TELIVISION.PESSIMISM.ENTERTAINMENT.EYES WIDE SHUT.
The letter ‘k’.Spawned magic on television.Surged the TRPs.Raked in big bucks for many aspiring producers.Others too followed in the footsteps of star plus,in a bid to turn around their wheels of fortune.In no time,Ekta kapoor became the queen of the teletube.The letter ‘k’.Her lucky mascot.It made her famous.Succesful.Adorable.
And this,indeed,revolutionalised the telivision industry…but at what cost???
The K Soaps spunned the web of negativity around on television ,which in turn manifested into our lives in a subtle, and yet, an inevitable manner.They’ve donned the telescreen for quite sometime now.And after years of continuos subjection to grotesque images of the badly scripted K serials,we,the viewers, don’t fancy the idea of breaking our reconcilation with the highly gloomy and acrid notion of life these seem to project.Infact, so well acquainted have we become with the ‘fake reality’ these delineate that we perk up with every new offering that comes up on the block.
It is quite evident that our definition of entertainment has undergone tremendous alterations over the years, however, elusive it might be.We tend to associate entertainment with anything which provides us with sinister, disdainful,mocking and often scornful impressions about life in general.This could be attributed to the countless reality shows that have been reigning the small screen for a while now.Take for instance Mtv’s Hero Honda Roadies.The show boasts about being succesful in its attempt to ‘identify’ with the youth.In the show, it is required of the participants to prove their mettle at performing some supposedly daring tasks.The one who proves to be the strongest of them all wins.Err..no…not really.The one who is able to play enough mind games, in a spiteful fashion,to knock out other contestants from the show is the most probable winner.He is the winner in the eyes of the younger lot, never mind if he is as poor in his GK as being oblivion to the fact who the president of India is. Bitching.Bickering.Cribbing.The show is incomplete without all of these.They are the show’s USPs.This is what it takes to be a roadie.
I wonder.Is this what the youth of this country really identifies with???
YES.
Nothing can change the fact that the show is a hit.It clicked with the audience right fom its inception and has been running succecfully for over five years now.And what more, other channels have too made sure that they come up with something wherein enough ‘bitching around’ seeps into the show’s concept.
This is what a succesful show is partly or wholly about-negatively potrayed drama,real or fake,whichever way it may seem. But as long as it is able to grab the attention of our eyeballs,who’s complaining?Who cares about such shows going on air if they are able to raise the TRPs,never mind the invisible levels of negativity they pierce into our lives?Who cares if they make idols out of cheeky folks who apparently don’t have a purpose in life save constant acrimony?
I don’t.No.I don’t.
Because you know what…I’m just one of you…
THE VIEWER.
