KILLER K's

The small screen show biz of India has grown up, it has grown up beyond its own age and has outmatched the levels of maturity of an average adult.It all began with so far as I can recall back from serials of like 'Junoon' . Broadcasted on all but one weekday, it gave the indian audience an intial taste of the so called 'soaps' of the future. Other productions jumped in looking for their market share in the potential profits still obscured at that time.

That gave birth to the beta versions of the 'soaps' in the form of 'Shanti' and 'Swabhimaan' , the two eternal soaps, which would not have ended had the directors themselves not got bored of directing the same faces continously for more than half the decade. These two serials were in many ways quite significant for taking Indian small screen to this new height of insensibility at which we see it today.

For first they prepared the whole cult of 'soap' lovers , trained the audience to bear the pain of watching same faces , same time , same channel everyday , forced them to loose their common sense to question the irrationalities and inchoherencies which they would encounter frequently while watching such kinds of 'soaps' and above all they proved their worth by generating easy money thereby luring those high flying vultures of big screen to come down and eat their share of flesh. Thus came the run-of-the-mill - The 'K' series and alongwith came the downfall of the already unstable and poorly handled small screen.

Contrary to most of the coveted and fascinated lovers of these soap operas , I dont find a single reason to watch them, except for the inevtability of catching a glimpse of them, while scanning the whole series of hopeless channels which my cable operator provides, in exchange of 250 bucks a month. Unknown said "The human race is faced with a cruel choice: work or daytime television." and I have the whole deluge of reasons which make these serials worthy of being despised to an extent of getting tagged as a 'cruel choice'.

Starting with the most strong and most precise way to qualify these 'K' serials - 'Social Poisons'. Yes that's what they are, and I dont need to justify it at all. For those who are on my side, need not be explained, and those who aren't , cannot be explained. These seemingly entertaining and harmless programmes, full of emotional drama, have one purpose for all - to sell crap !! Their storylines revolve incessantly around some fixed issues such as extra marital affairs, illicit children, perpetual business rivalries, family imbroglios, and the most central to all of them - love triangles, quadrangles and if the writers were a little bit more keen towards mathematics , wouldn't have minded introducing even a fifth angle to prove their mettle.

Another important feature of these stories is their inertia. In absence of any external incentives to change, the stories tend to simply ignore the aspect of time. Saurabh told me once that he and gupta could manage to consolidate the in between happenings of these serials when they went home during mid breaks and saw the serial after a break of almost 2-3 months. That proves it.

Today we have the whole bloodline of such 'soaps' originating from this 'K' series . I wont oblige those by referencing there names here, but the fact that people have become so addicted to these poisons in various packings that they tend to overlook their ill effects , is a food for thought for everyone. There are still others trying to get some space in the claustrophobic environment among 'K's, who aim to cash on the already perturbed and delusioned minds of these 'soap' watchers by providing relaxed,humourous, and a healthy time pass. The likes of - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Comedy Show , KBC, Supersale , Sarabhai vs Sarabhai ( nd others) belong to this new league.

I cannot but resent these soaps and pity those who religiously follow and make them a point of discussion in their usual gossips. I sympathize with those who still havent realized that these serials are playing with their emotions and even charging them for that. I feel for those who have already been addicted to it, and find no recourse in form of a rehabilitation center to get rid of that addiction. But I am happy that I am not alone in this war, there are others, and still many others .

And I am happy also because "I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don't understand."