About 10-11 years ago, if you wanted to have a serious career in entertainment, people used to consider TV suicidal,? says the most prolific of all Indian screen bahus, Smriti Irani. But today, this actor-cum-producer-cum-politician feels the Idiot Box has taken a giant leap to claim the throne of being ?the most powerful medium of entertainment in the country?.
Irani, who shot to fame with her character of Tulsi in Star Plus? epochal daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, stands testimony to the stellar rise of television over the past decade, as TV made its way beyond our living rooms, to our hearts, minds and habits. She became the face and the aspiration of the Indian housewife, ventured into politics and started her own production house as well. In 2004, she was fielded as a Lok Sabha candidate by BJP from Delhi?s prestigious Chandni Chowk constituency against the seasoned Congress stalwart, Kapil Sibal. Though she lost that election, her candidature to a certain extent reflected the new found power and charisma of Indian television. On a personal level, she feels that destiny catapulted her to stardom and popularity, apart from television, of course. ?I consider it to be a matter of pure luck and destiny whenever I look back and ponder. For the first time on Indian television, the character of Tulsi brought respectability that was earlier seen only with mythological characters,? she says.
The television medium surely grew to dictate its terms, from a handful of channels at the turn of the millennium, to close to 500 today. With almost 500 million viewers glued to the TV set, television is the largest segment of the Indian media and entertainment industry, with a size of Rs 257 billion in 2009, as per a KPMG analysis. DTH has further accelerated satellite TV?s penetration in the interiors of the country and abroad among the Indian diaspora. The competition for eyeballs is intense, and from advertisers to channels to production houses and even film stars, everyone is seduced by the power of an immense aggregated audience that TV throws at them. ?TV is the most mass-market entertainment platform. The effective cost for one hour of entertainment per household is less than Rs 1.50. That makes it extremely economical and affordable at a mass level. It then attracts competition, which improves the market, and also content,? says Rajesh Jain, head, media and entertainment, KPMG.
And that is exactly what has been witnessed over the past decade or so. Explosion in the number of channels available, growth of regional language channels and networks, entry of niche channels, experimentation with formats, especially in reality television, and so on. Niret Alva, executive chairman and co-founder of production house Miditech, calls it a ?crazy time to be in television?. He adds, ?A decade ago, there was just one Hindi GEC, Zee, and some hybrid stuff happening on other channels. The sea change happened when Star Plus went Hindi.? Irani feels it began an era when ?heart and soul were poured into production values in Indian television?. She adds, ?Kyunki??had the production value that people had never experienced on Indian television. Expensive sets, detailing in costumes, and other technical attributes had only been seen on the silver screen. Then you had the Indian Television Academy awards coming in and people thought, ?Wow! Indian television is now big enough to have an award show just for itself!? And people woke up to the arrival of television as the dominant source of mass entertainment.?
And, could the high and mighty of Indian entertainment be far behind? The past one decade has seen almost every star and superstar of India?s tinsel town venturing into TV, either to host a show or to promote upcoming films. And it all began with that one show, Kaun Banega Crorepati. ?Amitabh Bachchan made it respectable for even film stars to accept television. The way he handled KBC really changed the game for television,? feels Irani. PN Vasanti, director, Centre for Media Studies, adds that TV’s reach and connect with the masses did the trick. ?Television is not a one-time experience like cinema. It is a regular media experience. This makes TV a great promotional vehicle. Film actors need to be immensely popular in order to be stars. And in today’s time and age, they just can’t be popular without television,? she says.
The staple diet of TV in India, Hindi fiction, itself has seen various transformations. Earlier in the decade, dragged storylines, multiple time leaps, plastic surgeries, ultra-glamorous vamps and return-of-the-dead syndrome were key attributes of most shows, but now things are much different and better, if one may say so. ?Drama and characters have become a lot more believable than before. It is still quite glamorous, but you won’t anymore see people dying and returning and changing their faces. Also, the mix of content is quite diverse now, with all sorts of formats doing well,? says Vivek Bahl, executive director, Star India.
Rajesh Kamat, CEO of Colors and COO, Viacom 18, agrees with Bahl. ?The viewer has become far more receptive of various forms of television content. This wasn’t the case ten years ago. Today, the content is much more real than before,? he says. And what about the issue of ?regressive content? plaguing television? ?I feel that the setting of a show might be regressive, but what really matters is the way you treat it and whether the treatment is positive and progressive or not. If you take the example of Balika Vadhu, child marriage in the country is a reality and an already prevailing concept. The challenge is to use these realities in a way that brings a progressive and a positive change. Is that regressive? I don’t think so,? he says.
Reality television has been the most controversial genre on TV, with a love-hate response from the audience. International formats in reality shows and game-shows became the biggest draw in this genre. KBC, Indian Idol and Masterchef India are some examples. There were controversies too, like Sach ka Saamna and Bigg Boss. On the raging controversy of certain reality shows being considered negative, experts feel that such shows will die out in thelong run. ?They might be fun to watch initially, but for how long would people feed on such content? A person recently killed himself after being ripped apart on a reality show. I don’t think anyone would want TV to do that kind of stuff,? says Alva. Kamat feels that though reality shows might be hyped, India is mainly a loyal fiction market. ?Reality shows would be just 20-25% of the programming and that’s the way it would remain. We are an emotional country and soaps and fiction will continue to rule the roost,? he says.
On content regulation, a major bone of contention for the industry, especially for reality shows, Kamat feels self-regulation is the way forward. ?Content certainly needs to be regulated and the way forward should be self-regulation through an industry body and a self-regulatory code with the blessings of the Ministry of I&B,? he says. Bahl concurs, ?I feel an industry body modelled on the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) can be really effective.?
Talking about the other trends in television, experts feel that the rise of regional language channels and networks is one of the most notable. So much so, that even established Hindi networks are on a spree to add regional language channels to their portfolios. ?Regional content is very potent and is getting bigger by the day. Smaller players are feeling the heat and we will probably see a shake-up there sooner than later,? says Bahl. So does that mean Hindi GECs would lose traction? ?Hindi will remain Hindi and nothing can beat that. The potential for Hindi will only grow in the years to come, as television penetrates further into the interiors of India. But the audience for Hindi is changing. From SEC A, it’s now penetrating into SEC B and C. In the time to come, you’ll see more shows catering to SEC B and C,? says Bahl.
Niche channels are here to stay and a lot of experimentation is happening in this space. Vasanti believes this trend is reflective of the fierce competition. ?Niche channels are a byproduct of the rapid growth in the market. Niche programming will have smaller pockets of viewership, but those pockets would be consolidated enough to suffice their existence,? she says. Rahul Johri, senior VP and GM- India, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, is excited about the present, as well as the future possibilities. ?Channels like ours have a lot of traction in the market, given that 65% of India?s population is below 30 years of age,? he says. He adds that with increasing digitisation, things will be much better still, not only for niche channels, but the industry as a whole. Digitisation is something on which most in the industry are pinning their hopes. LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, sums up the road ahead. ?Technology will be the key and constant game changer. Fragmentation of delivery platforms?terrestrial homes, analog homes and upcoming conversion of these into digital homes?are creating a wonderful mesh. Access to more TV channels and programme variety across niche and mass audiences is another very interesting phenomenon. Surge in digital homes and its impact on TV viewing behaviour is something that the industry should look out for,? he says. Well, the audience is also looking out!