Soap Operas... the 'K' factor and the Decay of Indian Television...

I dunno how the term Soap Operas even came about... but thats not even the point.... Lately... I have given up watching regular TV... like... everywhere... I dont even watch TV in the US... but again... thats not what I am really here to talk about....

I am here to talk about the decaying standards of the shows that the Indian Entertainment industry is dishing out these days... there are a few good ones apparently.... or so I am told... but those are few and far between... there used to be a time when we could turn on the television and ALWAYS count on good clean entertainment...

I am talking of the DD, Zee TV era... and some later channels... When shows like Nukkad, Buniyaad, Malgudi Days, Mohandas B.A.L.L.B., Flop Show, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Hum Paanch, Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne, Fauji etc. used to rule the roost... I would give an arm and leg to have all of those shows on my HDD right now... which is perhaps more than what I would give even or Adachis Miyuki or Hiatari No Ryokou.... the point was... all these shows were great... there was real comedy... there was no backstabbing of family members by family members going on... there was focus on actual happenings in the country... there was a firm grounding in reality and the characters were a good representation of the target demographic... even if they were sometimes over the top or idealized...

I am talking about the days when mothers and daughters in law weren't always hatching plots to have each other killed... when sisters in law actually thought of each other as sisters and not adversaries (at least on TV!)... when the kids showed respect for their elders... when the humor was generally clean... when the drama did not require multiple zooming ins from different angles accompanied by random booming sounds to increase the impact of a scene... when the true 'drama' shows were about real people in real circumstances... nowadays... the characters are all operating at a total disconnect from the 'real' world... in the world of todays TV shows... everyone must be clad in ostentatious clothes and wear a full complement of make up and accessories in EVERY scene... no matter where that scene takes place... there are businessmen who somehow have free time to do so much other crap instead of actually handling their business... office workers who do anything but work... students who do anything but study... doctors who do anything but treat patients... etc...

It does not even matter what a TV show starts out as in India anymore... it will almost invariably devolve into one of those Saas-bahu shows (as I call them)... I hear there are some new shows airing on some channels which have shown some promise... a friend recommended the shows 'Powder' and 'Marriage.com' or sumsuch show to me... said they were pretty good... but she did say that if these were to somehow devolve into a similar formula... even SHE would lose faith in the Indian entertainment industry and its ability to provide good entertainment...

Then there are the 'n' number of 'reality' shows.... I am someone who is of the firm belief that there can be (and should be) no such thing as a reality show... it just does not work that way... unless youre doing some kind of wildlife documentary.... but I doubt that even counts... I dunno... I guess the overly faked 'emotion'.... the 'intense buildups'.... and the 'suspense' really dont appeal to me... people tell me not to knock it till I have tried it... but after subjecting myself to a couple episodes worth of Indian Idol and its 'American parent'... and a couple other 'reality' shows... I have decided that I would sooner take up residence in a Russian Gulag.... (Ok... that was a bit of an exaggeration... but you get my point... )

I guess I have been imposing my own views here a little... what I consider good entertainment is not necessarily what everyone wants... but I just hope that no one out there is merely settling for this drivel simply because they have never seen anything better....

Trust me... Dekh Bhai Dekh still blows practically every other comedy serial I have ever seen... foreign or Indian... clean out the water... and it does so without using ANY innuendo... and not much (if any) slapstick...