At the time of going to press, the excitement of current cricket IPL season is coming to a close. My favorites, the Mumbai Indians will be playing the final game vs the Chennai Super Kings in my favorite stadium, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. I am quite thrilled and totally predicting that Mumbai will bring home the cup this year.

Other than the IPL and the now tedious tu-tu-main-main of the Aam Aadmi Party (I really can’t discuss his cry-baby tantrums any more), not much else seems to be happening in telly-land. I don’t understand what’s going on – the buzz and the vibrant glow that once surrounded desi TV seems to be waning off for some odd reason. A string of new shows that had started in the recent past have all wrapped up and gone off air in under a month. TV stars who had become household names and icons in the own right have suddenly vanished and no new names are occupying this void since a long time. Film stars too, who at one point were making a beeline to get those ever-so-lucrative deals on TV, seems to be disappearing from the little screen slowly.

Is this current scenario because there’s suddenly much more work available on the silver screen and that’s the reason that the small screen is losing it’s sheen or itis because nothing stimulating is happening on TV otherwise that all are seeking greener pastures?

I strongly feel that if more attention is paid to TV content, if story lines and themes improve then all will get attracted to it like moths to a flame again. There’s only so much saas-bahu, song & dance reality shows and mind-numbing Bigg Boss stuff that we can stomach. Look at American Television for inspiration – from sidesplitting comedies to action packed dramas to awe inspiring sci-fi to amazing reality shows to terrific talk shows - they come up with something novel and something distinctly original practically every season. Even shows that carry on for 7-8 seasons constantly have a new theme, a new story line and a twist in the tale that keep us glued to our TV sets.

We truly need more persons with vision behind the scenes – they must get more creative, get inventive, think way out of the box and desi TV will shine beyond the stars. It’s time we shook up the industry and started afresh. The potential in limitless and all it takes is one or two great individuals to lead, I’m certain the chain-reaction will be explosive. Please send us or come to us any great ideas that you might have and we can certainly put you on to the right people that can convert your marvelous concepts into reality. We need to work together to make things happen fast, for all of our sakes.

On that hopeful note, it’s ta-ta for now. Have a lovely summertime. Enjoy your summer solstice (now International Yoga Day) and strike a pose wherever you are. Until next time, happy reading!

ANU RANJAN
Twitter Handle: @anuranjan1010
Email: gr8mag@gmail.com
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