Article- Nothing on TV for kids by kids

Remember when Sundays meant parking yourself in front of the tube and dawdling away the whole morning watching your most wanted serials on

Too big to be small

Doordarshan?

If you finished your homework on time or didn't, possible rewards and penalties meant more or less TV time. From Different Strokes and Indradhanush to Ek Do Teen Char and Vikram Aur Betaal, kids then were reared and guided by the big black box.

But now as TV plays electronic babysitter (and a square, at that) for overworked moms, soaps are no longer working up a lather. What is, are social issues with children as the central character. And they are no longer filling minds with froth. Well, in TV at least, success always brings more of the same. So if more and more children are serial protagonists, why is there nothing on TV for kids by kids?

If the prevalence of saas-bahu sagas in recent times hadn't made it easy for serial directors to make serials with child protagonists that didn't have over-the-top screenplay, showy sets and actors in loud make-up, what helped was that viewers had soon flat-out tired of daily soaps. "There was an overkill of such mawkish weepies," says Sanjay Surkar, director of Aap Ki Antara, which deals with autism. Pointing out that this new set-up is expected to continue for a few years more, Surkar adds, "With pared-down sets in Aap Ki..., at one point, we were apprehensive of channels agreeing to beam our serial. Thankfully, we were proven wrong. It's the issue that matters."

So while serials like Balika Vadhu and Uttaran, addressing concerns like child marriage and social barriers, are grabbing eyeballs, how can one expect kids to not tune in? Serial directors can always argue that the kind of serials that were a hit then might not fancy today's me-too generation, not weaned on child whodunits, mythological lores or fantasies. Added to that are budget constraints since the funds required to make a serial on the lines of Harry Potter, for instance, is something Indian television can ill afford.

Monish Sekhri, scriptwriter and producer of Aap Ki Antara, says, "Since the remote is controlled by homemakers, channels are making serials that pander to this viewership. There are few takers for children's films, fewer still for children's serials. Besides, there are dedicated channels for children that show toons."
Payel Sonecha, mother of Dheirya, who anchors Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs 2009, says her son doesn't get too much TV time. "I don't think he's missing out on not having child-friendly programmes. He can always watch cartoons and epics. But if there were any good serials for kids, he would be hooked," says Payel.

Perhaps it'll take just that one maverick to experiment and show children what they are being deprived of. JK Rowling has effectively played the Pied Piper and brought children back to reading. When will we get a Rowling cast a spell on the idiot box and rid it off its 'adults only' curse?