The Indian Television has come a long way since the first Black & White T.V. was introduced in 1975. Its been history since we had only The Great Doordarshan Channel for our entertainment. It was the only source from where we could watch news, some good serials and ofcourse wait for our weekly dose of Chitrahaar.
Nobody could have ever imagined that in by 2004 we would be bombarded by innumerable channels and T.V. industry has created a great revolution in entertainment field.
Apart from having some memorable serials like Nukkad, Buniyaad, Humlog, Vikram ;Vetaal, Rajani, Yaatra, Khaandaan, Swami and the great epics ;Ramayana and Mahabharata, T.V. was still considered something inferior to the Silver Screen.
1.News was always filtered and there were no debates or exchange of opinions.
It was the era of impeccably dressed people like Nithi Ravindran, Minu, Gitanjali Aiyer.Rini Simon, Sunil Tandon who spoke convent English. One could hardly see any
Politicians talking to media .
- We did have some impressive serials but they did not make any STARS
of these actors. We still remember all the characters of Nukkad like Thambi,
Guru, Teacher, Ghanshu, Khopdi , Hari , Kathir Bhai etc but sadly, not their names.Their Characters were etched in gold.
3.Hindi songs were the privelege of Chitrahaar/ Chayageet. We would glue
to our sets to catch a glimpse of Hema Malini, Dev Anand, Zeenat Aman, Jaya Bhaduri, Amitabh Bachan.
- Sundays were reserved for Watching Movies with family at home. Often
guests were not entertained on Sundays for this purpose.And Saturdays ofcourse, we had to be happy watching a regional flick like Marathi movie in Maharashtra , Tamil movie in T.N and so on..
5.Did we really get to see the interview of our Star Actors? Yes , in one and only;Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan? with Chubby Tabbassum. That too, only the supporting actors would do the honors and not The SUPER STARS who were
totally inaccessible.
We could see live cricket and hockey minus the REPLAYS.
Sponsorship of serials was not heard of .
Actors found it below dignity to endorse any products & hardly seen
in advertisements.
Now straight to 2004:.
Right from the time we have cable channels invading our lives, there has been dynamic changes in our selves.
1.From our Indian news channels like Star News, NDTV, Aaj Tak to B.B.C. ,
CNN, the politicians have become our STARS. Watching a great showdown in Orissa Parliament where legislators threw chappals at each other and the Great
BUSH- KERRY; elections is of much more excitement than the First Day First Show Release of any Indian Movie.
- From the sober , melodious songs of bygone era to the strip tease gals
dancing to remixes, The music channels are making moolah!
- The Actors of course want to be featured in all the channels and give the
same goddamn interview everywhere.
4.Now Satellite channels are fighting to get the rights of a new movie whether
its a hit or not. DDLJ, K3G, KMG are regular feature .
5.Now the cricketers are the SuperStars , their each and every opinion ie
from the nature of the pitch to the wind conditions are counted. Also the ex ones are holding mikes as commentators and have also turned into sports reporter for
channels. And yes! We have Mandira Bedi too..
- All the great Superstars seems to be doing Ads for chocolates,
health drinks, banks, soft drinks, chavanprash, herbal tonic and the list never seems to be ending.
7.The serials are no longer catering to social backdrop but its overtaken by
REGRESSIVE portrayal of women in 2004.What a shame!! Whether its
SAAS- BAHU of Ekta Kapoor or the equally bad stuff in Kolangal, Metti Oli in
Sun T.V. (Tamil Channel), there is no portrayal of Today's Women at all.
- U scratch my back and I scratch yours.This is the policy of the all the
Film and Television Awards Functions. All the channels die to telecast the same
stale show , with same actors/actors, same dances, same faces , same
thanksgiving note. What was once the royal privelege of DD in telecasting
Film Fare Awards
function, has become repetitive in all channels.
- NOW the biggest shock of all ---is the REALITY T.V. Though its very popular in
WEST, I wondered whether we too would succumb to it. Unfortunately YES!!!!
It all started from Channel V who hunted 5 girls to make it as POP SINGERS . That could be Tina, Mina, Pinky and even you. The pre requisite is to be a great performer with good looks, perfect body language and a good voice. And Voila! Amongsts toughest competitons from different cities , 5 girls were picked. Just one of them had trained voice and others less said the better. Thus Viva was born and died too quickly after the initial hype.
Now this has become the ground to rake lots of money. All the channels have scrambled to start some Contests in the pretext of hunting talent. They show u the moon, u could be a Super Star in a Movie, Item Bomb , Indian Idol, Singing Sensation, Mr. & Miss Bollywood, Actors in a mega serial of gr8 Ekta Kapoor etc.
They sell forms , bring some B grade judges, rope in Cellular companies for tapping the SMS competition segment etc just to lure the novices.
Then the biggest of all is to telecast them in prime time. And the guinea pig is ''We''.
We are made to watch this daily, know about some XYZ's life in Timbuctoo, his hopes , his family , his credentials, if any. Then u start sending SMS to VOTE for A, B or C.
If a person does not make through, the camera zooms to capture his tears, sorrow and capitalize this thing too..This is the most frustrating part. No doubt, Reality T.V. is a platform for budding talents but can be nasty too. It intrudes the privacy of a person.
I m wondering whats next on agenda of Indian Television. May be we would be directing our own characters from home with the latests gizmos!!!!
Whats ur opinion??? Pls do send ur comments.
