v/s
*Television on*
Star Plus- Saath Nibhana Saathiya. (Two sisters- one naïve,
one pure evil. Save!)
Life OK-Devo ke Dev Mahadev. (Mythology of Lord Shiva, the
best Shiva across shows!)
Zee Tv- Pavitra Rishta. (Love and separation across
generations. Someone stop it!)
Colors- Balika Vadhu. (Ideal bahu between two husbands.
Gawd!)
Sony-Badde Achhe Lagte Hain. (Peehu missing? Who’ll run the
show now?)
Every television in an Indian household definitely remotes
through these channels.
Then there exists a set of Indian audience (most
cosmopolitan people, majorly youths) that revel in the below.
Star World-How I met your mother. (Aren’t they AWESOME?)
Zee café- Big Bang Theory. (Sheldon, Bazinga! Penny, hawt!
The gang, funny!)
Prime Big CBS- Dexter. (The cute guy solving highly crafted
and brilliant crimes.)
Love Big CBS- Sex and the city. (Who doesn’t love Carrie?)
BBC Entertainment- Sherlock. (You, your voice…. Adrenaline
rush!)
Since years, the debate ‘American shows v/s Indian soaps’
has always picked up steam wherein people would end up backing American
counterparts because of its hard-hitting reality and its absolute creative and
brainy scripts! I remember chatting about this with my friend graduating in
medical studies. With backdrop in medical field, we discussed about American
shows (Grey’s anatomy, Scrubs) vis-à-vis Indian ones (Sanjeevani, Kuch toh log
kahenge). We compared how the American shows demonstrated real cases and
operations, the mindset and workload of doctors and their life with near perfection
rather than the absolute drama, clichéd love and never -working of doctors in
Indian ones. In American shows, importance and innovation is put in every
aspect, whereas in Indian ones, every soap opera roams around the same
story-line i.e. two protagonists meet, fall in love and entry of several
elements sabotaging their relationship. If TRPs trip, there’s sudden death or
accident or worse, Leap!
This monotonous
nature is one of the prime reasons why American shows win. The others? Let’s go through them generically.
1>
Comedy:
There are many shows and specialized channels for comedy. Still
everything rolls to slapstick and not-so-funny! Nothing can even reach one
millionth of how hilarious Friends, Big Bang Theory and Community are! The ones
which are above the rest were Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai, Dekh Bhai Dekh and first
editions of Hum Paanch, Khichdi and Office Office.
2>
Crime investigations: With CID completing almost fourteen years, its
cases have long ago started to lose lustre. All shows within this genre
(Adaalat, Arjun) did well in initial stages but lost the plot later. In another
light, if you come to see the brilliance of every case and its corresponding
intelligence and technicality of shows like Sherlock, Dexter and Homeland, you
will swear not to watch the Indian ones again!
3>
Reality shows: Firstly, most reality shows are
copied from their American respective. But all of them look fake and staged for
TRPs. And if you view every dance, singing, game or cookery reality show in USA,
they are ounces above ours. Theirs is more highlighting talent, ours is more
masala mockery.
4>
Love Stories: The basic factor in most Indian
soap operas today. They brag about how much Aditya and Pankhuri love each other
and how many sacrifices Manav and Archana have made! In American counterparts
for the same, they have proved how perfect Monica and Chandler are together and
how Marge completes Homer Simpson. Theirs is more modern and western, ours is
more traditional and fairy tale!
So, why do these soap operas run? Because of the Indian
blood in our veins! A majority of audience, predominantly females (with high
EQ) do find Indian shows entertaining because:
1>
We are trained to never watch adult stuff,
swears and abuses wherein voice has to be beeped and subtitles become a mix of
&,* and # and scenes with violence ever! Lest of all, enjoy it! It’s just
natural to feel awkward with such content with family!
2>
We are emotional. The Indian shows do strike
some chord. We love fairy tales. We hope to see Suraj being with Sandhya as she
pursues her ambition. We cheered Pratigya as she fought through every obstacle.
Because though, American shows portray reality and practicality, Indian shows
satiate the emotion and sentiment factor! It’s our own as it enacts us! There
is atleast a miniscule of belonging with it!
So, American or Indian shows? I really don’t have one
answer. Let’s just say Indian shows are
for my television time with family and American shows are fed in my laptop for
watching alone or gala-time with friends!
