Is television really growing?

Creativity, unfortunately has taken a back seat. There is no institute that professionally trains people and no one wants to spend so much time learning as the attitude these days is "chalta hai."

Growth is the name of the game. Agreed. Well, who wouldn’t want to expand his horizons? Each one of us wants to. A human mind and a restless bird. The more it gets the more it wants. Fair. With opportunities galore, everyone is only too occupied, making hay while the sun shines.

But in this game, while everyone is blindly marching past, trying to make the best out of every opportunity, I am forced to wonder where we are heading. The television industry is growing by leaps and bounds. From one channel to the current huge number of channels. From five soaps a week to more than 500 a week across all channels. Along with tremendous opportunities, there is big moolah involved too.

But again, I wonder if this growth has really been a healthy, positive growth. Honestly, I personally don’t think so. It is because of this sudden, steep growth that mediocrity has crept in. Quantity these days, to most of them, seems to be of more importance than quality. And not many seem to be bothered about it. As long as they are raking in good money.

But has anyone tried to introspect why this has happened? I think it is mainly because the demand is much more than the supply. The advent of more and more channels is good for content providers because as I said, there would be multiple work opportunities, while the viewers would have or probably are having a ball of a time.

But with each passing day, it is becoming more difficult to make quality shows. Because a producer who earlier made two shows in a given period of time, is either trying to, or already making ten shows in the same time-span. And believe it or not, in the next two years, there will be more than 1,500 serials on air every week on different channels.

The demand being so high, there is tremendous dearth of good subjects, writers, actors, directors, technicians - you name it. And the budget constraints only add to our problems. We have the same story ideas revolving around us and the same faces coming up on the box. It is a fact that there is a terrible scarcity of manpower.

By scarcity, I mean that of talented writers, directors, set designers, editors and music composers. Assistant directors are going independent, whether they know direction or not. Office assistants in editing studios have become editors themselves. People are conveniently accepting all this because the show has to go on. Creativity, unfortunately has taken a back seat. There is no institute that professionally trains people and no one wants to spend so much time learning as the attitude these days is "chalta hai."

Where does one get trained manpower from? Talking of our actors, they look completely fagged out and exhausted because most of them are doing three shifts and have no dates. Every day, they have a problem of adjustment and give you four to six hours as they have to rush for another shoot. And the word "loyalty" doesn’t go with actors at all. When actors set out on their journey, they are seen lingering at our doorstep for long hours. But with one successful show, they begin showing their colours.

But once again, one really cannot help it because every channel wants these known faces - the so-called stars. It is often said television is a writer’s medium. If that is really the case, why do we have to be at the mercy of these stars?

That is not all. There is also a shortage of equipment. Shooting locations, studios and bungalows are hardly available. There are days when shootings have to be cancelled due to non-availability of locations or equipment. Earlier, we had a choice as to where to shoot. Now, we have to shoot according to the availability of studios, locations and actors. Everything seems to be in doldrums.

Surprisingly, no one wants to think of a solution to these problems. Just like we have computer institutes or acting institutes, we can surely also have a technical institute that would train people interested in direction, editing, art direction, sound recording.

We really need people who know the technicalities. Otherwise, how can one make good programmes under such constraints and impracticable situations? The idea of an institute doesn’t sound impossible to me if a few of us come together and take it up seriously.

Very soon, I foresee shootings happening at night due to non-availability of locations, equipment and technicians and above all artists during the day. It is an irredeemable situation. And looks like its only going to get worse. It is time we look at it more seriously and sincerely.

Manish Goswami