Short Takes

Though Band of Brothers and Generation Kill have been earlier aired on HBO in India,mini-series still remains a novel concept. Few others,like Fox History with The Tudors last year and Discovery with most of its programming,attempts the mini-series concept. Shruti Bajpai,country manager of South Asia for HBO Asia,explains their decision to launch a mini-series in the Indian market is dependent on various factors. “Most of the HBO Original productions have been a phenomenal success in both the US and Asian markets. In addition,many Indian viewers like the quality and calibre of our productions,” she explains.

Set to premiere on May 30,The Pacific—with stories of three Marines during the US’ battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II—joins the ranks of Band of Brothers,also produced by the illustrious duo. BoB which dramatised the true story of a company of paratroopers fighting in Europe,was a phenominal success in the US.

Looking at the first two episodes of the The Pacific,it seems as if Hanks and Spielberg have started from where they left off in BoB in terms of drama and emotion. “Everyone is familiar with the war in Europe and the glamour which has been associated with it,but the war in The Pacific was savage and fought on unfamiliar territories,across the far sea on tiny little dots of land that the battling men couldn’t even pronounce. The question we ask in The Pacific is not so much ‘How did they do it?’ but ‘Why did they do it?’ We didn’t just want to say what happened; we wanted to show the underlying effects,” states Hanks.

Though BoB became a huge success in the US,and bagged an Emmy,it failed to make a big splash in India. One wonders whether the mini-series format has to contribute to that,given that the most popular English fiction entertainment channel in India,Star World,hasn’t telecast a single mini-series to date,which,according to the channel,“is not what Indian viewers are looking for”.

On the contrary,Discovery,another extremely popular channel among all age groups,uses the mini-series format across most of its programming. “Our research shows that the Indian viewer is always looking for something fresh and it’s a promise we have made as a content-provider to the audience that we will offer them fresh programming every three months,” says Rajiv Bakshi,VP,marketing,Discovery Communication. Since most of their shows are documentaries,the mini-series format suits them the most. “Our new show Life took 10 years to make and it has only as many episodes,” he adds. Life premieres in India today at 8pm.

But Bajpai thinks there is no set formula to the success of a show. “BoB won an Emmy whereas our most successful original programming show has been Sex and the City which lasted over six seasons,” she remarks. “Whether a mini-series or a series,the charm of it lies in how it canvases the story on the screen and how intensely it involves the audience. That’s what defines the success of a show.”

At home,Hindi programming too has witnessed a few attempts at mini-series. Specials@10 on Sony Entertainment last year brought together filmmakers Anurag Kashyap,Mahesh Manjrekar,Madhur Bhandarkar and Vikram Bhatt to write and direct a 12-part series. More recently,Lapataganj on SAB,based in an imaginary small town to show the daily struggles and travails of its people,has adopted this format. However,Lapataganj lasted longer than a typical length of a mini-series—usually up to 14 episodes.

Kashyap,whose mini-series was titled Rajuben,feels that the concept of mini-series is born when a story exciting enough can neither be made into a film nor into a seasonal show due to it’s life and length—just like a book of short stories. He puts it well: “I don’t intend to make soap operas but,as a filmmaker,I feel the need to narrate stories and television,with the flexibility and the reach,allowed me to do so.”