An article-'Virrudh' also mentioned...

There's a new entertainment channel coming to the screen closest to you and while this might be a moment of rejoicing for you, other channels will be less pleased. More competition. Let's hope that does not translate into more sameness, otherwise you will be displeased, too. NDTV is setting out to entertain us. Not a moment too soon. We do not need to study electronic viewership measurement systems (TRPs) to know we're watching less of what passes for general entertainment. When we watch TV for recreation, it's the news channels we turn to. They telecast more films, cricket, page-whatever-types and now stand-up comedy (some would say the news became a joke long ago) than Star Plus, Sony, Zee, Sahara One, Sab and Star One, perhaps put together. These officially designated entertainment channels have suffered collective amnesia. They don't remember what they are supposed to do. They live in circa 2000, when Kaun Banega Crorepati made Amitabh Bachchan (and vice-versa) and the monstrous regiment of K women marched into our homes to make themselves comfortable amongst us. Star Plus, their host, became the most popular channel and the others followed with their own saas-bahu sagas. It was great for a while but then they overstayed their welcome and their entertainment value decreased the longer they stayed. Polite, we continued to entertain them, hoping things would change, but they continued down the successful beaten track and we began to leave or switch to other shows that offered alternatives. Which may explain why Zee, with one trademarked K serial, has been appreciated. Like all guests who outstay their time, the K serials have become highly repetitive. In two ways: First, they ape their own past. So you will see that Kyunki... is caught up in a rape just as it was a few years ago when Nandini was raped. The serials also imitate their K sisters. So if Parvati returned to Kahani... radiant and refreshed (as well as much older but younger to look at) in a speedboat so Arra ra Daksha-behn sails back into Kyunki..., radiant and refreshed (older-younger) riding ditto speedboat. Predictability can be comforting but hardly entertaining without a novelty quotient but the K serials or shows like CID (that has run forever on Sony), are monotonous and unimaginative — in other words, not entertaining. The younger generation of characters, introduced to rejuvenate the serials, has succeeded in only ageing them further. Seriously: Last calculations place Kyunki's Baa in the 100-110 age group. That makes Tulsi and her generation close to 60. How long can leading characters of shows, our constant companions for the last seven years, be senior citizens (with all due respect to them)? Especially, since they are no Helen Mirrens? No wonder the audience is looking at its wristwatches and wondering when they will leave. No wonder viewership is falling and will soon fall away, unless they are careful. No wonder a new entertainment channel sounds so good. And no wonder we have mixed reactions to a new show such as Virrudh (Sony) launched by the face that launched the K women into orbit — Smriti Irani. This Sony serial is of interest to all of us in the media business because it is about the media business. However, the lead characters are actors who have been around seven years and many more. They look overage, overweight, over the hill. We watch television for good drama — and this has the makings of one that is not about women against women — but it must be fresh, vibrant, pulsating with life. Virrudh looks rather funereal already.

Femina Miss India (Sony) throbbed with young blood and very attractive females. Except for Sajid Khan, the male anchor. He looked like he belonged on Viruddh as did, may we add, several judges. Mona Singh fizzed but honestly? She's a better actress — and dancer — than anchor. And someone should tell Sony that, like our cricketers, it must restrict the number of ads it has for such shows because by the time Miss Indias were crowned, even our TVs have fallen asleep.