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Indian Television:
Circa 2005
The
spoof on Indian TV continues... The new, Classic TV is running
Hum Log, Buniyaad, Mrignayani, Karamchand. It is more popular
than Star Gold
The much-loved mythologicals are now syndicated by Chopras
and Sagars Ltd. headed by Sunil Agnihotri. Ganesha is now
telecast daily on seven channels running consecutive episodes.
It has benefited all the channels. Seeing the popularity of
these beautifully shot-in-chroma, supremely Indian and prestige
Mythos (which eradicated the myth that there are only seven
stories), Disney even tried to negotiate with the company
in an attempt to recreate the excitement of cartoons.
Laharen, Filmi Baatein etc. now look as dated and worthy as
the Krishi Darshan, but "formatted reality" is going
strong. Fly-on-the-wall techniques applied to game-show formats
have resulted in a number of runaway successes, particularly
when they boast interactive elements.
Detractors argue that it is unseemly for viewers to decide
who should sleeping-bag whom on Goa beaches, and that there
are better ways to recruit the new host of KBC than to have
the candidate selected by phone calls and E-mails. Others
maintain that the selection of a new producer of KBC in a
series of phone-ins is a true exercise in participatory democracy.
Anu Kapur is given lifetime achievement award by the 37th
hostess, in the last episode of Close-up Antakshari. Zee had
no option but to shut it down after Parwane actually won Rs.
1.28 crore. Gajendra Singh gave a statement that it was sabotaged
by a rival channel who got hold of his set of unsolvable musical
puzzles.
Boogie Woogie got a new lease of life when Shah Rukh started
hosting it early this year. The only problem is that contestants
hardly get a chance to perform.
Karan Thapar is syndicating a column on his show (on some
channel) on lack of current affairs on Indian TV. His last
hard talk with Shekhar Suman had to be taken off air for overlapping
sound problems.
PNBC (Prannoy Roy Broadcasting Corporation) is universally
regarded as the "gold standard". Some say, Zee News’
new series in which "ordinary" viewers investigate
the methods of PNBC’s investigative reporters and win
Rs. 40 crores, is unethical. Rajat Sharma, after initial tantrums,
is now safely back with Zee as this show’s host.
The broadcasters still lust after "event" television,
one-offs that the whole nation will talk about, or at least
dimly recall, the next morning. Most weeks, there is an awards
show, a "final" of the last five years, Tributes
to Helen, Parveen, Zeenat, Madhuri, Raveena, Sonali, Shilpa...
contest" (since the performing stars were the same) --
all of which are proving the law of diminishing returns. Zee’s
Rangshala is now shown on the 38th Saturday of every year.
It is their contribution to Indian theatre. The repeat telecast
of curtain raisers of 90’s Filmfare’s Awards on
Sony is popular among young KBC aspirants.
Sport, the great and expensive hope of the early 2000s, has
also failed in ratings terms to provide many great events.
It is almost as if the nation has realised that its teams
never win. A spokesperson from Zee has confirmed that by December
Zee Sports shall be launched. SetMax is a full time cricket
history channel cataloguing all fixed one-day matches it showed.
Highly popular amongst CBI, BCCI and former captains and coaches.
Pessimists talk of the Queen Mother’s funeral as being
the last universally shared TV moment (and still marvel at
the BBC’s obstinate refused to show it live).
With the new age of intelligent video recorders and electronic
programme guides, channels themselves are becoming less and
less relevant (few outside the industry, for instance, are
really sure what the difference is between DD 17 and DD 18).
The professional classes, who increasingly pride themselves
on being "light viewers", rarely catch adverts,
which they either zap past or have pre-screened out. Out of
need, therefore, programme sponsorship and "masthead
television" is rife, as rife as in the days of the original
American soap opera.
It is only a matter of time before Proctor and Gamble or Levers
or one of the big ad agencies bids for Zee. The sticking point
is the decline in the channel’s profits. As viewing sophistication
has increased, the production values have become more tawdry.
Television, as the wags on the business pages say, may be
idiot, but it is no longer small screen or a poor cousin.
For even a C grade flick can earn Rs. 10-12 crores (five times
the cost of production) from a single TV territory. Adi Chopra’s
new five-year effort Made-For-TV film Ishq-ien fetched whopping
Rs. 47 crores. Star is countering it by premiering Sanjay
Bhansali’s Devdas. B4U’s last hope lies in buying
Subhash Ghai’s Production No. 9 Metro and Liberty Cinema
halls are running house full with their digitally upgraded
Buniyaad’s compiled episodes. The season ticket of 7
days cost Rs. 3,000. TRPs are now recorded in 45 cities in
786 homes. The top soap Babul Ka Aashirwad raked in TRP 0.000673.
Alpha Marathi-Konkani Style is more popular than Alpha Marathi
Mumbai Style and Alpha Marathi Classical.
As my professor had explained to me, in television there are
no trends, only cycle -- and cycles, he added gloomily, that
tend in a downward spiral.
Vivek Agnihotri
This is the concluding part of the article
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