The new face of Indian television

The present scenario has become different. Television is no longer the small screen. It’s a monster that can chew up any form of entertainment. Times have changed. No wonder,
the megastars are moving in onto
this small screen

Television, I first thought, was a revolution — a renaissance. But no - television has just been reborn in the land of tales after two decades of struggle. This resurrection could only take place when something has been peacefully existing for a long time.

When television invaded India, there was naturally hope, moneybags, and expectation. What was lacking was talent. Dreamers who couldn’t worm their way onto the silver screen sought the small one. And these nomads learnt through hits and misses and made their own hutments to stay. Some learned by watching The Bold And The Beautiful, available on channels for as less as Rs. 75 per month. And some couldn’t even gather that. Few survived and many evaporated, but as the cliche goes, the show went on.

The entertainment-hungry channels grew bigger asked for more. But the cauldrons of talents were and are empty. While the real need is for talent to multiply and magnify like gremlins. The result is that mass work and mass projects began and the quality of work deteriorated, decayed, decomposed and degenerated.

With the onset of KBC, there is hope. One sees television zooming on to a very big high as far as the commerce, viewing, quality, whatever related to the business is concerned. A 9p.m.-10 p.m. slot has become a hyper slot — a high temperature slot. The boiling point has been set and left. There is no cooling down. If I, as a viewer, clap my hands, watching the show, it is fine. But if I as a producer clap my hands watching the show, then it would be washing my hands off, thereby approaching unemployment and poverty.

The present scenario has become different. Television is no longer the small screen. It’s a monster that can chew up any form of entertainment. Times have changed. No wonder, the megastars are moving in onto this small screen. One hears that stars like Govinda and Shah Rukh Khan are negotiating with the channels. There is no denial from them. The small screen is ready with its arms open. It has already embraced the living legend Amitabh Bachchan. This time there is no humiliation to the small channel because the economics here has golden layers and sprinkles of diamonds on them. The churning is so fast.
I am sure, that as a writer-director, I have to think of a new configuration, a new survival kit. It could be an Aishwarya Rai to do a show or a Sridevi, or an Aamir Khan for that matter. The icons are important, because the game plans have changed; the viewing patterns have changed. The prime time designs have changed. The soaps would soon have to be elbowed out and shifted to afternoon slots. Evenings would be frolic and laughter and entertainment in pure sense.

Like in the West, Prime Time means Bill Cosby, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy and The Jay Leno shows, in India we have to interview real stars and not anyone who occupies the coveted chair due to the nonavailability of a celeb.
The stars have to be paid on their appearances. The TRPs, the ad revenue, everything will be different. The show will fetch in megabucks and will be sold for megabucks. The entire commerce is going to change. I am a witness to this circumvolution happening in front of me.

I really do not know at this point of time what my next step is or would be. I am still searching and scanning. I don’t know on which pulse I make, win or lose. After a long time of no goals and no milestones, KBC has finally put everyone to task.

Where were they till now? How long were they planning this? Why couldn’t we hear the whispers and moves? It’s a Kargil on television, which they have done and won while we were sleeping. I at this point of time remember a poem, which reads “The heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by a sudden flight. But they were, while their companions slept, toiling upwards in the night.”

While the show is on, the rest of the channels are busy making strategies, plans, blueprints, layouts and maps. The time is not to play chicken. The time is not to duck and dodge. The time is to combat head long and head on. The mightier wins, the stronger survives and the brawnier prevails. It is high time the new breed takes over. It is high time the television is run by the skilled, and the craft takes over.

Ravi Rai