Watching television with mummy
and rajma-chawal is a great fun. She has got some serials on her list and
watches them daily. One fine evening I joined her while I was getting bored. I
found them entertaining and my conclusion after watching them for about a month
or so is – seriously, something is wrong. Here I list some things that, I find,
are wrong with the Indian TV.
1. Same story, different serials!
Yes. On comparing some of the TV serials I realized that they have, directly or
indirectly, just the same story. Howsoever middle class the family may be they
will always have a sprawling house set in the backdrop of either lush green fields
of Punjab, or remote areas of Rajasthan, Haryana, or Madhya Pradesh or in the
elite societies of Delhi and Mumbai. The female protagonist of the story would
be a lively lower middle class girl belonging to some small holy city in India
who would value relations more than anything else in this world. The male
protagonist of the story would be a mamma’s boy and would hardly get any
dialogues to deliver. The mother-in-law would be a homely lady, would be always
looking for a suitable match for her dear son, and would shut up the poor
father-in-law. The family would be a joint family of some 40-50 members. Of
them, the sisters-in-law would be the villains and rest 40-45 members would not
be serving any purpose and would be there just to give a feel of the joint
family. Male and female protagonists will meet all of a sudden, will fall in
love, and then will move forward for marriage which will meet vehement
opposition from our custom-ridden mother-in-law. After some 100 episodes of
requests, pleas, and tears, our mother-in-law will agree to accept the poor daughter-in-law
only to make her life a living hell. And this story would be stretched for an
indefinite period of time.
Please! Move out of the
saas-bahu concept. Where are serials showcasing working women? We need working
mothers-in-law too! We would definitely admire seasons of the same serial
rather than it being stretched for 6-7 years. Is anyone listening?
2. Where is originality?
Switch to Disney channel. Almost 80% of the serials televised on it are a
simple remake of some foreign serials. Adding to the list are some popular TV
shows like Indian Idol, Master Chef, etc. They are nothing but Indian remakes
of some foreign version. I give them 1 on 5 in comparison.
3. Flood of award shows!
There used to be a time when only IIFA rocked Bollywood and it used to be easy
to remember who bagged which award. But today! Today almost every TV channel,
and almost every organization related to TV organizes its award show and I DO
NOT REMEMBER WHO GOT WHAT!
4. Negativity sells.
TV story writers are perhaps masters of human psychology. This is why they know
what attracts people the most. Negative news sells the most and so today almost
every TV channel has at least one TV serial similar to ‘Crime Patrol’. Beware!
Blood is in your hands!
5. Cannot tolerate this comedy!
Yes today’s comedy shows which claim to be ‘made for family’ are neither ‘by
family’ nor ‘for family’. In fact, they are ‘far’ from the family. The jokes
cracked are simply disgusting and most embarrassing. Intolerable!
6. Are reality shows real?
My answer- NO! I simply do not find them to be! From episode 1 to the grand
finale, every word, every emotion, and every expression is scripted. And who
knows even the winner is pre-decided!
7. Wildlife on Discovery.
There used to be a time when nuclear science, space science, astronomy,
physics, wizards and witches, ghosts, exotic places on the earth, etc ruled the
channel Discovery. Every hour would be filled with anxiety and interest. And it
was, once upon a time, my favorite TV channel. Now? Now, I hate watching it
because I hate watching discovery wildlife.
8. Beep. There are a
few TV channels which target young population. Serials broadcasted on them
contain highly offensive words which they beep out. However the left out
content is still anti-social, abusive, disrespectful, and embarrassing.
The list is growing! And I notice
that I have listed enough of the problems. TV serial makers should not forget
that TV is the most effective media of communication. It influences each and
every sector of society; each and every species of human being. They can be tools
of human development or weapons of mass destruction. They can create a society
or break it. So they should be extremely cautious before showcasing anything on
it.
