A class act

Most people’s list of classic Indian television would include shows from the Doordarshan era. like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi,Nukkad and Malgudi Days which elicit fond nostalgia. The reason for this,actress Shefali Shah believes,is that new shows have nothing original to offer. “Since the trend for daily soaps started,production houses have turned into factories. Obviously the content has suffered,” she reasons.

Actor Kanwaljeet Singh feels that tight scheduling has led to subtleties of plotting being left out. He adds that there’s also greater pressure on actors,“A lot of actors,especially younger ones,tend to work till 3 am. This kind of stress reflects in an actor’s work.”

A lot of the shows also lack the edge that made the older ones stand out. Actress Rajeshwari Sachdev points out,“There is too much gloss in TV shows which makes them difficult to relate to. They lack the edge of realism,which was there in old shows like Buniyaad. It shows a lack of commitment to the script if you show a person who earns Rs 500 per month,wearing a shirt that costs the same.”

Television veteran Satish Shah blames the surfeit of hackneyed shows on a tendency to play it safe. “Success is based on tried and tested formulae. This is what happened with the reality shows as well as the soaps. For that reason when something different comes out,channels don’t give it enough publicity,as they feel the audience wants more of the same stuff.” he says.The actor,however,feels that the tendency to look back at the old days as the golden period of television is because back then people didn’t really have an option. “Doordarshan was the only channel we had and in any case,television itself was such a big deal. Now,we can afford to be picky and criticise everything on TV since we have the luxury of choice.” Actress Sulabha Arya who worked with Shah on Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi agrees: “The audience is watching many more shows—both Indian and western. People are more aware and more demanding. It’s a challenge for producers to keep producing something new.”

Shyam Benegal,maker of the classic Bharat Ek Khoj,also feels it’s unfair to compare today’s scenario with DD days. He says,“DD was controlled by the government and was naturally concerned about showing socially and educationally relevant programmes. That doesn’t hold true for today’s channels. They’ve invested a lot of money to retain viewership and so they resort to eyeball-grabbing tactics.

Unfortunately,education and social commentary do not fall in that category.”