India's 'saas-bahu' at the Emmys

The International Emmy Awards are for TV shows produced around the world each year, but India has had scant representation so far. However, with increased awareness amongst broadcasters, as well as improved and more varied content, our shows might soon make their mark on the world stage.

Pavitra Rishta, a show on Zee TV, won an award after beating a host of programmes from around the world at the Seoul International Drama Awards last year.

But the win got almost no media coverage in India, and the achievement went unnoticed.

Similarly, hardly anybody here has even heard of the International Emmy Awards. No, not the Emmys awarded to American shows — popularly known as the Primetime Emmys and organised by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS)  which is telecast on one of the English entertainment channels here.

The International Emmys are organised by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS) — which is related to ATAS — and this is for television shows that are produced by countries other than the US. You can call it the Emmy equivalent of the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. More than that, actually, because it’s an entire awards function dedicated to internationally-produced shows.

The International Emmys started way back in 1969, and has now expanded to 14 categories. Needless to say, Indian shows have never won a single award in any of the categories. Not surprising really, considering that there haven’t been too many Indian entries sent to the awards ceremony to begin with. But the time is ripe for change, feels Bruce Paissner, president and CEO of IATAS, who was in the city recently with the aim of “spreading awareness” about the awards.

“The only way to win is to participate first,” Paissner said. But ask him what he thinks are the reasons for Indian shows not participating, and he says, “It’s hard to say exactly what they may be. It could be the $1000 entry fee for each show. Or it could be that Indian broadcasters aren’t completely confident of being able to compete with the best in the world. But then you never really expected, say, Brazil to win an award because they didn’t even participate till six years ago, and yet the country won a major award recently.”

The entry fee theory can be dismissed without much ado. The responsibility of sending entries rests solely with broadcasters, and not individual producers; needless to say, the relatively small amount needed wouldn’t pinch affluent channel owners.

As for whether Indian shows can compete with the best in the world is something that we’ll be able to ascertain only when India gets into the competition. The urban audience tend to turn their nose up at most Indian shows, and find their daily fix from American and English shows downloaded online instead.

But the fact remains that our programmes appeal to a large audience —women especially — that is almost pan-Indian. But whether these shows can also find some resonance across the world is a moot point.

“Most of our shows are targeted at a very desi audience,” says Pintoo Guha, of Filmfarm, which produces Uttaran on Colors. “You may want to experiment with themes, and even touch on various social issues, but finally you can’t escape the saas-bahu route. The appeal of such shows to a more international audience is questionable,” says Guha, adding however that he would still want his show, or other Indian shows, to be at least sent to the International Emmys.

Sukesh Motwani, programming head at Zee TV, has no doubts that Indian shows can compete — and even win — at international award functions, even though he admits that most of them may be lacking in production values. “Let’s face it — shows made in Latin America, the UK and many other countries have much higher production budgets. Having said that, we are no less when it comes to depicting love, tragedy, or understanding human emotions.”

Motwani gives the example of the show Jhansi Ki Rani — about the martyred freedom fighter — saying that the story, supported by historical research and dealing with universal emotions, would connect with an audience in any country. “Like Braveheart,” he quips.

Ajay Bhanwalkar, senior vice president of programming at Sony Entertainment Television, says that the channel is now specifically creating shows that can compete with international programmes. “We have shows produced by Yash Raj Films now, and they are all technically superior, and can compete with the best in the world.”

Why do we not find representation — or sufficient representation at least — at the awards ceremony then? Both the channel representatives agree that awareness in the television industry is lacking, partly because the strain of meeting deadlines leaves them with little time to think of anything else. “Besides, we don’t make shows to win awards; we have our audience and TRPs to think about,” says Motwani.

Also, he points out that the organisers of international awards have themselves realised India’s potential in the television space only recently. But Paissner insists that a comparatively younger Indian television market stands a good chance of making it big on the global stage. “We might have a lot more shows competing at these functions in the future,” agrees Motwani. So don’t be surprised if you see Pavitra Rishta in the nominees list at the International Emmy awards when they are announced later this year.