NEW DELHI: Reality telly is all very well, but what’s really grabbing eyeballs is real, hard ‘news’ in daily soaps. Increasingly , entertainment channels are taking a leaf out of news events to show in their serials. There’s the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case; brave housewife Sarjana Singh’s efforts to rescue her husband kidnapped by Chambal’s dacoits; Haryana’a honour killings — all bold, new and eerily real plots.
“Kaali: Ek Agnipareeksha” on Star Plus is the story of a budding badminton player Rachna (read Ruchika Girhotra). Rachna, similar to Ruchika, is sexually harassed by a powerful man (read former Haryana Inspector General of Police S P S Rathore). Shaken by the incident Rachna goes into depression and gets the will to fight for justice only with family support. That’s where the story turns from real life. Young Girhotra had ended her life.
Channel authorities are reluctant to acknowledge the similarity between the show and the Girhotra case, but concede that viewers find ‘meaning’ in the situations shown. “These shows connect to the viewers’ reality and we, as storytellers, are affected by that reality,” says Gaurav Banerjee of Star India.
“Incidents of sexual harassment and molestation are everyday occurrences in India. The menace of extra-constitutional powerbrokers is an unfortunate part of our reality and hence this story,” he adds.
Similarly, barely a month after the actual event, Sony Entertainment’s “Crime Patrol” aired the episode of a housewife’s endeavour to rescue her husband from Chambal dacoits . The episode was telecast on September 24, 2010, just a month after Ajeet Singh, a professor in a government college in Haldwani was kidnapped by the dacoits of Bheema Gang on August 6, 2010.
The show, says Danish Khan of Sony Entertainment Television , drew such a response that regional news channels swung into action to follow up. “Of late, television’s taken a lot from real life because recall value of real cases is high among viewers. The Sarjana episode increased viewership by 15 to 20%,” says Khan.
Other general entertainment channels too are coming up with shows on real incidents . A forthcoming show on Colors, “Rishto Se Badi Pratha” , will deal with honour killings . “These issues need to be dealt with a lot of maturity . We pay a lot of attention on how we present something that draws inspiration from real life; sensationalism can get one only short-term gains. It’s crucial to showcase the issue with the right perspective ,” says Ashvini Yardi, programming head, Colors.
A couple of years ago, longrunning serials had started incorporating real-life incidents, capturing news stories in single episodes. For instance, “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki” on Star Plus had also reconstructed the infamous Arushi Talwar murder case. Says Banerjee, “We have repositioned the channel to reflect ‘nayi soch’ and for us, this means that our characters will not just be mute spectators but will take a stand.”
This trend for alluding to real-world events on entertainment channels extends from the success of reality, say observers . “There’s audience appetite to consume reality in different forms. But when one deals with real incidents with tragic endings such as the Ruchika case or honour killings , there’s a need to be sensitive in the portrayal,” says columnist Santosh Desai. A channel’s sensitivity to viewers’ concerns is rare, he adds, and families involved in such tragedies tend to get exploited. “Liberties with truth should be avoided while portraying it as a television serial,” he cautions.
Academician Sudhish Pachauri finds that alluding to true incidents in TV soaps may be more frequent nowadays but is not new. “Shows inspired from real incidents existed even 25 years ago such as Kamleshwar’s ‘Band File’ on Doordarshan , which were mostly cases from police files,” he says.
“Kaali: Ek Agnipareeksha” on Star Plus is the story of a budding badminton player Rachna (read Ruchika Girhotra). Rachna, similar to Ruchika, is sexually harassed by a powerful man (read former Haryana Inspector General of Police S P S Rathore). Shaken by the incident Rachna goes into depression and gets the will to fight for justice only with family support. That’s where the story turns from real life. Young Girhotra had ended her life.
Channel authorities are reluctant to acknowledge the similarity between the show and the Girhotra case, but concede that viewers find ‘meaning’ in the situations shown. “These shows connect to the viewers’ reality and we, as storytellers, are affected by that reality,” says Gaurav Banerjee of Star India.
“Incidents of sexual harassment and molestation are everyday occurrences in India. The menace of extra-constitutional powerbrokers is an unfortunate part of our reality and hence this story,” he adds.
Similarly, barely a month after the actual event, Sony Entertainment’s “Crime Patrol” aired the episode of a housewife’s endeavour to rescue her husband from Chambal dacoits . The episode was telecast on September 24, 2010, just a month after Ajeet Singh, a professor in a government college in Haldwani was kidnapped by the dacoits of Bheema Gang on August 6, 2010.
The show, says Danish Khan of Sony Entertainment Television , drew such a response that regional news channels swung into action to follow up. “Of late, television’s taken a lot from real life because recall value of real cases is high among viewers. The Sarjana episode increased viewership by 15 to 20%,” says Khan.
Other general entertainment channels too are coming up with shows on real incidents . A forthcoming show on Colors, “Rishto Se Badi Pratha” , will deal with honour killings . “These issues need to be dealt with a lot of maturity . We pay a lot of attention on how we present something that draws inspiration from real life; sensationalism can get one only short-term gains. It’s crucial to showcase the issue with the right perspective ,” says Ashvini Yardi, programming head, Colors.
A couple of years ago, longrunning serials had started incorporating real-life incidents, capturing news stories in single episodes. For instance, “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki” on Star Plus had also reconstructed the infamous Arushi Talwar murder case. Says Banerjee, “We have repositioned the channel to reflect ‘nayi soch’ and for us, this means that our characters will not just be mute spectators but will take a stand.”
This trend for alluding to real-world events on entertainment channels extends from the success of reality, say observers . “There’s audience appetite to consume reality in different forms. But when one deals with real incidents with tragic endings such as the Ruchika case or honour killings , there’s a need to be sensitive in the portrayal,” says columnist Santosh Desai. A channel’s sensitivity to viewers’ concerns is rare, he adds, and families involved in such tragedies tend to get exploited. “Liberties with truth should be avoided while portraying it as a television serial,” he cautions.
Academician Sudhish Pachauri finds that alluding to true incidents in TV soaps may be more frequent nowadays but is not new. “Shows inspired from real incidents existed even 25 years ago such as Kamleshwar’s ‘Band File’ on Doordarshan , which were mostly cases from police files,” he says.
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