Television in India

To start this post, I must make a confession. I don’t own a television and I don’t watch any TV.

Taking some time off and visiting my parents is the only time I get to watch any TV. I do watch American TV series online though. When watching indian television, I find that there is an aching lack of anything good on TV.

Let’s take a look at what’s on TV. There are news channels, and lots of them, whose only job is sensationalising anything which could be remotely called news. One always needs to decrease the volume when switching to a news channel.

Second there are soap operas. Frankly speaking these should be banned. These are a disgrace to humans. They just show scheming and hateful people. These are more removed from reality than 90s Bollywood movies. These just show how a mother-in-law tortures their sons’ wives and in some cases bitter rivalry among family members. This is degrading to the quality of life - what is the meaning of family if there are rivalries and schemes over who said what all day long. I believe these kind of soap operas are bad for the outlook of people and is detrimental to the nation.

There was a time when there were good TV series - Office Office, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. Where are the makers of quality soap operas? Or have the Indian audience lost all taste and want to see the same things over and over again for generations to come.

Bollywood, in the recent years, has matured and we have seen sensible movies. I hope sensible makers start making TV content and people accept them.