Television is one of those means of mass communication which has grown as a vital component of an average household. So it’s only obvious that the views have also peeked at soaring numerals. It is also obvious that even though the Indian audience has grown, the TV programs have not.
Today we are going to pull a Hermione Granger with a time turner and observe the deteriorating quality of the Indian Television series and shows aka an ongoing landslide.
ONE-DIMENSIONAL MONOTONOUS STORYLINES
The words spill out and you are already aware of what I am referring to : The Saas-Bahu scenario accompanied by millions of random family conflicts. 10 points to Gryffindor if you have guessed it right. As a 2000’s kid I have very little acquaintance with the 90’s television serials. But by doing a brief research I could clearly distinguish the type of contents published then vs now. As television was only starting to pick up it’s momentum for it’s present significance, the content broadcasted where also reinvigorating. With less amount of CGI and more effort put into the storyline, the 90’s saw series that were a treat to digest. One important factor of the 90’s television series were the duration gap between each of the episodes. From one episode shown per week to the present assembly line of episodes commencing from Monday to Friday. The higher frequencies of the episodes aired coaxes the writers to stretch the storyline to an extent where the central plot gets lost in a whirlpool of other inconsequential subjects which are as foreign to the plot as fourth cousins.
Coming back to the present era, the concept of a colossal joint family and unraveling of their personal family conflicts still rule the empire. While there might have been excellent attempts and outputs in this concept in the past or the present, the products I have encountered are average at most. It’s still a churning mystery how one single family, who are chaebol wealthy, have so many problems some of which exceed our imagination. But sometimes the imagination can go on overdrive and crash into a plot which are far beyond the concept of logic, on that same note…….
LOGIC
The logic part of the serials had been endangered a few years ago. With a wider audience now residing in online streaming platforms like Netflix or amazon prime, the need to amp up the storylines of Indian serials have become vital for the survival among robust web series. But this was not the same scenario a few years back. Let’s focus on the logic part by taking the example of one of those many serials that never seems to terminate and produces one season after another, Naagin.
The central idea of the show is derived from the idea of a female serpent or a Naagin but the idea of Naagin as female shape shifter who could take up human forms to lure it’s prey was mostly popularized by the 1976 movie of the same name. This initial idea would have been applauded for it’s imaginative and paranormal approach. Well if successful stories could be constructed around wizards in Harry Potter, demigods in Percy Jackson, vampires in Twilight and dragons in GOT then why not this. The series was a hit but it’s quality couldn’t be matched with any others on the list. Due to the excessive amount of cheap CGI used to make a potential snake tale fixed to the bodies of the actresses, the ultimate output seemed to be more comical and intimidating.
RE-DESIGNING MYTHOLOGY
Indian culture is truly one of the richest and vivid cultures in the world with the Epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana occupying a significant position. This age old treasures have been a stimulus for script writers throughout the years. Among this is the Mahabharata serial of 1988 which still remains the most accurate representation of the Epic. But the recent years have been plagued with either poor quality remakes or a less than accurate representation of the Epics. As the remake of these tales have reached an ample level, scriptwriters began observing the tales with different perspective. Instead of putting the major scrutiny on the central characters, the spotlight is given to some of the other characters whose stories have not been deliberated in detail. This at times leads to molding of these tales and affixing a few extra encounters which does not take place in the original. While there is nothing incorrect about sculpting portions of the historic occurring, as it has been done with several books, the problem arises when the extra stories eclipses the authentic root of the story and mutates into a television reality rather than a mode of educating the population of the rich heritage of the country.
OBNOXIOUS STORYLINES
The line between a good plot and an incomprehensible knotted reality have been fading rapidly. When a serial attains commendable initial success then it is a reflex instinct to painfully stretch the storyline to a point where it turns obnoxious. This is unfortunate as those shows with a good average storyline gets stacked under a few thousand episodes which mainly consists of the infamous thundering sound effects and long sound tracks which stretch the show even further. Evading mortality, mutating into a repentant insect, being a Medusa wannabe all seems quite normal. From time traveling to re-defining Newton’s laws of gravity and motion to excruciating slow motions, everything is an accustomed encounter.
UNIMAGIANBLE OPULENCE
India comes under the list of developing countries and does not exactly take up the position of the most prosperous countries in the world but it is a true fact that several attempts have been made and is in progress to ameliorate this situation. But somehow 80% of the Indian serial families are so wealthy that they put the Ambani’s at shame. The opulence and preparation done for minuscule occasion are so over the top with Bollywood dance numbers and sparkly costumes. The funny thing is how the protagonist’s area of expertise in terms of their career choice is not specified but they are exceptionally wealthy and busy resolving family conflicts.
MAKERS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE TO BE BLAMED
One of the major reasons for the long term occurrence of serials is attributed to the fact that the show manages to bag a decent TRP even after a few thousand episodes. The outlook of the audience have changed significantly in the past years and are more aware of the content they are subjected to. Thus more reality shows have taken the apex position when it comes to general popularity and acceptance. Yet some of the serials which has been running for the past hundred years still run with decent response and popularity.
We have gone through only a few major points behind the deteriorating quality of the Indian serials as compared to the last few decades. Serials are beginning to get more ludicrous in the ‘logic’ area but one positive effect is that these outlandish scenes are unintentionally making us crack up. We have all gone through that point of our childhood where we have been addicted to a serial and realized how absurd it was years later and then cringe about it. Well, good luck revisiting those times.
