23 March Written&Video Update

Sure, shows on the small screen have a very long shelf life and very often come back with seasons…but does this give the makers a license to treat the viewers like a 'bunch of idiots'? Especially, when they stretch story lines beyond a point of redemption, when the viewer can see a logical end but the makers don't, when makers choose to continue milking a TRP-fetching cash-cow even when the cow itself has 'groaned' enough!

When a bad film comes along, yeh jo public hai jo sab jaanti hai , it gives it a thumbs-down. But what happens to TV viewers who watch a show loyally only to be taken for a royal ride by our serial killers. I call it, cheating.

You will argue that this is not new and that TV viewers have been cheated all the time so why rake this up now? Because I have this 'dirty' feeling that since we have been putting up with any trash that goes in the name of 'entertainment', in the guise of 'the viewers want it', I feel it's time we told them 'Enough is enough. No more trash!'

Just because we don't buy a ticket to your show you cannot bulldoze into our homes and dump that load of garbage into our living rooms. I know, Mr Producer you will self-righteously tell me to use my remote but does this absolve you of your responsibility of offering good, sensible fare?

Of late, some of the top grossers have been, to put it very politely, absurd. How can a show episode after episode offer brainless stuff in the guise of entertainment? I will not take you through all such shows but just a few which belong to the haloed set of 'top rated' and which did a swell job of torturing the poor viewer the whole of last week (and I'm sure they have been doing it for the past few months).

Let me start at the top of the heap: Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai (Star Plus) has been raking it in all along. This show cheated viewers all of last week with almost a week-long Holi celebration. Yes, you read it right. A Holi sequence was on for five days and obviously there was no progress with the story! If this is not taking the viewer for a ride what is?

Then I bring you to another most-watched show, Uttaran. Last week I caught an episode which had one of the lead actors telling a story (and a very insipid one) throughout the episode. With an equally unexciting setting( a dilapidated set of a mansion/palace/haveli… whatever!) the two actors walked from one room to another as the actor narrated a story and completely refrained from the main plot. The viewer kept watching in anticipation (and I'm sure must have had fried brains by the end of it all).

Let's move to yet another trickster of last week. And this one has made history on the small screen. Balika Vadhu is getting to be a complete wash out. For Chrissake, please get on with it or end it. If Anandi was the focal point then they should have killed her last week and wrapped up the show. First the slow motion bullet sequence, then the suspense…whether it was a comma oops coma or full stop and now the memory loss. Painful! Bury the show with dignity because neither the show that created history nor the loyal viewer who supported it all along should be treated so shabbily.

And now the two Balaji offerings. First, Pavitra Rishta which is the number one show on Zee. How dumb can it get? They have moved from the leads to the parallel leads now and they show the tormented Vandita getting married to her tormentor. It can't get worse than this.

As for the other Balaji fare- Bairi Piya . I choose to not even go there. It gets worse with every episode. The rich Thakur continues to lust after the low caste Amoli. What he does for a living and how he manages his wealth is something I would love to know. But for now all he continues to do is covet her. As for the viewer by now I am sure he must have lost the plot…but hey in the first place was there a plot?

I know that sense and sensibility is a thing of the past. Today's shows are nowhere even close to the classics. But is expecting a sensible, sensitive and intelligent show asking for much? I don't think so.