Cover Story

Honey, We Shrunk
The Big Screen
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Mega-bucks, big stars, reality TV, live shows...SHAILAJA BAJPAI makes sense of the great churning on the small screen

Suppose Govinda were to offer you ten times more than Amitabh Bachchan? Would that inverse the logic of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan? Alternatively, what if Shah Rukh Mohabattein Khan takes on the Big B? Or, in a major break with her past, Rekha throws herself against (not at!) Amitji? Would we then see Jaya try her luck on the small screen in a TV replay of Silsila? Wow!

Overnight, film actors are nursing a new ambition as television stars. TV is suddenly a twitter with the prospect of Bollywood stars in different types of roles. Under the influence of Kaun Banega Crorepati, Govinda, Shah Rukh and Co., could be just the beginning of an unprecedented onslaught.

The phenomenon is not entirely novel. Neena Gupta, Asha Parekh, Bindu, Bhagyashree, Aruna Irani, Vijayendra Ghatge, Kiran Kumar are some movie stars who adopted television as their new home — in front or behind the camera. The difference is that now we may see stars who are still celluloid pin-ups not take-downs.

For the first time, television shows are being specifically built around film stars. Previously, we saw stars perform during film award ceremonies or New Year TV programmes. The Lata Mangeshkar concerts on Sony, roughly two years ago, changed all that: the TV spectacle was born. So, if it is Govinda No. 1 on Star Plus, it will be Hrithik Roshan on Sony.

Television channels are also competing to show the latest movies: B4U, the new digital entertainment channel, epitomises this Bollywood mania: its brand equity rests on big stars in serials, chat shows and blockbuster movies.

So is big more beautiful on the small box? Yes, but not merely in terms of Bollywood. Admittedly, television is set to exploit Bollywood as it has never before. But there’s more to it. At one fell swoop, television has been irrevocably changed by the overwhelming success of you-know-what...Kaun Banega Crorepati (Star Plus). In the near future, you will enjoy (?!) a whole new line up of programmes which will be distinguished by a number of factors. ‘‘You will see the infusion of much more money in all genres,’’ expects Ambika Srivastav, Executive Director at the advertising agency, Universal McCann. ‘‘I think everyone has over-reacted in this mad scramble,’’ feels Raveena Raj Kohli, CEO Channel 9 Gold which is supplying prime time programming to DD2. ‘‘So you will see a lot more extravagant games shows, more prime time events — lots and lots of money.’’

‘‘We will have big spectacles, big budget programmes,’’ agrees Sameer Nair, Executive Director, Star TV, ‘‘There will be an emphasis on enhancing overall quality. TV is no longer thought of as a low B-grade medium.’’

We have seen the immediate future: big stars, big events, big drama productions, big movies and big sporting spectacles. Indeed, television as a spectacle has become the latest mantra. In the process, it is about to receive a long overdue facelift as TV channels invest huge amounts of money in all types of programmes in order to lure back the public. ‘‘I am delighted that at long last viewers are not being taken for granted,’’ adds Kohli.

Suddenly, there’s a buzz in the TV industry. Everyone is looking to either cash in on the KBC phenomenon with game shows of their own (Zee’s Rs. 10-crore one goes on air in October), or explore new frontiers. Informed guesswork says reality TV shows are already in the pipeline with Sony seriously considering the option.
So, this could be one of those defining moments. Are we on the threshold of a new era in television? Has good (or bad) old fashioned television with soaps, serials and sitcoms seen better days? ‘‘Serials and dramas will take a severe beating,’’ believes Sunil Mehta of Cinevista one of the largest software producers, ‘‘But this is a one-year fad. The industry is in turmoil.’’

There is another way of looking at it. At one level we appear to have come full circle. Bollywood has been the mainstay of Indian cable television since Zee began operations in 1992-1993. Films, film-based shows dominated programming schedules. As television producers and channels matured, the focus changed: serials, sitcoms and soaps began to succeed. Think of Tara, Banegi Apni Baat, Sailaab, Hasratein on Zee way back and more recently Amanat, Heena, Saans, Hum Paanch. Then Sony moved in with the musical shows like Boogie Woogie, real drama such as Bhanwar and the biggest draw of all, the big budget talk show — Movers and Shakers.

Thus, the second half of the 1990s saw prime time television dominated by a few TV genres: sitcoms, serials, musical contests, talk shows. Side by side, blockbuster films — Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Rangeela, etc. — remained very much part of the small picture. TV entertainment channels developed a two-faced strategy: show plenty of old Bollywood movies, premiere a few recent ones, telecast live events and simultaneously try to loosen Bollywood’s stranglehold. DD was the first to develop daily afternoon soaps like Swabhimaan, Shanti, Aurat and others.

Zee beefed up its afternoons with an exclusive drama show belt and Sony introduced the concept of Weekend TV which saw all its top prime time shows repeated on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

By the beginning of 2000, television appeared to be forging an identity of its own, a separate one from Bollywood. Productions values were low ‘‘the Juhu bungalow with 17 serials,’’ as Nair calls it, the content, especially in sitcoms, often, well...laughable. But it was television, and not a small showcase for the big screen.
Along came Amitabh Bachchan, spoilsport. In the course of two weeks, he overset the best laid plans of mice and men and brought Bollywood back to the forefront of television. A caveat: Kaun Banega Crorepati would have been successful without Bachchan. The original programme, hosted by radio and TV talk show hosts, has been an unprecedented success across the globe and there is no reason to think Indians are very different from other human beings. However, Bachchan’s presence has lent it an aura, a charm, which the simple pleasure of winning easy money may otherwise have lacked.

Crorepati’s already singular and famous success — reaching almost a 50 per cent market share in the 9-10pm viewing in the 30-odd million cable and satellite homes across the country — has completely overset all calculations. ‘‘Amitabh Bachchan has legitimised TV. No longer will only has-beens Bollywood stars appear on it,’’ says Nair.
As Zee and Sony try to reclaim lost ground through a series of money-making-breaking contest shows, spectacles hosted by big stars and film premieres, Bollywood seems to have reclaimed Tellywood. Not quite, not entirely. Channel 9’s input for DD2 is a mixture of sitcoms, dramas and game shows. ‘‘A lot of these big budget contests will close down,’’ is Kohli’s present verdict.

She thinks serials will remain the staple of television. ‘‘Television will never become totally impersonal,’’ she concludes. Others agree: ‘‘Indians thrive on melodrama,’’ feels Universal Mc Cann’s Srivastava. ‘‘So there is no question of serials fading out.’’

Perhaps then, KBC will leave television bigger and better than it found it.

Kaun Banega TV Star?

Call it what you will (‘Following the Superstar’ is what we think), but, inspired by Amitabh Bachchan’s success with Kaun Banega Crorepati, an increasing number of film stars are consenting to make television appearances on a regular basis, a move that, until now, was considered suicidal by the entertainment industry. Here’s a line-up of TV’s new star cast:

Shah Rukh Khan: The Khan, who made his acting debut on the small screen’s Fauji, is turning full circle with B4U. Though there are no details yet on what exactly he’s doing for the channel, B4U partner and biggie film financier Bharat Shah reveals that Khan will be seen often on several entertainment shows. ‘‘Instead of harming his career, TV will only help him reach out to larger audiences,’’ Shah insists. And why not, considering Khan’s superhero status in filmdom is suddenly appearing a bit shaky.
u Dreamz Unlimited: The two-star, one-director venture, Dreamz Unlimited (Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza) will — in between working out logistics for Ashoka the Great — be producing television software for B4U.

Rekha: Ageing femme fatale, whose desperate celluloid comebacks (Mother, Bulandi) haven’t quite clicked at the box office, is reportedly beginning a new silsila with TV. No one’s willing to say what channel, but we hope it’s not positioned as competition to KBC.
u Zeenat Aman: Yesteryear’s beauty queen, who last made headlines for all sorts of reasons, will now host the Zeenat Show on B4U, where she interviews stars about their careers, aspirations and fears. With Simi Garewal’s Rendezvous coming back on air on Star Plus, there’s bound to be some stiff competition for eyeballs.

Rajesh Khanna: After a film career that ended decades ago, and an uneven courtship with politics, Khanna — who has committed to feature in at least three serials, and has already begun work on one — is now hitting the small screen. ‘‘It makes more sense to do work on TV rather than sit idle at home,’’ he says.

Govinda: The jhatka king, who is losing the laughs after a string of flops, recently confessed he was considering an offer from Zee TV to do something regular for the channel. ‘‘I am verbally committed to doing an interactive show for the channel, but the details are still being worked out,’’ the actor said in a trade magazine last week.

Pooja Bhatt: Forever looking to do something different, this actress-producer was one of the first to make an appearance on the small screen, with the teleserial Dhund for Star Plus. Bhatt, who’s producing several shows for TV, is enjoying her stint: ‘‘The medium is irrelevant if the content is top-class,’’ she says.

— Rajeev Masand