MUMBAI: The god we all dread has been the butt of many jokes on Indian television. The god of death aka Yamraj has appeared on a number of shows and in return has made the audiences laugh.
Once again, Yamraj is back in the television industry with two shows being aired on him.
Epic, the latest entrant in the Hindi entertainment space, airs Yam Kissi se Kam Nahi, a sitcom which takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the life of Yamraj as he tries, often unsuccessfully, to overcome various hurdles in his daily life.
Produced by David Polycarp and Vasant under the banner Trouble Makers Studios/The Company Productions, Rajesh Kumar plays the role of Yamraj in the sitcom. The channel usually airs weekly, but the sitcom is an exception. The programme, which shows Yamraj leading a life of an aam aadmi with his nagging wife, a troublesome brother-in-law, a disgruntled assistant, jealous neighbours, grumpy in-laws, an over-bearing boss and many other ordinary problems make up the daily life, is aired Monday-Friday at 8:30 pm.
Why a channel focusing on mythology and folklore chose to do a comedy revolving around the god of death? Says the channel’s MD Mahesh Samat, "We have an emotional connect with our past which has a spectrum of emotions. We wanted to encompass all aspects of history, including action, drama, romance and even comedy. If we are truly trying to capture Indian history, then we cannot ignore the Navras. ‘Yam Kisi Se Kam Nahin’ is a great example of taking a lighter look at history and mythology. It’s a sit-com that offers us a fictional look at Yamraj, viewed through a very different lens. It aligns with our approach of offering content that is meaningful and engaging.”
On the similar lines, Sab, a comedy channel from the Multi Screen media (MSM) stable, will soon replace Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala with Yam Hai Hum. The show produced by Swastik Productions is said to be based on the famous movie Taqdeerwala featuring actors Daggubati Venkatesh, Kader Khan and Asrani.
The show will see Manav Gohil playing the lead character of Yamraj and air Monday-Friday at 10 pm.
What is intriguing is that two channels will air shows revolving around the somewhat same characters. One will only have to wait and see which one will be able to make a connect with the viewers.
