From the editor's desk: Saanp, seedi aur TRP

I don't watch any Hindi soaps on any of our channels. To be honest, I don't know anyone who does. Most people of my age and mindset are hooked on to American television so their choices are Apple TV, Netflix or HBO and Zee Cafe. The older generation  i.e. the relatives, the moms -- his, mine and of friends -- watch the news, sports and Pakistani shows on Zindagi. The younger generation doesn't watch TV at all. They world is their laptops and phones on which they watch music videos by Beiber and Adele, trailers of upcoming Hollywood movies, play games or chat with their friends. I assure you, they aren't watching saas-bahu and ichchadhari nag and nagin shows. So who exactly is watching these shows? Because the TRPs are through the ozone layer.

Believe it or spontaneously combust, the current no 1 show on TV is Naagin. Producer Ekta Kapoor is a smart woman. While other channels are paying actors Rs 10 crore per day for a TV show and not getting TRPs, the star of her show is a snake, who is not even paid! It is a CGI saanp. Maybe Ekta should write a book like Ronnie Screvala (Dream With Your Eyes Open), Raj Kundra (How Not To Make Money) or even Chetan Bhagat (Half Girlfriend and err half snake?). She makes hit shows and I am sure her book will be a big hit too. At least with the babes and the bahus. I can't speak for the saas and the snakes. 

Don't get me wrong. I love snakes. Phantom has his Good and Evil ring, I have an Isha Yoga snake ring. It's the one piece of jewellery that is always on me. Also, the only Diwali cracker I have ever lit is the snake tablet. (I was promoting noiseless Diwali even as a child) I loved the movie Nagina, in which my fav Sridevi used to turn to a snake at will. She made it look so interesting I wanted to be a snake! But that was two decades ago. Now twenty years later the snake has crawled from the big screen to the small screen. From the movie theatre into our homes! Only in rural areas.

A friend from the channel has the answer, "These shows are being watched in rural households by children and housewives. No one in the cities is watching them. Not even the people who are making these shows." So let me get this straight. Don't the advertisers who are spending mega bucks to hawk their products -- cars, colas, phones etc  -- know that the woman in a village/small town, her children or even the man of the house have no buying power? So why are these shows getting all these premium product ads? If the prime time ads for these shows were Vicco Vajraganti, Kurkure, Fevicol or Ponds Fairness cream, I could see the logic. But luxury watches, foreign destinations and airline ads? Are the people who are spending, even thinking?

My learned friend informs me that this will change soon. When the advertisers have access to the information about who is watching the shows. Then perhaps we will get the kind of TV shows we deserve. I don't blame the producers for making the regressive shows. Why shouldn't they? Ganda hai par dhanda hai ye! They are catering to the demand. The channels want regressive shows because those get them the big numbers which translate to mega bucks from advertisers. And who suffers? You are an adult, figure it out, while I go watch today's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.