Jul 25, 2007 02:34 PM
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Tracing the origin of Indian Television Serials is not all that'Darwin'esque. considering the fact that the whole industry is just a few decades old. Still, this one would have even popped a few question marks in poor Darwin's head.
Since I'm a fan of Darwin(he's an Aquarian like me) and he propagated his theories of evolution and natural selection, I'm gonna tread in his footsteps and chalk out the evolution of Indian television serials, soaps, s(h)itcoms and like.
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Stage 1: Birth of the HomoHabilis Serialus Simplus
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At the dawn of it all, there was the HomoHabilis Serialus Simplus. He wrote simple scripts and screenplay that every household could understand and relate to. His constant struggle and commitment to quality gave birth to many great television serials that were broadcasted on that old warhorse of a television network - Doordarshan. Serials like YEH JO HAI ZINDAGI, MANORANJAN, HUM LOG, BUNIYAAD, NUKKAD etc. came, made people laugh, made them cry and left them feeling good deep down inside. HomoHabilis Serialus had driven a strong point home through simple narrative and incredible entertainment value. Indian Television showed great promise.
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Stage 2: The next level: HomoSapien Classicus
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Ramanand Sagar adapts the epic Ramayan(originally written by Valmiki and not WALLMICKEY as the Ajit jokes state) and creates a television series that sends the elderly folk and the housewives into a holistic frenzy. Dalda tins were abandoned and the entire clan sat in front of the television screens with agarbathis and other assorted ingredients that turn a house into a temple. The cried when Sita was ladynapped by a ten headed demon(with 9 plastic heads of course. come to think of it. I think my head is plastic too) and they rejoiced when the army of monkeys built a bridge across the sea to rescue the aforementioned lady. The serial dragged. er. took Indian Serial viewership to another level.
Ramayan was succeeded by another epic. the greatest of them all. the Mahabharat(by the legendary B.R. Chopra). Way better in production values than the Ramayan, this one had a great inning too.
On a totally different note, R.K. Narayan's tales from a village, Malgudi Days, was a brilliant serial that touched the rustic chords inside the Indian anatomy.
moving on.
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Stage 3: Cabled! The invasion of HomoSapien Kkkorruptus
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Ah. all good things come to an end. Enter a young lass with a toothy grin and some twisted ideas. She starts a whole lot of tele-serials that move at the pace of a snail going down your throat. The tales are all a cocktail of bitching, bitching, bitching and more bitching that happens within households. Cyclic relations, lavish sets, loud actors and a whole lot of weirdness go into these productions. Happiness is one ingredient that is seldom highlighted. On the contrary, the goal seems to be simple - pump up enough emotional outbursts and tragedies to make people cry their small intestines off.
She succeeded. As for Indian television. it was like going forward in reverse gear.
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Stage 4: The current scene - HomoSapien Currentus Maximus
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HomoSapien Currentus Maximus has no relation to our dear friend indian1969 who's Maximus Indicus. The primary difference is that. Indian1969 can write and write well.
The current serials all follow the psyxx. I mean SIX rules of television serial making - a manuscript written by Ekta Kapoor with foreword by Karan Johar. The six rules are:
Thou shall stretch a script that is only two episodes long to 200 episodes. To achieve this, take around 100 movie songs and make the actors lip sync it.
Thou shall always have 10 minutes of recap before a serial.
Thou shall make characters disappear, get kidnapped, go through plastic surgery and endure other woes in life. This also provides scope of showing 10 episodes of grieving relatives and flashbacks.
After each line of dialogue, play a reverse symbol sound and focus on everyone's face, one after another. This is guaranteed to waste minutes.
Work out a way of throwing in double the number of adverts during air time.
DO NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL STORY!
A small footnote: There's a serial going on right now called VIRRUDH. This is an exception to the above in certain areas as it does feature some brilliant acting by the characters.
The current scenario is called the DOLDRUM SYNDROME. There's nothing revolurionary or entertaining happening right now.
Reality shows. the less said. the better.
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Stage 5: The Future - HomeSapienus Emraanus Hashmius
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In the coming years, serials will evolve even further. The plot is not essential anymore. Stories become obsolete. People hang out on screen and do whatever they want. Some will be text messaging each others while others will be making out in the park. To add some drama, someone will be stabbed while other's capture it all on MMS and send it to ther friends or post it on their blog site. This is where you. the reader. are gonna let your imagination run wild.
Summing it up. I need a soda. This review gave me a headache.
~finis~
