, audience is smarter than before; they want to see something different but at the same time they also want to see something which is connected to them and the society around them. These days the stories and concepts are nice but they are sometimes so different that people can’t relate to them. Sometimes concepts are good but it doesn’t work because of the less publicity or casting or money saving. Everyone has a different opinion about regressive shows but the fact is it works because the main audience (village and small cities) of India can relate to them easily and also if the show is having a powerful message then in the metropolitan cities people also connect to them. This is also a business. All the channel people and marketing people know what works and can give business to them,” he defends.
Changing with times
The fact is the laptop washing woman even exists is what’s alarmingly close to idiocy! However, Arshad Warsi who used to anchor reality shows like Bigg Boss condemns the channel for propagating rubbish content. The actor insists that the content of the shows have been tweaked to increase TRPs and they have brought in all kind of insane people together to scandalise audiences. But there are the likes of Ronit Roy who want to make a change instead of condemn it.
“It saddens me to see television become so regressive, there is no lack of writers but there are those who just follow the popular series to replicate the success stories, and yet they end up copying the wrong things. Television has given me a new lease as an actor and I want to work towards something and make it big once again. We are writing, collaborating with some channel heads but we do not know at this point if the stories will be television shows or web series,” he says while bringing us to the burning question about webseries and its impact on television. “I do not think the channel heads want anything that is regressive at all, when we met Zee Telefilms head, the reason he opted to do a series about a single mother with three daughters, each independent and amazing, is because we didn’t have any saas-bahu angle, there was no karwa chaut in the serial, there was definitely no-rona dhona for the sake of gimmicks. All credit goes to Rajshri Ojha for the story, it has been her baby but it really helped bringing a fresh perspective to television shows,” exclaims Ram Kamal Mukerji, the producer of Bin Kuch Kahe.
The digital wave
Vikram Bhatt who has had a series of webseries to his name believes that is the way forward for entertainment, “There is nothing on Indian television for the youth, because it plays to the heartland of India and alienates the youth. The youth is on the net,” Bhatt says. However, the television writers beg to differ, “It is often said that the webseries are targeting the youth, so the language has a lot of cuss-words, there is a lot of nudity and such, but what about the stories? It is almost the same that is being seen on television today, so what are you saying? That you are making the webseries youth-friendly by taking stories from television and putting nudity in it!” counters Mirza.
Taking a rather diplomatic view is television’s favourite, Vivian D’sena, “Digital content is surely in. But all mediums can co-exist. Doordarshan still exists and has audiences too.”