TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
The not so great post on Indian television
Trying to pass time watching television these days can be a frustrating experience. Looking at the options we have, its hardly our fault either. On one hand you have some of our newish sports channels dishing out random crap with wannabe Harsha Bhogle/John Dykes of this world hosting a show aimed at analyzing what went wrong/right in the days play (be it a test/ODI/T20 or a rain washed out day). Yes they do, on a show called `Dial C for Cricket` on Neo Cricket every night with some illustrious names for company (Kirti Azad,Arun Lal,Nilesh Kulkarni, Lalchand Rajput or a random kid studying in Std.VIIIth....not joking!)
So you decide to move on and press the button, only to land up on one of the gazillion news channels out there, the best of them all being India TV! `License for Creativity` is what seems to be India TV`s motto. Watching most of their special shows (very originally titled `Breaking news`), you quickly realize that they thrive on not having an editor for their `news channel` and give an impression that each `news item` (if I can call it that) is an original piece of work by an independant journalist and not under any diktat by India TV. How else can you explain hour long programmes on `Pyaaj maangti hai Chudail` or `Yeh Maut ki Billi hai` on a news channel!
Moving on now to the hottest genre of programmes which has been a rage on Indian television since `Indian Idol` was launched. Yes, Iam talking about the faker than fake `Reality shows`. All that you need to launch one of these is some form of art (the least priority in these shows), 2 judges who cross swords at each other at the drop of a hat and a dumb host and a hostess (who are paid to look good and ask dumb questions). Add to this some elimination rounds, participants showing fake emotions and an orchestrated crowd and a really fake reality show is what you get.
Having said that, Indian television has really come a long way since it saw the birth of the first species of reality television. You don`t even have to be a decent singer/dancer/stand up comedian or a dumb host to be a part of a reality show these days. Its the next best thing since shaadi.com and the age old newspaper matrimonials for the `uneligible` bachelors of this world to get married. So, `Fakey Sawant` and `Rafool Mahajan` can now just set up a show where she/he takes in applications from all those willing to gamble with their lives by marrying these Tier-III celebrities, and the celebrity gets to decide the special fool from that list who supposedly gets to marry them. Who has more to gain from the show, the winner or its loser is still up for debate! Just the thought that people actually do try their luck/bad-luck at these shows in itself is worrying. Also, the fact that the channels have the audacity to launch a second/third season of these crappy shows only shows the intellect of the viewing public in poor light, unless of course people watch it for pure entertainment. Gone are the days when you had 20 K-serials vying for the most irritating show award. The Viranis and Mehtas of this world are now almost on the verge of extinction.
What next? A reality show where the audience gets to decide whether a couple should go ahead with their divorce! Maybe a reality show where we get to vote out some of our crappy sports presenters and `cliche spouting` commentators (I`d love that one)! Whatever, we have`nt seen the last of these reality shows as of yet going by their TRPs and the will of TV channels to churn out one reality show after another.
On a more positive note, if you do manage to survive the barrage of nonsense thrown at you while you keep surfing, you might just come across a few pleasant shows. `Highway on my Plate` is my kind of show where 2 guys just eat their way through every small/big eating place they come across throughout India`s cities/highways! Even if you are`nt a big foodie, this show is a must watch for its humor and keeps you interested with the sheer variety of locations right across the country which is shown on this show. Zaika India ka on NDTV India is pretty similar but hosted by a sane/sobre looking host as compared to `HOMP`.
