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A little Vitamin
‘C’ (comedy) a day keeps troubles away. But where can
a person - after a hard day at work - hope to find this precious
dose? The conventional choice would be right in the drawing room
- the television.
The
longest-running comedy in the 1980s when television was still in
its nascent stages was a comedy serial Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi,
which made viewers sit up with delight. Marked by fine performances
and a crackling script, it notched up ratings higher than Doordarshan's
first soap, Hum Log. But after that, why haven't we seen
more and better comedy on Indian television? Why have the viewers
been craving for intelligent comedy on the small screen?
For
quite some time now, no comedy show has made it to the Top 10 on
Indian television. Perhaps the career of one of India’s best
known comedians – Satish Shah – who first appeared in
Yeh Jo Hai..., says it all. Since then, he has appeared in
just eight more, and rejected over 50 offers. Recently, when asked
about TV show offers, he blushed and said that he is pretty bullish
about television after analysing the quality of current TV shows.
Shah was last seen in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer blockbuster hit
Chalte Chalte.
Why
do these stars of yesteryears shy away from the small screen? Is
it because the big screen is more lucrative and enticing? Why don't
they believe that the adulation of audiences will bring back their
days of glory? More importantly, why aren't audiences biting and
setting the TRP listings on fire? Are we are not a humour-loving
nation? Or is it that there has been no good comedy?
Let's
analyse what ails the TV industry on the comedy front. We spoke
to the 'faces' who present comedy to Indian viewers -
Some
feel that the problem is with the supply and not the demand.
 Anant
Mahadevan, a media personality who has seen action behind as well
as in front of the camera says: "The channel heads and their
programming executives should invite Kundan Shah, Sai Paranjape,
amongst others to make a serial for them. These channel executives
are earning millions. Do they even know that the comedies of these
makers were instrumental in giving these head honchos a chance to
sit on their high pedestals? Unfortunately, for them, comedy is
'laugh-a-line stuff' and not what Shakespeare described as 'literature
having a happy ending'. They do consider a few comedy serials maybe,
but very soon, say that this is not comedy. Pray, how do they define
comedy? They define comedy as farce. What is farce is a lovely joke.
It's ridiculous."
 Dilip
Joshi, the oft-seen face in Indian comedies who is equally at home
doing theatre, says: "I blame the channels and the makers both.
I understand that the channel is not interested because commerce
is the name of the game. But most makers have not even tried to
make a memorable comedy serial in the recent past. Tell me, how
many pilots shot in the last one year have had comedy as their central
core? India is a nation of herd mentality. If something clicks,
every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to try his hand on that thing. There
is no thought process."
Joshi
also takes offence to the way in which some of the serials in which
he has performed were treated!
 "
At the moment, I am deeply hurt by the manner which the serial Shubh
Mangal ... was treated. The serial was doing pretty well - just
a few days ago Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowarikar had said
that he liked it, but did the channel care? It was withdrawn abruptly.
Comedy serials, in particular, need to be told about their longevity
and this should be adhered to. Else the actors can never give 100
per cent which is so vital if you want to amuse somebody. It's not
as easy as putting glycerine and going in front of the camera,"
adds Joshi.
Joshi
also takes a dig at the obsession with saas-bahu sagas. "Ever
since Kyunki... and Kahaani... did well, almost every
serial toys with idea of focussing more on drama. Two classic cases
in point are Sara Akaash which originally was supposed to
be a story based on life in the airforce and Sanjivani - A Medical
Boon designed on life in the medical profession," he adds.
 Behind
every successful man is a woman who tells him that he is wrong.
Supriya Pathak, the better half of Indian television's most acclaimed
'comedy' star Pankaj Kapoor, is currently seen in serials such as
Khichdi.
Pathak
says: "You may say that channels are living in a cocoon and
on a one-track trip. On second thoughts, I don't think so. As far
as my experience goes in this sphere, there's no subtle comedy.
There's too much loud and in-the-face type happening. This trend
is nauseating and difficult for the channels to accept. Things must
change for the better now."
 Incidentally,
her husband Pankaj Kapoor was adjudged the best actor in a comedy
show in last year's Indian Telly Awards and has won several other
awards. In SAB TV's Office Office, Kapoor plays Mussadilal,
a common man struggling against the system. Every episode is a journey
of this man through the bureaucratic maze and describes how he returns
home a defeated man.
Encouraged
by the rising TRPs of the serial, SAB TV had launched a contest
titled Bol Beta Bol... Office Ke Pol Khol in which viewers
are being asked to write about their ordeal at the hands of a government
officer. The prize: your bad experience could become the subject
of an episode.
 Kapoor
says: "It is very difficult to do comedy. To make an audience
laugh at your antics is a difficult task. But maybe most of the
roles I have played of late have been comical because the common
man relates to comedies more easily."
Talking
about the success of the most acclaimed serial of today, Mahadevan
says: "As for Office Office, I think the success is
due to the fact that it touches the heart of every ordinary Indian
and brings out the humour not just of the common Indian’s predicament
even as he sees the entire system collapsing around him."
However,
while talking about the sorry state of TV content today, Kapoor
says: "Television is a great medium but unfortunately since
the last couple of years what is being show on television has appalling
content and is very mediocre. Television has been converted into
a dwarf brother of hard-core commercial cinema. It is a version
of a pale kind of bad commercial cinema."
 Actress
Vandana Pathak opines, "The fault lies with the makers. The
level of comedy has dropped abysmally. it is felt that if an actor
tickles another actor with a finger in his belly, the audience will
go into splits. Here our kids are talking about mobiles, computers
and aliens! Makers must grow up. Don't blame the channel. Don't
expect them to invite the older serial makers who made successful
comedies. Those makers are today lost to the film world. Why don't
they come forward and lead by example?"
However,
some feel that the problem is with the demand and not the supply.
 Says
Sajid Khan, who has tickled many a funny bone with his spoofs on
the small screen, "Today, people are so preoccupied with themselves
that they have forgotten how to laugh. Give them something to cry
or get shocked, they will yet lap it up. Show them an extramarital
affair, they get some juice out of it. But to laugh, you need to
be in a very relaxed frame of mind. Do we get that, today? For that
to happen, the comic characters must rise above their immediate
situations and touch people across time and space- and tickle their
ribs. It's difficult. A tough job by any criterion."
Khan
goes on to provide reasons for changing audience tastes. He says:
"As a nation, we have got divided into segment audiences. With
the advent of crossover and youth oriented films, there is a clear
demarcation of taste between the so-called classes and the so-called
masses. What may make you and I laugh may go as a bouncer to a driver
and a conductor. They might still laugh at the man slipping on a
banana skin, but you and I have stopped doing that. The ideas are
there, but so are the obstacles. For another, the emphasis is on
slapstick. For this, you need good comedy writers, who can effectively
create characters, and weave them together in a clear plot marked
by strength and consistency. How many good writers of such kind
do we have?"
An
'apparently' well informed Khan continues: "Do you know that
recently, analysts have pointed out that it is extremely tough to
get people to laugh at a story twist or a character - there must
be an element of universality while the character retains his individuality."
 The
versatile Dipak Kazir (of Kahaani... and Kasautii... almost
jumped when asked that what was the current state of comedies on
Indian television. In his inimitable witty style, he said, "Where
is it? Search me! So how can I give you an opinion?" A pause
followed and he became serious,"Television was much better
in terms of comedy in the 80s and even 90s. Today, the entire energy
is being focussed (shouldn't we say 'wasted'?) on the gloss, sheen..."
But
doesn't the supply depend on the demand and vice-versa? We mean,
does it also depend on who is watching the show?
"Certainly.
We all know that housewives form the majority audience. In such
a state, sometimes you can't blame the channel if it promotes serials
where women cry, gossip and backbite. Why only comedies, even other
topics have either taken a backseat or deviated due to this reason,"
opines Sajid Khan.
 Confesses
Cinevistaas promoter Prem Kishen, "I quite agree that Sanjivani
- A Medical Boon which started with strong emphasis on medical
science has deviated. But that has been done purely with respect
to the the feedback we've received. People want it that way. Tell
me, who watches a lot of television? Women! They want to see 'nok
jhonk' and 'chugli'. Can't help it. It's a case of 'you demanded
it, we merely supplied it. If there is a demand for comedies, we
shall give that too."
Some
ingenious programming executives and producers have succeeded in
merging 'comedy' and 'saas-bahu' - they have been pretty successful
too.
Think
of the fact that the mediocre Tu Tu Main Main - the series
revolving around a dominant and boisterous mother-in-law (Reema
Lagoo) and her equally feisty daughter-in-law (Supriya Pilgaonkar)
creating bizarre situations for each other - went on to become the
longest comedy show run on Indian television in recent times? Was
it due to the 'comedy' or the 'saas-bahu' angle?
All
said and done, who is the sufferer? The male viewer, who else! After
a hard day's work what a man needs is a few light moments, what
he rather gets is ways and means of how families can be broken up
and supernatural spirits making eerie noises. There may be a few
comedy serials here and there on Indian television, but the comedy
'is' unarguably getting diluted.
According
to Prem Kishen:"The content in large is getting diluted. This
is simply because a lot of filmmakers who do not have an iota of
idea of how serials should be made, have forayed into television.
A lot of 'kachra' has come in. Even 'paanwallaha' and 'bidiwallahs'
are trying to enter into television."
No
dearth of talent or actors..
Firstly,
many feel that there are enough actors who want to star in comedy
serials and are not wary of the comedy tag and being stereotyped
as ‘jokers’-and this misconception must be made to dissolve.
 Rakesh
Bedi who won instant acclaim in Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.. says,
"I have done most of my roles as a comedian. I never thought
that I was strait-jacketing myself. Those who know how to make you
laugh will never mind doing so, but rather gladly do so. There are
many actors waiting to explode in your face. The actors whose forte
is comedy consider it as work, no ifs-n-buts attached."
Dilip
Joshi endorses, and goes on to hint that in fact some comedy actors
are so good that they don't need a director to perform. "Look
at the awesome comedy timing of Amit Kesri, Sumeet Raghavan and
Manoj Bawa. Let them loose and they are a director's delight. Comedy
can be made but it is not being made."
However,
Rakesh Bedi differs just a bit, in letter and not in spirit. "
There is a slight scarcity of comedy actors. Advertise for bahus,
1,500 will line up outside your office in two hours flat, "
he laughs, before adding.
Actors
say that the attitude of the channels has to change
"Things
have to change for the better now," informs Anant Mahadevan.
He continues, "Channels need to wake up from their slumber.
Take a look at Office Office. Two years ago, when SAB was
first launched, nobody gave the channel much of a chance. That’s
because SAB TV had come at a time when Zee, Star Plus and Sony were
riding high. A lot of SAB TV’s success has to do with comedy
- a potential no other channel has exploited. Serials like Office
Office, Yes Boss, Public Hai Sab Janti Hai, Akting Akting and
others have all ensured regular clicks for the channel."
Dilip
Joshi says, "The channels should promote comedy serials in
as big a way as they do the other stuff."
As
on date, however, a tragedy is definitely and majorly happening
on the comedy front. Paradoxical, isn't it? Is it time for a David
Dhawan (Coolie No.1, Hero No.1, Biwi No.1) or a Priyadarshan
(Hera Pheri, Hungama) to step into television with their
team of scriptwriters?
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