The Act, the Performer, the Reality

In a world connected by the media, information is available at one's finger tips, at the flick of a television remote. Television has been considered as the strongest communication medium what with both the audio visual effects and live telecasts. But along with this information sharing and communication, comes the entertainment factor which has added a whole new dimension to the world of television.

With numerous production houses, churning out soaps by the day, to grab the top spot on the TRP ratings scale, the viewer ends up with several choices in terms of channels, and the soaps and entertainment programmes to choose from. With the several choices to choose from on finger tips, it is only a matter of the thirty seconds or couple more at the most, that the promos for the show would have to catch the viewer's attention.

So how does the viewer choose to watch a soap/serial?

Eye candy factor is what gets the viewer to hang on to a channel long enough, but not long enough to watch the entire serial. After the initial eye wash, it is the story and portrayal of the characters that keeps the viewers glued to serials.

In the race to the top spot on the TRP scale, production houses are churning out soaps and serials based on the same lines, shooting arrows in the dark hoping one of them would hit the bulls eye and some of them have indeed managed it with stories deviating from the usual saas-bahu sagas, shown on prime time television that have become a hit with the viewers, like the story of siblings making it big in life, or the story of a dark skinned girl who embarks on a quest in search of her unique identity,. Going to the depths, it has yet again extreme shades of positive and negative, but in comparison to the other serials in the same genre, the shades are far more realistic if I may say so.

The viewers are often portrayed as gods, who are the deciding factors, for the kind of serials that are churned out by the production houses. But aren't the viewers themselves, by accepting the mediocre, inane story lines about run of the mill stories and thereby increasing the TRPs, giving every reason for the production houses to churn out more serials on the same lines and if and when ever, a different story line is attempted, it is left to a very niche audience.

Viewers are considered the prime deciding factors, are the viewers living upto it? Why is that despite several new story lines being considered and attempted, it is always that the old run of the mill formulae that work and we get to hear from the production houses such in/famous lines "We give what the viewers want".

Isn't it us viewers who despite, saying openly that we want melodramatic stuff to be shut off and calling the storylines inane, still go back and watch them without fail everyday during prime hours?

We say that such negative characters would have a bad effect on the society, but aren't we by watching the serials, giving the production houses a reason to churn out the same stories time and again.

The race for the TRPs drives the production houses who compromise on the creative aspect and that is indeed sad to note.

The performers, actors, who bring to life characters that have been etched out in the minds of the creatives and put on paper, with their histrionics, it is indeed commendable that an actor/actress portrays (it doesn't matter mediocre or par excellence) characters so different from their own self to keep us entertained and also to take back home a paycheck like any other social being.

But yet, we fail to disassociate the actors from the characters they play and base our opinions on the disassociation. We are carried away by the way their appearances, but fail to appreciate the actors for their talent, and when they do bring to life characters and make them seem real, we fail to realize the talent of the actor, but harp on character being handsome or pretty gal. It is indeed sad.

I wonder, if the TRPs for the serials, been the same, considering the mindset of the viewers had it not been for the actors. How many of us appreciate the characters and feel their emotions rather than harping about how handsome or hot one looked in a scene or how dazzling or beautiful a lady looked in a scene?

An article posted on a web site sometime back on serials arrived during prime time stated that the viewers were unhappy because the character of the female protagonist of a serial is being showed as being rude to her husband (although the story line definitely indicates that the motive is for good). It is hence, surprising that the viewers did not react in the same manner to the male protagonist's character undergoing drastic changes oscillating between good and nasty on the extremes.

I ask this: Are we really able to see the characters beyond the pretty faces and handsome looks of the actresses and actors?

Do we really relate to the characters?

Consider this:

1. Is our stand on the course of action of the characters really not biased by the person who is portraying the character?
2. Had the serials been a book and the characters had been left to our imagination, would we still relate to the characters we are doing now?
3. It is at the end of the day a soap/serial that we watch. But aren't our opinions that are voiced out (global forums, magazines, et al) a reflection of our thoughts?
4. The serial at the end of the day is an entertainment package, leaving the producers happy with heavier money bags, actors/actresses back to their routine with their pay cheques, but are the viewers able to get back to their routines without getting affected and see it as mere entertainment?

I for one believe that these are the questions that we need to ask ourselves, which enables to look at our interpretations of characters and medium in a clearer perspective.

At the end of it all, I would like to add, to all that has been said previously that I am aware of the exceptions, in terms of the viewers and the genre of serials, and do not negate that. I have attempted to take a very holistic view of the industry today and the viewer choices in this article.

Sareeta

WOW! nice debate, i dont have the attention span of reading it all right now but i will get back to it.

nice bumping mythili.. long post, so will read and respond atr leisure 😳 .

in a nutshell, such serials dont entertain me and i am happy not to relate to any of the characterless characters though 😆 😆 😆

I am a very selective viewer of serial.Was a good follower of the serial Jassi Jaisi Koyi Nahim in Sony tv but after it become a rubber, ie., after her marriage to Armaan i quit the serial(tolerate that much). Due to the strenght of the charector enquired about the actress who personified the charector, Monasingh.

During world cup acceidently saw LRL in Sony SAB and a loyal viewer becuase of the difference in the story line and exceptionaly good acting of Rajeev Khandelwal and his six cadets. One more thing this serial made my landing in IF. Thus thanking the serial but now I quit seeing it regularly.