Where are we headed?
by Meenakshi Shankar
May 13, 2008, Mumbai

I sat by late Monday evening with nothing really better to do than surfing the myriad of TV channels.

And, I don't know where we are heading to when it comes to the big fat world of television entertainment. If we talk about the serials and their never ending stories they are hardly appealing and there is nothing new about these serials and actors. They have the same story line, same costumes, same flavor and on top of that the same faces. As a matter of fact, the stories are full of stress and family tensions and it adds to your anxiety level. I couldn't help wondering, to who these channels were catering to...

The housewives who switch on the TV to escape the monotony of their day or the working breed who switch on to escape the stress of their day. Because, if the current rage that's hitting our small screen is anything to go by, then escapism is not what it is all about.

Every channel, short of screaming from the rooftop that I'm the best, dishes out a permutation and combination of the tried and tested formula. Isn't it funny that we export the best of our greys to the West and yet, when it comes to creative ideation, we rely on rehash of the programmes that clicked in the West? KBC, Paanchvi Paas, Dus Ka Dum...of course, these are mere ripples in the ocean of our television industry.

Ask our creative geniuses and they would cry hoarse over their offerings. They would probably catch me by my collar and rough me up and say - "What do you have to say about Kyunki? If the West had Bold and the Beautiful, then we have Kyunki Saas..." And thanks to our rich culture and heritage, we can always resort to mytho's!

Hilarious that every channel's now resorting to mythologies to rev up their TRP. 9X, the newly launched channel, has gone a step ahead and ringing in two mythologies - Mahabharatha and Jai Maa Vaishnodevi. Looks like Indrani Mukherjee's bringing in her religious and spiritual streak into the channel, is she now?

And here I thought the IPL would give the channels a run for their money. But, the sport's just turned into another 'sporty soap-opera!'...Bhajji-Sree slapping incident, Vijay Mallaya bad -mouthing his team's performance to just about everyone who would care to lend a ear, the sexy cheer leaders and their moral quotient and of course the celebs - the camera's would probably miss a ball or two, but wouldn't miss the opportunity to catch our celebs antics on the stand.