Serial Killer

I don’t like spending time in front of the idiot box, but past couple of weeks has been momentous – I am forced to passive TV viewing and it is taking a toll on my life. (Sorry, but I cannot name the active viewer at my home J)

Earlier when someone used to talk about the torturous Ekta Kapoor’s serials, I was not able to co-relate to what they were saying, but now I can empathize with their pain – thanks to the daily dose of serials starting 7:30 PM and continuing upto 11:00 PM. For some circumstantial reasons I have to spend my evening in the drawing room in front of the television (the irony of my fate is that I spend this time with my laptop trying hard to keep myself engaged with it), and despite my best efforts, these serials enter my system either through my eardrums or through the glances I get from the corner of my eyes.

From my experience of the past few weeks I realized, that irrespective of the channel, the primetime is devoted to a selected set of serials. It has to be a family drama or a serial on some social customs in the (God only knows) remotest part of India, a talent show or a laughter show. Only the names differ, the content remains the same across channels. Infact I think it’s the same person playing different roles in different serials on different channels.

Let me share with you what I was able to grasp about these serials, and I am sure you will immediately understand what I mean to say.

I don’t know what do the script writer thinks before scripting such nuisance (If at all there is any pre-decided script!). In the name of family drama you get to see the most complicated relationship structure you can imagine – If your brother is my husband and your mother is not my mother-in-law then how are we related – if you can’t answer this then you should be happy coz you are still out of the effects of the stupidity served on national television in the name of entertainment. The idea is simple – take a dozen plots, put the most extravagant makeup you can think of on all of them and then weave the cobweb of relationship which I doubt even the character themselves would understand. When all this fails, then they spice it up by adding artificial Bollywood songs – I fail to understand the purpose behind putting songs in a serial.

The other bunch of serials which aim at highlighting the social customs plaguing us, is one of its class. I was shocked to see the way they are projecting the Indian society. I belong to one of the least developed states of this country, but there too I have never heard of the prevalence of such feudal structure. Learning from past is good, but serving a distorted past to the future generations is what concerns me. There are children of impressionable age who watch some of these serials, what are we serving them?

The latest flavor of the market is the talent shows. I think the success of Indian Idol and MTV Roadies is the real culprit. I don’t know exactly how many idols / roadies were created by the television in the past, and I doubt if anyone of you actually remember their names, but somehow such shows are running at high TRPs. The extent has broadened from singing and dancing to matchmaking (Swayamvar series) and bedroom stories (Big Boss). I have absolutely no idea where it will end!

At one point of time I used to like the laughter shows, to be specific the Laughter challenge – 1, which brought to light some of the good comedians like Raju Srivastava, Ehsaan Qureshi and Sunil Pal. But then some intelligent people sitting there tried to commoditize the LAUGHTER and brought an end to the relationship between decency and comedy. Be careful if you switch to any of these laughter shows with your family members sitting next to you.

I agree that whatever I wrote above for serials applies equally for movies, sometime the content of a movie is worse than a serial, but a movie is a one-time watch. It kills you instantly, whereas the serial is a slow and silent killer. They are contagious to the extent that even before you realize that you are trapped in this web, you are dead.

I remember the good old Doordarshan days when the options were limited but had the quality and I am sure if you belong to the generation who grew up watching those serials, you will find it difficult to spend even a minute in front of the idiot box today.