Indiantelevision dot com's Perspectives: Indian television

Indiantelevision dot com's Perspectives: Indian television - a comedy of errors

Comedy of errors

By ASHWIN KOTIAN, ASHWIN PINTO and VICKEY LALWANI

Posted on 29 August 2003

Apologies for starting a perspective on comedy with a reference to the saas-bahu sagas but this anecdote has to be told! Recently, the versatile Dipak Kazir who acts in Balaji-Star's top ranked soaps Kahaani... and Kasautii... almost jumped when asked about 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?"

Incidentally, Kazir was a part of the hilarious one of its kind feature film of 1982 Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. The film had faces and names constituting some of the best icons of comedy on Indian television - Pankaj Kapoor (Office Office), Kundan Shah (Nukkad), Om Puri (Kakkaji Kahen - if you remember the serial), Satish Shah (Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi) and Ravi Baswani (Idhar Udhar). Out of that lot, only Pankaj Kapoor seems to have survived and continues to add awards to his cupboard for his serial Office Office on SAB TV that has completed 205 episodes!

The comedy of ratings

The irony is that Office Office doesn't feature in the Top 10 comedy shows as per the TAM ratings for the week started 3 August. In the Hindi belt as well as in Gujarat, it is the UTV-produced serial Shararat, telecast on Star Plus, that grabs top honours. Looks like the platform is omnipotent and omniscient.

Shararat which tops the line across the markets to claim the number one slot with a TVR of 9.89 in the Gujarat market, 10.02 in the Hindi belt, and a very encouraging 13.59 in the PHCHP market. The PHCHP market covers viewership in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh. The ratings also show that Sony and Sahara TV mark the next largest territory on the television comedy scene. But, the all-comedy channel SAB TV lags behind...

Surprisingly, SAB TV - the recently repositioned itself as an 'All Smiles, No Tears" channels - doesn't feature on the TRP Top 10 lists but has witnessed a huge upsurge in the number of brands advertising on its comedy shows. SAB TV ad sales president Kanta Advani claims: "We have managed to rope in all the top advertisers - Nirma, Cinthol, P&G, Nestle, Cadbury's, Maruti, Yamaha and Philips. There are smaller brands such as Priya Gold, Lancer and Rajdhani."

Star India COO Sameer Nair also lists Office Office in his all-time list of four best comedies. The others being Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Dekh Bhai Dekh and Hum Paanch - which he says "always tickled him". "Malgudi Days was good but I thought it was bittersweet," he had said in an earlier interview to indiantelevision.com.

Star TV senior vice president - content and communications - Tarun Katial says that the comedies currently on Star Plus - Khichdi and Shararat - have had a huge response. "In fact the latest ratings are 8.2 which is really fabulous for a comedy serial in the 8.00 pm slot," says Katial.

Comedy is 'action and reaction'

Incidentally, Shararat is directed by Eagle Films CEO Rajiv Mehra who also produces Office Office, who says: "Comedy is all about action and reaction. Actors and writers are very important - but the key is assimilate every element so that the mix is right. The key is to build up momentum and carry audiences throughout the entire duration of the show."

Almost all the other top producers including names like Neela Telefilms MD Asit Modi (Meri Biwi Wonderful) and Hemal Thakkar (Shubh Mangal Savadhaan) agree with Mehra that a comedy is a result of team effort. Where they disagree is about the fact that comedies are not given their due. A lot of 'comedy' producers feel that channel programming teams mete out step-motherly treatment to comedies.

The remuneration is a key issue as it ranges in the range of Rs 300,000 to Rs 500,000 per episode - much lower than that given to the daily soaps. Producers claim that comedies are an expensive proposition (in terms of intellectual inputs), the remuneration has to be higher than what it is currently. "After all, talent (whether writers or artistes or technicians) come at a premium," says Mehra.

Channels, media planners say drama scores over comedy in the eyeballs game

Channel officials claim that advertisers love TRPs and the saas-bahu sagas deliver them. Sony Entertainment Television executive V-P Sunil Lulla says: "Family based dramas continue to occupy more than two-thirds of TV viewer's time on air. The present focus is then on creating dramas. That's what the viewer wants for the moment. However, comedy is certainly a genre of interest and we do believe in investing in the same."

Senior media professional like Lodestar Media's executive director Shashi Sinha admit that comedy on Indian television has had its crests and troughs; and currently comedies aren't getting large numbers.

Madison media client services director Neelkamal Sharma Madison asserts: "We are in the business of catching eye-balls so any programme irrespective of its genre would obviously be supported if it attracts eye-balls. As far as comedy is concerned, we will look at it definitely if there is synergy between the programme content and brand communication."

SET India's Lulla gives another perspective: "Comedy is not just about one kind - there are multiple formats for the same rule. Importantly there are only a few high quality comedy writers; hence we do not find prolific production of a variety of comedy-based shows."

"Indian viewers seem to appreciate slapstick rather than the British sense of understated humour," Lodestar's Sinha agrees.

Slots are unimportant if comedy content is good

Comedy show producers also feel that the slots given to comedies on channels - namely timebands earlier than prime time - are responsible for these serials not getting the much coveted TRPs.

Media planners however, feel that there is no trend which recommends that viewers prefer to watch comedy in any particular time slot - therefore a comedy programme will perform depending on its content quality.

"Today business is so competitive that time-slots are given based on its probable delivery and not any more by guts. There are comedy programs on various entertainment channels like Star Plus, Zee, Sony, Sabe TV etc and some do reasonably well but their delivery primarily depends on the quality of contents and how well, they are promoted," says Madison Media's Neelkamal Sharma.

In fact, even the public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) is not banking on comedies despite the glorious days of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi that was as popular as Hum Log. The longest-running comedy in the eighties when television was still in its nascent stages was 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.

DD air time seller and marketing concessionaire agency Reasonable Advertising's vice president SA Khan says that the potential of comedy programming on the terrestrial channel is a great opportunity. "But it is subject to innovations within the comedy format," says Khan.

Comedy needs innovation

Yes there are experiments. "Shararat is all about fantasy! Shararat is also targetted at family audiences. Whenever children are involved, they force the other family members to watch the show" says Eagle Films Mehra.

Currently, Bisawa Creations' Idhar Kamaal Udhar Dhamaal is the only one that airs in the 7 pm slot every Thursday and is billed as an innovative weekly comedy show on the DD Metro channel.

Speaking about the show, Purushottam Bisawa, who works with Vicco Laboratories and pursues TV production as a hobby, says: "The serial Idhar Kamaal Udhar Dhamaal is a successful experiment. Normally, comedies are more episodic in nature whether we have used the continuous story-telling 'soap' format. The script is a good one and the entire team has contributed to the success of the show. I wish DD sanctions more such shows on the national network," he adds.

Some ingenious programming executives and producers have succeeded in merging 'comedy' and 'saas-bahu' - they have been pretty successful too.

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 bizzare 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?

Good breed of comedy writers needed

Star TV's Katial says that there aren't very many comedy shows in the pipeline on the channel due to a dearth of quality writers.

This is however, refuted by the writers' lobby. Ashwini Dheer, the writer of SAB TV's Office Office says: "Primarily, channels aren't ready to experiment but prefer to stick to the tested formula. I have written shows that revolve around the rare species of 'satire' - shows such as Office Office and Ramkhelavan were extremely successful with the classes and masses. I don't know whether the mass entertainment channels are open to such shows!"

Adman turned script-writer-actor Anuraag Prapanna. Prapanna who handled the advertising function at the consumer durable company Videocon International, and has been involved in comedy shows, opines: "Over the last few years, channels have been obsessed with women-oriented soaps. They have been showing programmes that have female viewership and therefore higher TRPs. Advertising agencies, too, demand certain themes that feature higher on the TRP scale. This formula has succeeded for quite some time but there is a need to relook at the strategy and go beyond."

Star India COO Nair admits that Indian television needs a bank of writers dedicated to comedy and who are remunerated to the extent that they do not have to look for other work. "If a writer gets only a standard payment and has to write soaps on the side you will not be able to produce quality," Nair says.

Nair goes on to add: "Another problem is that there is a subtle change in mindset between writing comedy and writing jokes. In a dialogue you and me can have a conversation, which can be hysterically funny if it is written as such. However if the laughter is to be generated out of me saying something corny then that does not gel."

Plea for top producers to push comedy

But, do Indian audiences prefer comedies or are they stuck with the tear-jerker dramas, horror tales amongst others. The views of the lady who changed the name of the Indian programming game Balaji Telefilms creative director Ektaa Kapoor are interesting.

“It's not that Indian audiences aren't appreciative of good humour, but that they do not get much of it. Comedy is a mental block with every channel. All that they want is either soaps or horror serials. Why should I whack my brains and waste my time in conceiving an idea/script that is not going to merit attention?" says Kapoor, who was responsible for the immensely successful Hum Paanch on Zee TV.

Incidentally, Zee TV president Apurva Purohit told indiantelevision.com she didn't want to talk about comedy genre. Zee's still in the pipeline comedy channel manager Abhijit Saxena was equally unforthcoming.

But, observers feel that the person who can convince channels is the one and only Ektaa Kapoor. The question is why shouldn't a person like Ektaa Kapoor cut her way through and convince these channel heads? "There's no point in compelling somebody to do what he/she does not believe in. More so, today, serial making is not autocracy, it's meeting on common grounds," she says.

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."

Actors make a case for change in channel mindset

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 Paranjpe, Kshirsagar amongst others to make a serial for them. 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."

There are others who say that both the producers as well as the channel programming teams need to change their outlook.

Dilip Joshi, the oft-seen actor face in Indian comedies who is equally at home doing theatre, says: "I blame the channel 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."

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 the hard-core commercial cinema. It is a version of a pale kind of bad commercial cinema."

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.

Talented comedians is not the main issue

Is the issue really about a lack of available talent? 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’ - so if this is the misconception it should be made to dissolve.

Rakesh Bedi who won instant acclaim in Yeh Jo 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 the view, 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.

There is hope for comedy

"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."

Going back to the herd mentality claim, it will still be left to lead channel Star Plus to show the way. If it can put up a comedy that makes a significant imact on the ratings, then others would more willingly follow suit. And there is hope on this front. Nair had said in an earlier interview: "For me the biggest challenge is to produce a sitcom, which has the variety of Friends or Seinfeld. The problem is that writing comedy requires a serious effort. We are now putting our minds towards making a sitcom. This is a big project for us. We will need a bank of writers paid to the point where this will be their sole focus. They must not do any other work. We are putting together a team for the comedy project, which will be a madcap dream for us."

Lulla puts it in a nutshell when he says: "Laughter is the best medicine. A winning combination of loveable characters, great acting, direction and impeccable comic timing."

So could we have a scenario in telly land where the saas-bahu continues to be queen but with a new king in comedy? That might be asking for too much at this juncture, but it is not a lost cause and in the not too distant future comedy might still get its cue.