Television has been the heart and soul of the Indian audience. No doubt the movies ruled the entertainment industry but they didn’t connect to people as much as television and its shows did. Since the 90s, television has covered a wide audience that movies could never do. Of course, the reason being it was more family-friendly and was available 24/7 if you have a tv at your home. But that wasn’t enough to make it the heart and soul of television. Every housewife who rushed into the kitchen so that she wouldn’t miss her favorite TV serials during dinner every child who came early from school to watch TV or every man who sat in front of the TV coming home from the office would know why television is the heart and soul of India.
Television has created a rich cultural diversity in India with watch options for every dialect. There’s so much more to television shows than just acting. It has given us some of the greatest actors in Bollywood too. Beginning with Shahrukh Khan who first worked in a television show called “Fauji”. Actors like Ram Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Mrunal Thakur, Late. Irfan Khan and Radhika Madan, they were TV actors in their early careers and now they are celebrated as one of the best film actors. If you begin talking about television there is no way the shows the epic shows can’t be mentioned.
It would be very disrespectful if I didn’t mention the grandeur of Ramayan which premiered in the 90s. This show carried the burden of representing our country’s rich cultural diversity. We still mention Ramayan and Mahabharat when we talk about Television’s greatness. Contemporary shows like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, KumKum Bhagya, Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and Kasauti Zindagi Ki are all the mirror to ever-evolving dynamics of Indian society and a source of easily accessible entertainment too. There might have been a pivotal shift to OTT platforms from Television today but it will never match the era of television. Earlier television was a medium that brought the whole family together at least once throughout the day. Reality television like BigBoss and Dance India Dance gained immense popularity in Indian households and till this date, people eagerly wait for the Weekend Ka Vaar episodes. There will be never enough content to write about the greatness of television. On this television day let’s hope we get the craze back in our hearts about television.
