I got so used to watching Tamil serials as it’s readily available on Dish Network and you don’t go through the pain of downloading movies or renting a DVD from store. You will be surprised that you get hocked up to these serials easily. All TV channels have a similar formula. The serials start at 10 AM which primarily caters to people sitting at house and old people. It runs till 2 PM and then a useless 1980’s movie. Then couple of kids cartoons and then again the Prime time serials start some where around 6 PM and ends at 12 PM. Typically there are about 12 Hours of serials that are telecasted by various TV channels. There is no way anyone can miss them some part of the day.
They all follow a similar pattern and so called as Mega serials are eating not only our time but also our patience as well. For years together RAADAN run by Radhika. Her serials are like Tonic to TB Patient or Saridon for Head ache. People run to Television
to watch Chellame
which is supposed to start at 10 normally starts at 10:30 in the
night and runs till 11:15 Indian standard time. Hats off to
Radhika who knows the pulse of Tamil people watching the serials.
All her serials follow the same pattern. A strong female who goes
behind those who tries to push her down. She has a set of jokers
around in her serials who are acting from 1995 till today. A soft
spoken dad, a villain family and a useless husband are all part
of her serials. People even forget earth quake that happened in
Chennai to watch her on TV.I am not sure how people watch so many serials and keep track of them. There are serials which run for 10 years like Amblimama story in Dina Tandi and people still watch them with out any guilt. Radhika is very smart when it comes to making serials. If she has a feel that people are getting bored she is smart enough to end that serial and start another one with a different name with a slight twist to the story. People don’t care. All that they want is a different name to the same story. It used to be Chithi then Annamalai then Selvi and now it’s Chellame. All the story will have one thing in common. A husband cheating a wife and after 300 episodes the wife will come to know about that and another 300 episodes will go in such a way that Radhika gets into the problem and resolves it. After 600 Episodes people get bored and she will change the title of the drama from Selvi to Chellame. It’s a nice way of entertaining and manipulating the poor audience who stays till 11 in the night to see what happens. I would recommend changing the timing of these serials to 8 PM so that people can sleep in peace.
One such serial which ran for ever was KOLANGAL. My god it was running for ever that Devayani become old and could not handle it. She even gave birth to 2 children by the time the serial got over. Both the kids are now studying +2 and 10 the standard by the time the serial got over. A fight between 2 step children’s and various other characters gets introduced in the middle like Deepa Venkat, Adi etc etc. It was a great time pass to watch that KOLANGAL serial. I am a big fan of Devayani in that drama. The best part of all the serials is in real life when they have to take a break they will hide the heroine or some one will take her and hide her for 6 months or she will go to jail. The directors are very smart in doing it and we jokers will be watching it as if the incident happened in our family or one of our family members is sitting in jail or some thing of that sort.
If you think about people who are watching the serials there are wide variety of audience right from my 6 year old daughter till 90 year old everyone are glued to those serials. They cater to Auto guy, Software engineers, Scientist and the single output they get from it is Name and Fame. Even though everyone cries about the length of the serials and the number of episodes I have witnessed that 50% of the population are indirectly addicted to it. Especially the surprise they give on Friday is just amazing. They will end in a note that you keep wondering why Saturday and Sunday is coming. The directors are so smart and they think that they are directing some Harry Potter movie that people get glued to their story.
Thanks to who ever invented DVR? You can record all the serials and watch all the episodes in one stretch by fast forwarding all the Ads. If you go to Canada Its even worst. There are video shops which record all the episodes and trim all the Ads and have a video library of all the serials that got released so far. The number of man hours wasted in this process is simply amazing.
I have seen so many retired people who visit us here in the USA who are very through of which serials comes in what TV and what is going to happen next. Sometimes our parents do not like to come and stay with us because they are missing serials in RAJ TV and KALAINJAR TV which is not getting relayed in USA. So indirectly these guys are having a big effect on the mind of our elderly people. They even have an effect that they want to go back to India and watch those serials. We have to suffer dropping the kids in daycare and driving in snow because of these TV serials. Also the way our parents change channels is simply amazing. When an Ad comes they are very pro active in changing the channels that I have to change AAA battery every 15 days. I don’t know how the TV people co-ordinate. In One TV if the serial ends and ad comes there is always some other TV where the serial just starts. So they juggle on two serials and multitask at the same time that even Microsoft Windows cannot do that.
One more thing is the humming that they give on these serials is simply amazing. When the Villain comes there will be a different humming and when the heroine comes there will be a different one. Most of the times I get confused between various serials as one guy who is a hero in one serial will act as a villain in another one. So you have to be pro-active and have a flow chart before you to understand what serial you are watching. I am sure the algorithm will be complex than constructing a bridge from Saidapet to Anna Nagar.
When it comes to Quality Vijay TV stands out. They come up with various good programs and talent shows and they concentrate less on serials. SUPER SINGER is a super show that anyone can enjoy as they bring out talent from people. I really enjoy Coffee
with ANU. Anuhasan is one of the most
popular and talented person I have seen so far when it comes to
TV Shows. She has that class which will attract any one and the
people she interviews are also up to the mark. I like NEYA NANNA
although GOPI get over excited most of the times. The debate
topics are really good though. I really like NAMMA VEETU KALYANAM
where they show the clippings of the celebrity marriages. The
comparer of the show talks fluent Tamil and an outstanding
presenter. She is No. 1 when it comes to presentation on TV.
VIJAY TV’s ADHU IDHU ETHU is another good one by Shiva
Karthikeyan. It’s funny and has a very different concept. I
also enjoy the comedy talent show. So definitely VIJAY TV takes
the step to bring out people talent and they are doing it for
years. SUPER SINGER JUNIOR was enjoyed by everyone around the
world which showed talents like ALKA, SREEKANTH etc. Mano is
outstanding in all the shows. He is really using Super singer to
come back again. Jodi No 1 started with a lot of applause but
slowed down a lot. I think all the Jodi’s who are dancing in
it are old now. I liked Yaar Adhutha Prabhu Deva. A bunch of
talented dancers trying to show their talent.Simbu’s interviews are simply annoying. He thinks that he is Tom Curise of Kollywood standing before BMW 3 series and giving high flying interviews talking about his heroines. He was saying in one interview that he wants a wife who will teach him. God who cares if he gets married or not. He is a biggest joker who can annoy everyone. Gosh save me. His dad’s T. Rajendar’s interviews are my favorite. The confidence he has is out of the world. Especially when he praises his son he goes way over and makes us fall on the floor. When he sings it’s the most unbelievable thing that you can experience. I really like Namitha’s interviews as well. She is one doll who is being well utilized by the TV industry. Any event day is not complete without NAMITHA’s interview. She hardly speaks Tamil and she will talk in such a way which is so funny. Poor Namitha. I think Namitha has fans from 18 to 88. Notice when you have Namitha’s interview next time. Our parents will be seriously watching it. Just notice next time.
The single most Joker when it comes to TV shows, Singing Competition, Super singer etc etc is Manika Vinayagam. I really don’t understand why he is wearing 10 Finger rings in 10 fingers and at least 2 KG of gold chains in his neck and sing like a joker. I am not sure what his background is but I think he is too much. One cannot forget his 9 Stone, 50 Gram Finger ring that he wears.
Then comes the Chennai 28 group. Venkat Prabhu and his friends. God I cannot tolerate those jokers. There is one guy who wears a Super man T-Shirt every time. I think his name is Ramji. I think he is son of Gangai Amaran. Even the original Hollywood Super man would have not worn super man t-shirt that many time. Looks like it’s his trade mark and he has a big beard with a hair style like Tarzan. Gosh that guy is too much. These guys act on TV as if they have produced movies like Titanic, Avatar and talk some weird stuff on TV. The best part is they will praise themselves when no one is ready to watch or listen to them. Every TV they will come for an interview as if he has achieved some major mile stone. Their movies are all flop and they are using TV time like anything which can be utilized for much better quality shows like SUPER SINGER. I have never seen a bearded Super man here at Hollywood. Super man and Beard do not go very well.
I like all the Cooking shows. They are all great. Even though there is a repeat of the nature of food its all good. I really like Sun TV’s Deal or No Deal. Rishi is cute in that program. Sangeeda Maha Yudham is good in SUN TV. But I don’t understand why the singers are wearing cooling glass when they sing songs. Cooling glass is something that one wears when there is hot sun out to protect your eyes from UV rays. I don’t think there are ultra violet rays in the studio. Especially that Sunita Sarathy in Sangeeth Maya Yudham is too much. NIJAM which gets aired late in the night is another good program. It’s a documentary of what’s happening in different parts of India.
LOLLU COMMENTS: