For the love of "grey": A take on TV and its shows

Since the time I have been married, I have hardly watched TV. Which basically means that I haven't watched the cable television! My dear darling husband got me hooked to the idea of having our own media liberary. Hence we download our shows and religiously watch them as and when we get an opportunity. As a ritual we watch a couple of those together and then there are some that we watch at our own pace.
Add to the mix the launch of "Netflix", and boom, we have a plethora of shows from the west to whet our appetite for the television series.

The latest one that I have been hooked to is called "Blacklist". It is about a fugitive (an FBI most wanted) who has a blacklist of various thugs and who insists on engaging with a single FBI agent (who is the other protagonist) in the show in order to help FBI to take down the most wanted.
Similarly, there was another show in the past called the "White Collar", in which an ex con man teams up with an FBI agent in a twisted legal fashion to complete his prison sentence.
Then there are other shows, like "Madam Secretary", "the Good Wife" and the cult "Friends"; and various others that tackle various subjects that are different.
The shows are an exaggeration to an extent but the exaggeration is rooted in the reality of the people and who they are.
Almost all the protagonists in the western shows are REAL. They make mistakes and are not honour killed by the show writers by dialogues and music that is like cat scartching a wall. There is no black or white. There are women, yes the lead women who express their anguish, and who fall in love, despite being married. Who get re-married or find love again.
There are hidden agendas that they are pursuing for their own sakes, and which does not necessarily mean that their moral compass is OFF.

These real characters put shame to the protagonists in the Hindi television serials. It is impossible to relate with the Tulsi's and Parvati's and even the younger "yo" kind of characters that the Hindi TV Channels (or as a matter of fact, the Indian TV Channels) put forth to the viewers. How am I to believe that if I think about myself a little bit more than what I think about my family in general, it makes me a proverbial bitch who doesn't care. Or that, if I want to kiss a few frogs before I find my prince charming, I am a whore/ slut or characterless.
It is exactly this mind set that the country is trying to free itself from (thanks to the well read, and the internet). There are few who believe that it is okay to be selfish, and to sometimes put your own interest before the interest of an extended family who has nothing better to say.

The most glaring example of the disparity in how the television shows are treated (or rather how the television studios think about the intelligence of their audience) are the reality shows that are aired. Barring KBC, there have been no reality shows that are crisp. Even KBC for that matter now has become fraught with sob stories.
Another example of this disparity is the MasterChef series. MasterChef Australia as a show is just raising its standards every year, by the participants and the food that they portray. The hosts cum judges have become international celebraties thanks to the way the show runners have been running the show. And MasterChef India, oh well, from the bad quality of the food and the judges/ hosts, it is nothing but an emotional journey. There is no food journey at all.
And that is exactly the same with all our reality shows. They are fraught with more drama than talent. In an episode of 60 min while 15 minutes are kept for adverts, the rest of the content is not worth a 45 minute show. From antics of the host and the antics of judges, the sob stories.. it just gets worse every year. The singing/ dancing/ talent shows break your patience. With celebs coming there to promote their movies and then dancing/ singing with each contestant.. it is like publicity at the cost of the audience brain.  The show "Dancing with the Stars" which was adapted to "Jhalak Dikhlaja" was actually quite professional in the first 4 installments, and then it became like the rest. More antics and less content.

While the good thing about the reality shows is that it is a season based format, they trouble you only for a month or two or three but the drama shows on TV, the daily fix of the wives and mothers and some of us (till couple of years back) just go on and on and on with the same thing. A villian who will never change and a protagonist who is the epitome and a mixture of all things nice. There is always the family which is interfering in the love life of couples (married and unammried alike) and people scheming for the property of the others and they just don't stop. Unlike the shows in the west, where each season comprises of limited episodes.. here it will take two months (which is like 24 episodes) for one little thing to happen. In the current season of Blacklist, in episode 7 the protagonist finds out that she is having a baby, and by the 18th episode she has delivered the baby. The timelines are almost real.

Thank GOD for Zindagi TV, and Pakistani shows, which follow the similar format as the shows in West. Where the acting is good, the script is strong and make up plays NO role in a woman's life. Hell, they are even better dressed than the indian counter parts. As a matter of fact, two indian serials matching the genre and the style of zindagi were also introduced on the channel, but the writers just could not find that magic.
I am from the time when Waghle ki duniya, Buniyaad, Shanti, Junoon, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Shriman Shrimati, Tu Tu Main Main were in vogue and they were GOOD SHOWS. Even Flop Show by Jaspal Bhatti, was a social sattire and as a matter of fact, Movers and Shakers with Shekar Suman was a great show too.

While TV has moved into the realm of 24x7 liecenses, unfortunately the content has degraded to nonsensical shows and I wish that K revolution bought on by Ekta Kapoor had not happened and that TV viewing was a refreshing experience rather than a cringing one.

It is from the world of TV and Cinema that we, public at large set our compass. And while there is always meaninglessness that one finds on both these platforms, it is imperative that the audiences also start demanding meaningful content.

Plain Truth!

I am not a huge fan of Amir Khan.
I seriously think that he is a very pompous mean guy.. (Yup, I am true blood SRK fan camp girl);
But Satyamev Jayate bowled me over.

It was honest to God, plain truth, put extremely plainly to us. The people who matter, the people, who ignore the every day truth that is reported in the newspapers not as "Breaking Stories", but in the corner somewhere, and not as a part of a statistics or a survey that randomly comes out, but about he people who have actually suffered.
There were tears, but, I am glad, that none of the women who came on the show broke down emotionally to get the TRP's high.. or stating controversial statements with a background score that makes the controversy larger than what it really is.

Of course, this particular episode touched a chord somewhere, because, after hearing what people had to say about having a girl child, I truly thanked my stars that I exist.

It is the sad truth that people as educated as doctors or professors or teachers believe in the whole "Beta khandaan ka chirag hai" funda.
No offense boys, but seriously, girls are prettier, they are like the cutest babies and above all they too are human, they have exactly two hands, two legs, one face with two eyes a nose and two years.. the only difference is that they have a vagina and a pair of breasts.

It is the woman who bears the children, imagine, if there is no woman, how are you going to have children? The so called "Khandaan" will only not be there.
And, if a male acts dumb in the family, the women of the family are not expected to encourage the practice of miscarrying because the pregnant lady is carrying a female child!

The truth really did hit the heart.
It was amazing to know that the literate act like the illiterates and rural and the poor act like intelligent human beings.

The Doctors should learn their lesson and clean up their acts, the giver of life, the ones equated to Gods, should not encourage let alone indulge in such practices!

If there is one thing that I am sure Amir Khan will be able to achieve is to hit the heart.. now I only hope that he is also able to stir the conscience of the people and actually help root out the evils that hold our society back!

Kudos to Satyamev Jayate!    

The Telly story..

I have never really written about television and the little that I have written is about how much I hate the Hindi serials, which if nothing else have become bloody serial killers with over dramatic mother in laws and scheming sisters, sister in laws and in general the hate quotient.
Of course, then there is a stereotype that has been cast. There is absolutely no gray areas at all. The protagonist is the miss goody two shoes.. always and the rest can be evil and good at their own convenience.
Absolute nonsense they have made of the conscience that most of their moral lectures state!

So, the reasons that I do not watch watch the hindi serials, but yeah, I do follow them, I still don't own a television and parents and grandmother have the televisions at their disposal, so the most that I get is to watch a movie or two in ENGLISH once in a blue moon. * Do you have any idea, the faces that my mom makes at the kissing scenes.. I mean I was asked  ordered to not to go and watch the Dirty Picture because it has explicit content*  And I thought that I was 25. *Somehow this argument ALWAYS fails*

I mean everything is not that bad. As a matter of fact, by some stroke of luck, about two odd years back, 'Castle' was launched, and boom, I was thrown into the world of the English series that had sizzling chemistries and awesome mysteries!
That is where I learned the concept of 'Seasons', that meant that they give you a break from the series, after couple of weeks instead of making them jump 20 years hence. And mind you, they leave you with more questions than answers!
Since I have been hooked, I have been following a lot more than 'Castle'.. there is 'White Collar' and 'Warehouse 13' and 'Las Vegas' and 'How I met your Mother', amongst a few..
But the one that I have been lately following was 'Pretty Little Liars' and Kashvi will agree, they have actually closed season 2 with a disappointing end.
And, now that, Pretty Little Liars is over and so is White Collar and Castle will come to a close soon, I am feeling sorta depressed, you know, considering that I just love these three series and they were something that I looked forward to.. every week!
Now, I cant wait for Season 3 to start, which will be in June.
So till then, barring catching up with 7 seasons of 'Sex in the City', which I find is soft porn, there is nothing that I can watch.. so does anyone here have any suggestions as to what series should I start following??

PS: This song from Lady Antebellum was playing in the background in one of the scenes in the Season finale of Pretty Little Liars, fell in love with it totally :)




PPS: Will catch up on all the blogs through this weekend!