TV going back to comedy shows and funny family dramas

Indian television was at its peak during the 80’s and 90’s with shows like Hum Paanch, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zabaan Sambhal Ke, Shrimaan Shrimati and others being extremely popular. While there was a certain section of audience dedicated to daily soaps, comedy as a genre, was clearly the most popular.

Even recently, shows like Khichdi, Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai and Office Office has managed to carve a niche for themselves in an era where reality shows are flooding every channel.

Sukesh Motwane, programming head, Zee, explains the phenomenon. Though the channel does not have a dedicated show in terms of comedy for its content, they try and infuse comedy in their reality shows and daily soaps.

“Every channel has its own positioning in terms of its content. For us when it comes to comedy, we try and incorporate it within our daily soaps. We have a few soaps that have a slightly comic feel like Ram Milaye Jodi. Same goes for Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein where a lot of characters have a comic side to them. While soaps and family dramas are definitely the genre that works the best, comedy can be infused within these shows as well.”

The success of shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Comedy Circus is encouraging channels to take the genre more seriously.

Sab TV is one of the only channels to probably focus entirely on comedy and have shows dedicated to this genre. Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma is one of their most famous shows. Aatish Kapadia, a TV show producer and writer of Khichdi, a popular comedy show, says the repeat value is the distinguishing factor.

“Not just in Indian television but otherwise as well, comedy works because unlike daily soaps, you can watch it as many times and still not get bored. A laugh is a laugh and people today want to see clean comedy shows, be it men, women or children. It also works as a stress-buster at the end of a hard day.”

Anurag Bedi, business head of Zee Cafe, says, “Indian audience is more inclined to comedy genre, and this can be justified with the fact that around 80 per cent of successful movies in our country belong to the comedy genre. Considering that as a driving factor, most of the comedy shows lined up during prime-time bands on Zee Cafe, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory, Cougar Town, Californication et al all bear witness to it.”