Television ready to look outside the safe box?

Television in India has thus far preferred to run on safe mode.

It is a common refrain that the medium broadly follows in the ruts of the tracks made by Hindi cinema. But what happens when the mother load (Hindi cinema) is itself stuck in a rut? That was the case for most of the last decade and critics (carpers is what some in the TV business call them) have pointed out that it was much the same story on the tube as well.

The tale is different now though as far as Hindi cinema is concerned, which despite its many faults, is suddenly looking bolder, more creative and willing to take risks, a point highlighted in an earlier Perspectives report Cinema shapes up while TV gapes and blinks.

'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' has tramsmuted into endless Balaji sagas

Television has over the last decade picked out Bollywood winners and converted the winning themes to fit the small screen. "Unfortunately" (as the carpers would say), the ploy has worked. Whether it has been viewer preference or canny programming insight, the transmutation of Sooraj Barjatya's all-time box office grosser Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (and films of similar ilk) into endless Balaji sagas has spawned an ocean of loyal fan following that has been agreeably converted into soaring ratings.

It has been the odd channel and the even more odd show that has ventured out of the ordinary to tackle issues other than the perennial problems of pesky in-laws and trials and tribulations of the lovelorn. The result has not always been a commercial hit - often, the channel has persisted because it believed in the theme with only the cold comfort of critical acclaim. Zee TV's current top rated show Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani is an example of a well made, starkly realistic show that has not only won critical appreciation but has also made lay viewers sit up and notice. Rival channels and media planners have followed suit.

But not all 'different' shows gather accolades of the kind garnered by Astitva. An earlier experiment by Zee TV, Love Marriage, a story about four single urban working girls, did not work and the show had to be pulled out. Lipstick, a relatively bold show that shows two professional women pitted in corporate war while also indulging in wily feminine tactics, has survived for a year without mishap, but just about.

None of the other mainstream channels have tried to stray to far from the beaten track though. Sony did attempt to venture onto untrodden territory with Naam Gum Jayega, where the protagonists are changed at birth, and religious sentiment is stirred up when their changeling status is revealed 20 years later. The channel however, did not even take two months to realise that the track would not work with either community and prudently decided to divert the protagonists into a protracted love story.

Why did Astitva not fall into this trap? It still does not figure anywhere in the top 100 shows rated by TAM, but is being increasingly talked about as a show that's worth watching (slotted at 8:30 pm, not an envied time slot among channels). Media critic Shailaja Bajpai noted in her column recently, "It is everything the others are not: sensitive, real, moving and quiet. It doesn't scream at you, it doesn't beat so hard, your heart is thundering, it doesn't rotate 360 degrees each time there's a crisis... It simply tells the story of a doctor (Simran) who marries a photographer (Abhi), 10 years younger than herself. Last week, she discovered his involvement with another, younger woman (Kiran). She didn't rush to the temple and scold God for not giving her Ram for a husband, nor did she pull out a gun. She became visibly upset, argued with him, locked herself in their bedroom and finally, packed her bags."

This kind of a reaction would not necessarily cater to what Astitva director Ajai Sinha calls 'bai' (housemaid) culture, which is fed by the done up daughters-in-law on the Kyunki…s of tellydom. Sinha, a sensitive producer who earlier made the path breaking Hasratein, a series that unfolded a love triangle from the third woman's point of view, is led by his convictions. Convictions are in fact, what is missing in today's television world. Independent filmmaker Vinta Nanda (known best for the trendsetting Tara, again on Zee, that explored the urban single working woman's life) was at her vitriolic best in a letter to a newspaper recently. "For almost a decade now, the viewer has suffered poor consumer-driven fare and has no patience left. The current trend in Indian cinema is proof of this-it has accepted change and repositioned itself as A-grade' entertainment. Television is getting what it deserves. A B-grade designation. Fiction on television caters to a well-fed, regressive middle class that resists change and is addicted to the display of its own degenerate lifestyle."

Copying a formula that works and supposedly appeals to the housewife has become the norm of the day

Whether it is a middle class (which is determining the viewing agenda) that is change resistant or a broadcasting scenario that is creativity-stifling remains to be seen. Copying a formula that works and supposedly appeals to the housewife (the darling of the advertiser) has become the norm of the day. Lavish sets, garish costumes, loud make up, stereotyped characters and dialogue that is a series of platitudes serve up the required concoction that supposedly provides the required daily dose of entertainment. Consequently, a Kyunki... spawns a Kahaani..., which breeds a Kkusum and a Kutumb, which spawns a Kumkum and Bhabhi, which engenders a Kehta Hai Dil and a Des Mein. And the viewer is quite happily lapping it all up, seemingly ready for more of the same.

Does television follow cinemas footstep?

Could it really be this same viewer that has shunned the latest Sooraj Barjatya offering main Prem Ki Dewaani Hoon and accepted the likes of Bhoot and Jhankar Beats and Koi…Mil Gaya, films that tackle widely different themes and are differently handled. Directors, several of whom have graduated from television of the 1990s, are exploring genres that would have been anathema to Indian cinema in the last decade, but are raking in the moolah instead. The moolah, that's coming in because the audience is appreciative.

A ripple was caused last year when a Sab TV created a Raamkhilaavan CM and family, a spoof on the Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and his antics. The political satire was well made, but suffered legal blockades when the Bihari strongman brought forward a defamation suit. Producer Ashwini Dhir returned with Public Hai Sab Jaanti Hai, another not-so-subtle satire, but if the public has clued in to this show, the ratings don't tell.

In another genre, public broadcaster Doordarshan tried its hand at marrying the thriller with a social message. Made by the BBC, Jasoos (Detective) Vijay is a story of a pockmarked, every day guy, who while cracking tough cases makes people aware about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. The detective show is a part of BBC's awareness campaign against AIDS in India done in partnership with Prasar Bharati and the National AIDS Control Organisation. The show has been a hit in the vast non C&S substrata of the Indian population, and the experiment is now being tried, in a lesser way, by satellite channels. Star tried to get in the WHO' s ORS (oral rehydration salts) message through the Kyunki…. storyline, but social messaging is otherwise conspicuous by its absence on the mainstream channels.

Recent efforts like 'Kashmeer', set in strife-torn Kashmir, had a short life

Star, the champion of the saas bahu soap, did try two years ago to target a different track with Neena Gupta's Saans, another simply told tale of a marriage broken by the entry of the 'souten'. More recent efforts at stories that are differently handled have been Kashmeer (set in strife-torn Kashmir) and Josh Aktion… Unlimited (a big-budget detective series). Both, however, failed to make a mark on the TRP charts and had short lives. While Kashmeer ended its run earlier than originally scheduled, Josh, which was conceived as a 13-episode series, looks unlikely to make a return.

Today, therefore, it is the tried and tested saas bahu formula that continues to reign supreme on the lead Hindi entertainment channel. Even the inaugural episode of a show on life in the air force, Saara Akash had the romantic theme as its central core element.

A senior TV executive however, refuses to buy the argument that TV is only picking up what has worked on cinema and applying a formula accordingly. Sony Entertainment Television India created the success story that was the supernatural thriller Aahat a number of years before Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot and Darna Mana Hai were even thought of, he says. But the counter argument here is that Varma had tried his hand at horror much earlier (in 1991) with Raat.

Sony created the success story that was the supernatural thriller 'Aahat' a number of years before Ram Gopal Varma's 'Bhoot' and 'Darna Mana Hai'

Whichever way you look at it, the Aahat example only buttresses the argument, the carpers would say (taking the exception proves the rule line). But a look at some of the new shows that are expected to come on air in the coming months may well prove him right. There is a lot happening in television land and it is not all about regular soaps.

A sample of what is in store for the public:

There is a whole lot riding on Sahara TV's Rs 600-million magnum opus Karishma The Miracles of Destiny spanning three generations that launches 25 August.

Sahara has also got the sitcom Hamari Bahu Malini Iyer with yesteryears Bollywood queen bee Sridevi playing the central character.

Expected to launch on SET on 1 September is Jassi, the Indian remake of the South American superhit soap Betty La Fea set in the fashion industry. Model and MTV VJ Nafisa Joseph is reportedly playing the central character in the series. SET will be launching a big show a month over the next three to four months, SET India CEO Kunal dasgupta told indiantelevision.com in a recent interview.

Coming soon on Star Plus, meanwhile, is Jeet, loosely based on Boston Public. Jeet is produced by Goldie Behl and Shrishti Arya's Rose Movies.

Also expected to come on Star Plus in the coming months is Kawha Chala Hans Ki Chaal, the Indian version of the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

There is lots more reportedly happening at Star programmingwise, all of which is being kept well under wraps at the moment.

Ditto the big production houses. A slew of new shows are expected to be unveiled over the next six months. What marks them out is that they are all quite different (at least they appear so on first rendition) from the stuff that is currently on air.

These are just some of the shows that are slated for release over the next few months and which may well change the face of entertainment television in India. Or may not if these programmes fail to make an impression on a seemingly set in its ways audience.

Before concluding, we come back to Astitva and let Zee TV president Apurva Purohit have her say: "It is not as if we do not take the public view in mind but we prefer to do our research before hand. There are going to be highs and lows in a serial but that doesn't mean that you change the story track every fortnight. Look at Chausath Panne, it was a definite story with a definite time frame and the audience love it. So for that matter Astitva, we do not add a twist just so that the story is viewed well. If it is not there in the storyline, we don't cook it up. It is bound to show in the long run."

Brave words. But the brave new world of Indian television that is being conceived within the creative departments of the various entertainment channels might in fact make the carpers sit up and take note. Television could well be ready to move out of its rut into more varied plotlines.

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