Antics of Ekta Kapoor

I remember Hum Paanch and Itihaas. While the former was a family comedy, the latter was what Ekta Kapoor has specialised in - drama. Both were innocent. The characters did not have a 'look' defined to them. They were characters because of the script and the actors playing them.

What Ekta Kapoor comes up with now, is not even drama. It is a 'cinematically embellished melodramatically-packed commercial product'. It's a product and she's selling it.

Every ten episodes have atleast one divorce, one death and yes.. one emergence from death. Post Ekta Kapoor serials, I have ceased to believe that people die. They come back - ten years later perhaps, with a new hairdo maybe. But they come back. There is nothing like death anymore in the world.

And there are actors in these serials- who are on steroids and look like balloons - gloated! With the deadpan expressions on their faces, they mouth dialogues that look so straight-out-of-life. *sarcasm* For example, "Meri zindagi ke darmiyaan guzri hui ranjishon ka tufaan.." Now that's so-a-line I would say in my day-to-day life, huh...!! Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi wasted time acting! All you need is wear revealing shirts (irrespective of gender these days!) and stand.

The serials are stretched in either or more than one of the following ways:

1. Generation leap: The illlegitimate child (with all that adultery in the serials, we have them in dozens) has grown up and become a spoilt brat. The women, often the protagonists, haven't aged.

2. Love triangles: She gets a new boyfriend. You show them coochie-cooing (with Tushar Kapoor songs in the background - the only place where his songs play) for ten episodes. And then the boyfriend disappears. Only to call it a "cameo" in an interview on one of the other channels.

3. Having ''season-special" episodes: Another antic used is having characters playing 'antakshari'. Everything in these 'season-special' episodes is so scripted! And so fake!

4. Unique 'look's to each character: All I feel like screaming to those actors in Ekta Kapoor serials is - "Where the hell is substance?" I don't care that you don a pierced brow in a serial if you can't mouth a single dialogue properly!!

My engineering self would mention something that is called a 'technology acceptance bell curve'. When a technology reaches its peak, it begins to fall - only to rise again after a trough. My philosophical self would mention the often-used line "There's spring after every autumn". (Pun intended. Kindly refer to an older blogpost - My Autumn.) We are at the trough currently.

By that, I mean the television scene in India has reached an all-time low. With some exceptions. However, to each one his own, I would respect a counter-opinion on this one.