The Indispensible Television

Those were the days when my mother used to wake me early on Sunday mornings to watch Rangoli, the only film based show on Doordarshan and now are the times when you might just get a headache surfing
the channels to determine what to watch and what not to…..
The massive transformation that television programmes have undergone in the last decades is tremendous. In fact I feel that if we personify television it would be unrecognizable.
Twenty years back we had no options, all TV had to offer was DD-National. DD was full of programmes like news, Krishi Darshan, educational programmes, social awareness advertisements and entertainment programmes like Rangoli, Sunday afternoon movies etc. And yes people loved these programmes.
Then came the era of mythological serials, a medium through which we could connect back to our roots and culture. There was Mahabharata and Ramayana, which instantly became the talk of the town. Such was the impact of these serials that the roads were totally deserted when these programmes were telecasted. In villages where, community TVs were put up, people used to pray in front of the television sets as they considered it as a means of meeting God. I still remember my dance teacher changed the timings of our classes so that she could be at home to watch Mahabharata. Although TV had been there for quite a long time, this period was considered to be the real advent of TV in true sense. Suddenly TVs were no longer a luxury item but a necessity and every middle class family had to have it.
Soon DD came with the new concept called “Family Soaps” like Humlog, Buniyaad, - a mirror image of the Indian joint family of that era, their hardships and their struggles to survive all odds. They became a huge success and people could relate to the character’s lives and sufferings. The tears on the characters’ faces bought tears to our eyes. When Badki’s parents couldn’t find a suitable match for their daughter, whole of India sympathized with them.
Seeing the increasing popularity of entertainment TV, DD came up with a new channel called DD–Metro, a purely entertainment based channel. This was the birth of entertainment media. With DD- Metro came the new revamped view of the changing India. Many women based programmes like Shanti, Rajni, Udaan, etc talked about women power and the various facets of their personality other than that of a mother and wife. Next came programmes targeted at young adults, the bandwagon of a series of musical programmes like Superhit Muquabla, Aamne Samne, educational programmes, quiz contests, games shows etc. I still remember I was so much hooked on to television those days that the dinning room moved to the TV room.
The next revolution came with replacing the crying drama soaps with comedy shows like Karmachand, Tu Tu Main Main, Shrimaan Shrimati, Dekh Bhai Dekh, and Zabaan Sambhale ke. It was followed by new improved hi-tech special effect shows like Chandrakanta, Alif Laila, Shaktimaan that left no room for man’s imagination to run wild. Although the story hardly moved in these shows but we still were addicted to TV.
If we thought that TV had provided us with enough distractions well we were wrong, because man’s creativity has no boundaries and so does television. If entertainment medium took us by storm then Cable TV was definitely a tsunami.
Suddenly we had so many options rather channels to watch other than DD, that we just couldn’t stop surfing the channels. We can attribute the invention of the remote to the cable TV, how else can we imagine surfing the innumerable channels?? And thanks to the TV, the advertising houses were on a boom.
The Cable TV catered to the needs of all the family members. Women could watch the serials, men could check out the news all around the globe, elders could continue to watch their mythological programmes and kids could sing and dance to the latest movie songs. Along with that came the war- the remote war. Soon one TV in a family was less. And life was hard for students, balancing studies and TV, ultimately TV won the battle hands down. Cable TV provided us with all variety of programmes one could think of, entertainment, information of the world around, you just name and you get it. The concept of programmes was no longer restricted to dramas it moved on to thrillers, horror shows, game shows, musical shows and so on, the list was endless. This era gave birth to hundreds of memorable shows like Antakshari, Snakes and Ladders, Zee horror show and Mano Ya Na Mano. Serials also moved on to touch different aspects of life like college, army, nuclear families etc. and more serious topics like girl child, women abuse, love marriages and generation gaps.
Television moved on to achieve greater heights with creativity and innovation. With more advancement came more channels and more variety. Every channel was engaged in a bullfight to grab the attention of its viewers. Then came the era of the K-soaps, the pioneer success story being Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, the longer the name and the more Ks, the higher the TRPs. Overnight Ekta Kapoor became the “Queen of Television” and every channel wanted to cash on the success of K- serials. So we had the likes of Kahaanis, Kkusums, Kasautis and so on. Cable TV was now spelt as “Kable TV” and characters like Tulsi, Parvati and Kusum became role models for Indian women. These serials have taken so many leaps that I wonder whether I will be lucky enough to see their end in my lifetime.
Then came Big B’s “ Kaun Banega Crorepati” which brought sparkling dreams of becoming rich and also the same kind of unity and craze among Indians that Mahabharata had achieved. Many shows tried to copy the format of KBC but none could match it.
Soon when the television media realized that they had offer more, they decided to take plunge into a new concept – makeovers. Following the suit to the world’s most high profile makeover of Jassi, every girl got a new look in every other serial. Soon serial directors and channel heads realized that every girl couldn’t be Jassi after all Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi!
Now the present era is of reality television, every channel is coming up with new concepts of accommodating reality in some or the other way. Be it dance shows, celebrity game shows, business shows, singing shows, adventure shows and I can just go on and on. You have shows like Indian Idol, Business Baazigar, Nach Baliye, Mtv Roadies, Fear Factor flocking all channels.
How long this era will last no one can predict. But one thing is for sure that television will keep going through many transformations and each of these transformations will reflect a new picture of the ever-transforming India.