No more gissa pitta tv shows
Youth today no longer watches the soap operas and other prime-time shows on Indian TV. There seems to be a disconnect between what they show and what we want to see.
If you had to categorise the prime-time you see on General Entertainment channel(GEC) on Indian TV, you could broadly divide it into following
- One or Two Saas-Bahu saga
- One Mythological/Historical show
- One show on a women trying to fight/conquer the society
- One Paranormal show
- One Love story where it takes ages for them to realise that they love each other
One of the top TRP show is Diya Aur baati Hum which is about a lady who became a police inspector with the moral support of her husband. But her mom-in-law is not keen. How she does her duty with the conditions of her mom in law was the show all about. But it’s alreday past the mentioned plot line. And if you watch what all she does today as a officer you will be flabbergasted.
Look at these promos from the show
Other shows like Balika vadhu started off nicely but got carried away. Lets not even talk of paranormal shows like Nagin, Kawach and Kala Teeka. Then there is Love stories that goes on and on and on.
Finally the Mythology/History dept. TV channels atleast have some sense and are imparting some knowledge about our heritage. Or is it. Lets look at Jodha Akbar on Zee. In the first place it’s contested that Jodha was Akbar’s wife but let’s assume it’s true. It’s said that ekta kapoor was inspired from the 2009 movie of Ashutosh Gowariker by the same name. Ashutosh narrated the whole story in 2hrs 30min and ekta took 60 times more time to tell the same story at 566 episodes each about 24 min long. This is not a exception. All other historical shows are the same. I get that it’s not a documentary but 566 episodes still feel a drag. Even our historians might not have so much material about them.
What about the writers in such shows. Most of these start of on a good note but when the guy has to produce a new story every single day what do you think will be quality. Storytelling is a creative field and can't work on a deadline. This is the reason why english shows have seasons. The writers are given enough time to think and write the plot for the next season. Only once they have a decently detailed story they start filming.
But there are exceptions (or were). In Nov 2004 Star Network started a youth oriented channel called Star One. It had several good shows like Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, Hotel Kingston, Guns & Roses, Instant Khichdi. These were awesome shows a break from the gissa pitta. Each of these where a breadth of fresh air. But once these ended it too got into the same rut and finally shut shop. It got rebranded/replaced to Life Ok. Then there is SAB which initially aired all the good comedy shows but these days it’s too off track.
But there is Hope. Welcome to internet.
TV isn't the only medium any more. Most of the youth watch shows on their laptops, desktops, tablets and mobiles. Youth in cities is mainly feed up with these hindi tv shows and watch english shows like GOT, House of Cards, Prison Break. But things are changing back home too.
Take for example TVF. It’s a online digital entertainment channel started by Arunabh Kumar. After one of his ideas for a show was rejected by MTV he decided to air it on youtube and it was a instant hit. They began with producing short humorous videos/skits but last year they started doing drama web series. And boy what a revelation they were.
First one was Permanent Roommate. It’s love story about a couple and their families. It actually deals with all the real issue that today’s couple face like live-in, nervous jitters about marriage, convincing parents, pre-marital sex etc. It’s currently in it’s season 2
They followed it up with a even better Pitchers . It’s a tale of 4 guys and the trouble they go through to form and run their startup. The first episode had more than 3 million views. The series, hosted on TVF’s official YouTube channel, has since gathered over 1 million views for each episode. It’s at 25th place in the IMDB’s top TV shows.
It’s not just TVF several others like Scaveners by ScreenPanti, Baked by ScoopWhoop (yes it’s scoopwhoop) have all created decent web series. And if you thought the mainstream is not doing anything then you are wrong
YashRaj has created a sister company called YFlim. YFilm makes youth oriented movies and web series. Last year they made A Man’s World in association with/support of UN. I though it was a one off but thankfully i was wrong. They produced another one Bang Baaja Bride. It’s written and directed by Anand tiwari, the third one in Go Goa Gone and Sameer vyas aka Mikesh from Permanent Roommates.
Recently Viacom 18/Colors started a online site called Voot which hosted all their shows. But they didn't stop there. They started creating original content one of them a web series called Chinese Basad. It hits all the right notes. It’s a awesome show with a even better title track.
But none of this is on the main stream TV and it may not matter coz in future TV as we know may not exist. Cord Cutting as it’s known is already happening in US and will soon happen in india. Look at the chart below most of the India is below 45.
If the regular GEC’s don't change soon they will soon go the way of Nokia and Blackberry, a leader once but almost extinct today. They failed to adapt themselves to the challenge posed by the iPhone.
