Akriti Pathak from Agra, Uttar Pradesh had her answer to the whole scenario. This is what she said on the whole matter. 'I think these people who crib and brag about good Indian TV content are the biggest hypocrites, their own families watch homely shows like 'Saath Nibhana Saathiya' 'Sasural Simar ka' 'Swaragini' 'Yeh Rishta... Yeh Hai Mohabbatein etc. Indian Cable television has been ruled by Indian women mostly elder family oriented women who prefer to watch shows that display Indian values. They can not connect with Youth Content or other type of shows which is why these type of shows work and It's absolutely fine. I have been a viewer of 'Kyunki ki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi' and no matter how much people hate on this show you can't deny its success. The show dealt with family and moral values which connect with Indian people. This is what sells and always will.
Next was Radhika Tandon from Mumbai who had similar views. The thing is that people who watch shows in bulk are not on social media especially the elder women so its easy for all young audiences to brag and crib about the good content. Otherwise please tell me why don't good shows work commercially. Channel V was recently shut down. The only show that worked for them was Sadda Haq such a poor graph of the channel had. And no one really watches bindass, MTV or other channels if we take the commercial point of view. People want to watch something they can relate to.
You can cry over the fact that Indian bahus keep crying with glycerin and all, but this is what connects with people and hence ratings sweep in. Facts are Facts.
Kamini Chaudhary from Delhi duplicated the same thing and dissed out the fact on hating people who watch family oriented shows. She said - 'Instead of hating on people who watch such shows why can't people get together and support good content if that had happened..the Industry would have seen a different phase. She added - Indian TV space is totally driven by women. Men watch only cricket. They are not remotely connected to TV shows like women. Also believe it or not despite living in 21st century Indian Women still find it hard to watch content that is related to openness, sex, drugs, relationships and all. Ekta Kapoor has been criticized over the years for her lacklustre family shows. In order to change the tide, she launched an app called ALT Balaji for youth where you can watch such content but how many people really watch it in terms of numbers. She laughs - 'the idea has bombed totally'.
Akriti from Agra then continued by saying that's it is fair that if an Indian woman feels connected with a woman wearing heavy jewellery and being totally dipped in sanskars and all because you have to admit that TV serials are only a reflection of our society. They just mirror it. An average can't related to a protagonist that is playing Cricket in Tamanaah or A Random girl climbing mountains in Everest. Both supposedly good shows were launched by Star Plus, the No.1 TV network of India and both bombed. How can you blame others when you yourself failed to catch up on these shows. The definition of 'Good content' in this purpose is purely subjective.
Meanwhile Kamini said - 'You can not expect a change on Indian TV just by cribbing on social media. You can not blame the channels or producers because they are only giving you what you expect out of them. They have to make money. What might be 'good content' for you can be termed boring for others. Gone are the days when TV shows would run about years and years. These days their plugs are pulled off in 3-4 months itself if they fail to perform. Numbers, Ratings and TRP's this is all matters at the end. Any content that is good on TRP's is good content and shall survive.
Then Radhika changed the discussion on a more innovative mode : She said why do we target only Indian TV serials. Have you seen the News channels? Just open any channel here and you will notice how much exaggerate with each news they broadcast. Why? because it's all numbers game. They feel threatened that other channels shall get more numbers and the competition became more fierce. There is a lot of backlash of that content on Social Media also but has it really affected anything No? Infact every 2-3 months you will find a new news channel opening up its doors because people are watching.
She also said that 'male viewership' for Television should be encouraged. 'Men should also watch TV apart from cricket and movies. It is not that Television makers have not taken risks to bring their attraction. Infact Star One, originally targeted totally men but the only show that could survive was 'Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai' and that was also a family oriented show. After that they changed gears and started making more family oriented shows. Even now LIFE OK which is actually the updated version of Star One is dealing with shows featuring men however, it is not being much successful. So if you expect a change you have to be in it.
Akriti concluded her saying : 'Let people say what they want to...if 'saying' had really mattered, India had been the world's best nation by now. As far as Good Content is concerned. Any content that works commercially and successfully shall be termed 'good'. I personally have no problems with any TV shows that goes on air. All the people that work on such shows work very hard and we accept them. Cribbing won't help much.
After the discussion from the ladies we also reached onto the conclusion that Indeed if change in Indian Television Content needs to happen, then audiences have to work together. They would have to accept all ideas and different concepts by makers and their success would ensure others to take risks otherwise we don't really have options available. We have to either accept or ignore what is being served.
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