Telly Shows

There has been a heavy dose of television viewing happening the past few weeks, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Most of it is Indian telly, and all those who want to snigger, can now stop reading further. There are two shows that I want to talk about, though for completely varied reasons. The first I am really liking, but then every new show is likable, and then just starts treading on the well beaten path and gets boring isn't it?

12/24 Karol Bagh is a new show on Zee TV, and I am following it quite ardently for now. Its about a middle-class, Punjabi business family from West Delhi, and the authenticity of the show is what I am really enjoying for now. The sets, and the characters are very real. I had friends from similar backgrounds back in the days I was in Delhi, and I can actually replace the characters and sets with them, their family, their homes. It is just amazing to see how well, they have recreated the scenario. Most of the actors are doing a great job in maintaining the authenticity, and doing justice to their roles. I feel like I am in Delhi, at a friend's place while watching the show. The story is about a family with four grown up kids, three daughter, and their parents. The hunt is on for a groom for the eldest daughter, who is a bit plump,the trials she is going through to find a match while getting older by the day, the son, who loves a girl from a rich family, the second daughter, who is the perfect pretty bimbo, and the youngest one, who is smart and perceives what others don't.The cake though must go to the current villain of the show, who is the fiance of the eldest daughter of the family. And he is enacting his part too perfectly to be expressed in words. The over smart guy, the habitual liar, the one who lacks manners, etiquette's and sensitivity of any kind, who has different personalities in the presence of his mother and otherwise. He is the kind of creep one would love to hate, and the guy playing the role is enacting it just perfectly. I will definitelycringe if I see him on the street, that is how well he is doing it. Oh! And did I mention the absolutely perfect dilliwaali Hindi (aaiyyo, jaaiyyo, khaaiyyo) ages since I heard or said it. Please catch an episode of this show if you can, it is one of the better ones on Indian television for now. And if the makers of the show ever read this, please stop showing all the yummy snacks from Bengali Market, it is making me drool. And my favourite on the show is the youngest daughter, Mili. She is the kind of girl I love, smart, brave and full of spunk! A question I have though is, what would a parent do, if sacrificing the happiness of one child, meant happiness for the other children?

The second, and absolutely nauseating show, that will soon hit the telly is a reality show called Pati Patni Aur Woh. Telly couples have been selected to babysit kids. What is the purpose of the show, I have no idea, but the very advertisements are disgusting me. It is full of the couples with howling babies, who they try to pacify, while the baby continues to howl. First up, a couple of my choicest abuses to the parents who have given their children to this show. This is like the way animals are captured and made to perform in the circus. Parents are doing this to their own kids? Why? The participating celebrity couples need to be socked, for their stupidity, one of the couples actually screams back at the howling child. have people become insensitive enough to watch this happening in the name of a reality show? Cherry on the icing? One of the participating celebrities is Gaurav Chopra, the man who almost ran over a blogger's son last year, and he is trying to take care of a teeny weeny baby, is it a surprise then, that the baby is howling in that case? How mindless, and disturbing can television get?