I avoid watching television, but I sometimes can’t help it when I’m just sitting in front of the TV and then someone switches it on to watch their favorite show.
And if those favourite shows happen to be one of the Indian TV’s daily soaps, well, I’m damned! These things indefinitely trouble me.
And that’s not only because I can’t tolerate the dumb content these shows project, but because of something that’s scary.
Let me first rant about the channel which I hate the most.
Star Plus.
Running shows like (let me look up)
- Saath Nibhana Sathiya
- Mere angane me
- Ye rishta kya kehlata hai
- Suhani Si Ek Ladki
Two dimensional characters, cliché story plots, even vulgarity nowadays seems to be the trend. Earlier it was just marriage-divorce-second marriage and similar plots. Nowadays, a mother bearing her son’s child, what sort of incest is that? And showing that on a national television! (From the show – Suhani Si Ek Ladki)
(Don’t ask me how I know this.)
That’s sad.
But you know what’s scary?
The incredible number of people who watch these shows.
So these shows have been airing for more than 10 years straight, three times a day, now even on Sundays!
A point to remember is that each of these serials are individual ventures, which are solely run for profits. No businessman is a fool to run a venture that doesn’t generate profit.
I wonder if you notice the number of serials that get cut mid story without explanation. It’s just because these fail to generate enough TRPs for the producer to profit from the advertisements shown with the shows.
So what kind of shows would compel a producer to air them even on Sundays? Those which have a lot of TRPs!
Saath Nibhana Sathiya was on the top of the charts last month, two more ridiculous shows competing with it.
So many housewives watch these shows, it astonishes me!
If instead of these senseless, so called drama shows, if you had good shows (some sense atleast), I doubt they’ll watch them. I. Seriously. Doubt.
I once attended a seminar by Ronnie Screwvala about entrepreneurship. He is the founder of UTV, a production house responsible for movies like Rang De Basanti and Swades. He also started the kids entertainment channel Hungama.
When asked why they didn’t produce tv serials of the same quality as his films, his answer lookeda bit odd to me then.
He said something in the lines of this.
When you produce a tv show, the return of your money has to come from the advertisers. They are the people who run the whole industry.
So you have to createwhat they ask for. And this is what they ask for.
This is the sole reason why good content has moved to online platforms such as YouTube. Young channels such as TVF, EIC, and more are creating above average content. Netflix too has come to India.
The trend, atleast among the youth, is shifting from television to online mobile videos. I wonder when TV becomes old fashioned.
Do you think that it ever will?