It is week 5 of the lockdown. Tauba yeh matwali chal, croons a captivated Manoj Kumar as he woos a curvaceous Mumtaz in a skin-tight 60s churidar-kurta in the 1968 romantic hit “Patthar Ke Sanam” My aunt is enjoying this entertainer on a lazy Sunday afternoon with her family on Doordarshan which has been kind enough to showcase this classic. Suddenly being a die-hard fan of Mumtaz she goes totally berserk with praise as the song goes on – “Beta could you please increase the volume, I simply love this number, they don’t make them like Mumtaz anymore- she looks absolutely gorgeous and that figure – OMG that is to simply die for” Just then her youngest son, all of just 24 years and a Gen Z who is witnessing all this tamasha on TV is a little amused and snaps at her in utter bewilderment. “Mom you’ve got to be kidding me, she is so freaking fat” Little did he know that Mumtaz, the toast of the 60s and 70s with her supple youth and luscious sensuality was exactly what film distributors needed. In fact it was this that gave her a direct hotline to the audience’s heartline in those times.
The lockdown has undoubtedly led to a rise in both TV and OTT consumption and while there is plenty of variety to watch on the assorted set of video streaming platforms especially with fresh content to boot, being confined to one’s home 24x7 can lead to a fair degree of boredom. Especially when stepping out isn’t an option for an entire generation of those who Netflix daily and for whom TV has just ceased to exist. Why -because it just doesn’t challenge them with something subtle, daring or just different. Caught between their physical and meta-physical urges, and simply wanting to avoid TV at all costs, when these two varied worlds collide someone is bound to get scalded. After all both millennial and Gen Z are emotional beings who want to let their every radioactive emotion reach out. Where do they funnel that dark feral intensity whilst sitting at home in front of the TV watching vintage fare on Doordarshan that they don’t identify with?
Although, mythological reruns have met with a fair degree of success and rightly so. They clearly represent an era of content from the Doordarshan generation that is simple and yet so well told. I can totally vouch for this since I am from that generation and still believe very strongly in the power of TV to both entertain and move. The fact that TV is long dead just doesn’t cut any ice with me
In fact if one were to capture the kaleidoscopic journey of TV into a slide show, an interesting and varied contrast would emerge - starting from the simple, endearing tales of human whimsy that warmed hearts from the 80s to the complex situations arising out of adultery, impotence, love and faith fighting for your attention in the fiction fare on offer today. And through the decades, both writers and directors have kept their thumb pressed firmly on the pulse of the audience. Best of all, a few of these have also had the nerve to venture outside the incestuous circle of pretested success to give us cross generational love affairs, and evil protagonists among other things.
If the best location in the world was an actor’s own face and what is happening on it, soap stars in India would all be prodigious talents. A mere expression on the face requires pages of dialogues to be conveyed. Yes today a generation addicted with Netflix finds it impossible to believe that in the world of Indian TV anything happens and it indeed does just like a Manmohan Desai movie 😊 There are innumerable story twists with characters brought back from the dead, time leaps that take the story ahead along with that famous Indian ethos that milks the joint Indian family for all its sentimental reassurance. Even 80’s and 90s Hindi movie fare airing on TV is considered vintage and outdated where implausibilities simply gallop by before one can say “Just a sec” and disbelief is sentenced to a perpetual state of suspension.
Yes OTT’S fascination for the outer limits of the human experience does give it some of its most unforgettably complex characters with a somewhat uncanny feel for the pulse of its audience. But this lockdown period is the best time to discover some real gems on TV across channels as well. Do revisit then some epic movies (all time classics such as Sholay and HAHK are playing by the dozen), rip-roaring comedies (the adorable Hum Paanch is back on Zee TV), engaging crime thrillers (Tata Sky Adbhut Kahaniyan – a fab curation of content from the crime, thriller and horror genre) and some pioneering non-fiction formats (DID and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs’ on Zee TV) After all the time it took for director K Asif to produce a Mughal-e-Azam airing on prime time on one of the leading movie channels was apparently close to an entire decade. But then the result too when viewed on TV today will feel like a six course cordon bleu meal for those from this generation who believe in instant gratification. Similarly a Ramayan or a Mahabharat or a Dekh Bhai Dekh may not have the technical prowess yet it had some epic visuals, masterful dialogues and some swirling crowd scenes – yet these remain series with a heart. For managing some of these conjuring feats TV deserves to be placed upon a pedestal
And the juggernaut continues to roll. What will come to represent content in 2030 amidst a similar situation - only time will tell with change remaining the only constant. Till then I can only visualize a scenario when I will be watching a delirious Madhuri gyrating to Dhak Dhak in Beta (1992) thirty eight years down the line and not knowing what reaction to expect from the people around me…..
