Where have sitcoms gone?

Comedy has been integral to entertainment television in India ever since the early 1980s. A quarter of a century later, soaps, serials, thrillers, game shows and reality television have all but cornered comedy into a dry spot. India has been regaled with several successful sitcoms such as Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Shriman Shrimti, Tu Tu Main Main, Wagle Ki Duniya, Hum Paanch, Zabaan Sambhal Ke, Hum Sab Ek Hain and Office Office for years on end. Of the most recent, Ekta Kapoor's first sitcom Hum Paanch was a resounding success, which ran for five years and delivered rocking ratings. But no longer is there any sitcom worth its chuckle. They seem to have been replaced with 'laughter' competitions, popularly called laughter challenges.

Star One has had a series of laughter challenge editions in the last couple of years. Sony is launching the second season of Comedy Circus next week. Sahara One has a laughter show called Comedy Champions while SAB, which has a strong brand association with comedy has recently launched Comedy Ka King Kaun? When there is audience for light entertainment and comedy, why are channels ignoring comic serials completely?

"Nobody is writing good comedies," rues well-known film and television comedienne Archana Puran Singh of Mr Ya Mrs and Shriman Shrimati fame. Agrees popular comedy actor Satish Shah of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai fame, "These days I hardly come across a good script for comedy." Archana feels there are not many good writers of comedy. "There has always been a shortage of sitcom writers and that is why we have had only few successful comedies," she adds.

Rajeev Mehra, producer-director of Zaban Sambhal Ke and Office Office feels that comedy is the "most difficult art because each episode has one story and each story has to have an optimum impact."
The channels don't agree that comedies have been pushed into the wings. Star India's senior creative director Anupama Mandloi is clear that, "Television programming is largely dictated by trend. Daily soaps are the strong eyeball grabbers and lately reality TV has been doing very well. It's a matter of time before sitcoms also make a comeback. Our weekend show Baa Bahu Aur Baby is a light soap that has lot of tongue-in-cheek humour. It is not a sitcom but it is a light entertainer with slice of life."

Sony's business head Albert Almeida finds that the lack of good scripts make the job of making great comedies difficult. But it's not that there are no writers around to script comedies. SAB TV has a few popular sitcoms at prime time, including the laugh-riot FIR. "There is a huge market for comedies," says SAB's business head Anooj Kapoor. According to Anooj, in the last two years, several films that scored at the box-office have been comedies like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Golmaal, Dhamaal, Dhol, Bhagam Bhag, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Bheja Fry, No Entry, Partner and Welcome.

"The same audience watches television as well. I don't understand why most GE channels are ignoring comedies. They believe that the numbers come from daily fiction but I firmly believe that in the current market scenario, the numbers also come for comedies," says Anooj. Sahara One's creative head Kalyan Sundaram also believes that comedies have good market. "Having strengthened our weekday fiction band, we are now looking at launching two sitcoms in June," he says.

Kalyan says while soaps are watched mainly by women, comedies are generally watched by men. "Lately reality shows have been the favourite among male viewers and once reality TV saturates the trend may change in favour of comedies," he feels. Meanwhile in the absence of comedies, channels are making best use of laughter shows to woo male audience. "Be it comedies or laughter shows, they fulfill the same need because the emotions that come out of both are same," feels Albert. Anooj is of the view that making a laughter show is a lot easier than sitcom. Albert however, disagrees, "What the stand-up comedians and actors have is their comic skill. But lot of creative back up is needed to make a show work."