The unbearable frustration of being subjected to Indian television

I wonder what’s up with television these days. In spite of a Tata Sky dish that belts out “n” number of channels on to my TV set, all that I manage to watch is Bigg Boss, cricket or an odd news bulletin once in a while. I find solace in the fact that I spend most of my day at work and am saved the agony of surfing the channels trying to find something interesting. I once was so frustrated with the fare that I tuned to Aastha TV trying to invoke the lord to answer why there was a dearth of anything remotely interesting on the television.

What's even more intriguing is the fact that we seem to have the most creative minds dishing out the best of advertising and marketing campaigns in between the same crappy stuff that is passed on as prime time television in India. On the other hand, every random television series on foreign television seems to be great entertainment. In the past year or so, I have seen numerous episodes of Lost,Prison break, Friends, How I met your mother, Yes minister, The Office and what have you and they all seem to hit the right chords. They seem to understand the concept of entertainment as something more than just dance/singing reality shows and Rakhi Sawant. Don’t even get me started on Rakhi Sawant…she seems to be the only constant in the world of television,omnipresent on our screens in some form or the other, blaring out utter bullsh** at the top of her voice and believing what she does is liked by a few of the audiences.

It makes me wonder if we grew up watching Dekh Bhai Dekh, Neev, Surabhi, Zabaan Sambhalke, and even Hip Hip Hurray on the same television sets. Whatever happened to the producers of that generation of television. Or is it just that I expect too much from them? All I seek is an hour of clean entertainment every night from the 300+ odd channels that are broadcasting in India. Given the current scenario, I would even be saisfied with re-runs of some of those old masterpieces. Believe you me, they would seem to be more relevant than any Saas-Bahu/Sasur-damaad/jija-saala/bhai-bhatija saga that is being telecast right now. What happened to the quiz shows like Mastermind India and Bournvita Quiz Contest? There is not one such programme on TV these days.They say Art imitates life…I guess Art has got a hell of a lot of catching up to do as life is way ahead and it better hurry up.

I wish the producers of this bullsh** were held accountable for the lack of creativity that is ailing their trade these days. I want to tell them that Rakhi Sawant is not an alternative to the lack of original thought that goes into creating an intriguing hour of television, one that is worth the TRPs it gets. We are a mature audience…a fact that is clearly portrayed in the change in the fabric of movies being produced now a days. A movie like Peepli Live is a clear indication that the audiences are more receptive and appreciative of something that is original in thought and clear and honest in portrayal. I make a plea to all the creative minds to start taking us seriously as an audience and to stop abusing our intellect through programmes like Rakhi Ka Insaaf and a special journalist report on where to find “Swarg ki seedhi”(stairway to heaven) and others of the tribe. In one such “special report” on India TV, the reporters declared to have found the stairway to heaven. I wonder why he didn’t climb the stairway instead of coming back to the messy world of Indian journalism.If the trend continues the way it is, it won’t be long before we would be glad to trade our LCDs and flat screens for a good set of books and newspapers that would give us some increase in our knowledge.

In conclusion, I would like to quote a few known/unknown people on the apathy of being a regular TV audience.

• I wish there was a knob on the TV so you could turn up the intelligence. They got one marked "brightness" but it don't work, does it? ~Leo Anthony Gallagher
• I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx
• Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. ~Author Unknown
• Everything is for the eye these days - TV, Life, Look, the movies. Nothing is just for the mind. The next generation will have eyeballs as big as cantaloupes and no brain at all. ~Fred Allen
• Television: chewing gum for the eyes. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
• Theatre is life. Cinema is art. Television is furniture. ~Author Unknown
• Television has raised writing to a new low. ~Samuel Goldwyn