It has been days since I would have last watched and enjoyed television. It has become more of a habit than a choice. Otherwise, all the programs are equally disgusting in content. There are 200+ channels right now, but with the privatization of television media, there seems to be no check on the quality of programs to show on a medium as powerful as television.
If we look at the quality of daily soaps, all they do is to either show a woman as a vampire, hell bent on breaking the family or as a perfect woman whose ideals shock you. One plays politics within the four boundaries of home and the other suffers at the hands of husband, family or society. I need a break from these stupid projections of women.
Same goes for men. It seems all they do is solve the personal problems of their lovers, wives, mothers. Where is the time to earn money? Wonder how they got to make such big mansions and businesses. I am sure our very own Ambanis and Birlas would not have so much ‘fursat’.
Reality shows like Big Boss cannot be watched with family. People are being judged less on their talent, but more on their emotional quotient. These are creating so much negative energy and there is no sense of pleasure watching these. People are trying to find their ‘perfect’ someone on television, in front of an entire nation watching them? There are just too many dance shows, music shows now.
Comedies are made out of epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata. Almost every god now has a TV serial dedicated to him/her.
If we look at the news channel, they are making news out of every statement our leaders make. Sometimes they sensationalize events like God’s idol drinking milk, a child falling into well and what not. These seem to be more of comedy shows than anything else.
Compare this to the doordarshan era when we had limited but good programs. ‘Chitrahar’, ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’. ‘Tamas’ and a lot many serials which we still recollect and often watch. As much as we fondly remember newsreaders like Salma Sultan, Shammi Narang; we remember ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara..”. We miss the Sunday Ramayana and Surbhi.
Its not that there are no good programs being aired right now. 24! which offers such a unique concept clearly stands out. After a long time, there is a serial for which people ‘budget’ time. But the challenge is there is only a handful of such program amongst a thousand others. We need many more like these if television needs to continue as a powerful media.
I hope the I&B ministry does something about the content. As of now, I do not need 200 channels with none showing anything worthwhile. I only waste my energy shuffling channels.
Disha's Writings 