For television channels today, it is all about volume even if quality has to be sacrificed in the quest for higher TRP ratings
Just as the silver screen, the idiot-box is another passport to a dream world where the real life comes to be upstaged by an incredulous world of make-believe as conceptualized by a host of producers who very religiously bring alive every episode of their show to a drawing-room audience every day at a designated time.
While some reality and game shows continue to enjoy a fan following that is mind-boggling, their telecast over many seasons only justify their popularity. When contestants in the highly popular game show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) share stories of their arduous journey to the hot-seat, the public obsession with the show is more than evident.
Apart from those few serials that purported to show a common man’s life and his travails in a very laconic manner to a middleclass audience that readily identified with the script some years back, it is now the era of mega-serials!
It is not that this trend is confined to Hindi TV serials alone; no, every regional channel has its own dose of such serials being churned at a regularity that is amusing to say the least. And mind you, some of them have been having an uninterrupted run for several years now. Family serials they call them!
The “Saas Bahu” genre as that variety of drama fiction concerning the relationship between the controlling evil mothers-in-law and their dominated, downtrodden and meek daughters-in-law are a sure-shot formula for success in TV serials. The Indian Saas bahu TV series will continue to enthral viewers for the simple reason that as matters that affect every family, the audience can readily relate to the storyline.
But tell me, which household will have the female members in their bridal best every moment of the day! Appearing to have stepped out of a beauty parlour, all of them look as immaculate as ever, not a hair out of place. Even their melodramatic performances hardly have any effect on their makeup!
The men aren’t far behind either. Suited and booted in almost all the frames they appear in, they are epitomes of glamour.
I am used to seeing my wife in her ordinary house-dresses when at home, an apron pulled over it when in the kitchen. Busy with her daily chores, thoughts of powdering her face or applying a touch of shade to the lips is farthest from her mind. Sweating like a pig at times from the exertion, I have to remind her about the existence of fans in the house.
Likewise, in the normal course of the day I can’t imagine myself prancing around in the house in expensive designer clothes. Besides sporting formals, the array of male stars wearing ethnic wear in most of the serials makes one wonder if one has wrongly switched on a channel exclusively reserved for fashion shows. The palatial bungalows and swanky cars complete the glamour quotient.
It is however the storyline that gets crankier with each episode as bizarre plots unfold on the screen where the protagonists have to contend with scheming relatives trying to outwit each other. It is the ultimate fall from grace that the vamps and villains of the serial devilishly design for the central characters of the story.
Do these things really happen in real life, one wonders! And they call it family dramas!
With almost all narratives regularly telecast following pretty much the same pattern, it becomes difficult to understand the interest generated for any one particular TV soap. But with no apparent dearth of serials on the national channels or the regional ones, the choice for viewers is undoubtedly vast.
During the earlier years when television broadcasting in the country was in its nascent stage, Doordarshan had a couple of long and highly successful runs of mythological serials.
‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ as those iconic shows which ruled Indian television once, boasted of a devout following that saw the type of interest being generated which could captivate a whole nation and bring the masses congregating before television sets at the designated hour of beaming.
Besides, with the current trend that has a number of serials suffering an abrupt end, TV channels are hard-pressed to justify their decision to have the shows taken off the air. Just as some serials begin to fascinate the viewers; much to their chagrin, they are discontinued without any reasons ascribed.
Another notable feature of some of the serials have been the way they steer off course so often to end up as a poor version of a story that initially had the right doses of drama, action and emotion to enthral an audience. Despite the extensive build up to a dream opening, they turn out to be utter disappointments.
In the meanwhile, promos announcing the telecast of new serials continue to bombard the screen!
However, channels, it has been observed, ‘re-introduce’ situation comedies which were hits during their earlier telecast and title them ‘Season -2’ to increase viewership.
Some of the game and reality shows follow a typically different pattern with ‘seasons’ denoting the number of sequels produced. As a widely accepted Indian television game show that has captivated audiences since its inception in 2000, the producers of KBC get ready to air its 16th season this year.
A sitcom is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters that mostly carry over from episode to episode. Successful sitcoms, as so rightly mentioned, become timeless because they usually appeal to multiple generations.
While there are quite few from the old Doordarshan days, the present variety hopelessly depends on contrived situations to make viewers laugh, with some exceptions of course. In any case, for television channels today, it is all about volume even if quality has to be sacrificed in the quest for higher TRP ratings.
