Why Indian TV shows suck
All of us (and by that I mean most people under the age of 50 and quite a few over) complain that the state of Indian television is beyond reprehensible. I recently came across a statistic that actually mostly explains the reason for this.
Indian TV shows are generally made for no money at all. The various primetime shows or ‘saas-bahu’ serials as we know them are made for anywhere between 3 and 5 lacs (about $6,000 – $10,000) per episode and are bought by channels at prices that are more linked to kickbacks and relationships than to quality.
This in itself is not surprising. Indian media is generally pretty cheap. Even film budgets in India are nothing compared to the west. But the difference in the TV costs are so stark that one begins to get the idea about the lack of quality in India.
The biggest and most visible example in all of this cost cutting is the writing. A standard TV writer in India gets paid Rs. 15,000 per shift (of about 8 hours). That is about $300! Yes. $300 for 8 hours of writing (in which the poor chap is supposed to deliver at least an episode if not more than one). Can you imagine if a writer in the US was offered $300 for an episode? The plots on Grey’s Anatomy would definitely suck a lot!
Writers in India get paid absolutely nothing. While TV is the worst, even film writers in comparison get a pretty raw deal. A top notch film director in India can make close to $1 million (about Rs. 4 – 5 crores) for a big film. Some rare ones get even more. Even a relatively new director with some decent work can get $200 – $300k. A top notch writer in the Indian film industry will be paid MAYBE a $100k. Most get paid a fraction of that.
Top western shows get made for millions per episode. In terms of technical and mostly even creative quality, they are indistinguishable from film.
India has a long way to go on this front yet.
My dreams of ever seeing an Indian version of 24, West Wing, The Practice, The X Files…..etc are over.
As long as we have dumb masses clinging to those dumb soaps, there is no ray of hope. Plus i don’t think indian writers are talented enough so as to write any sophisticated plots. And yameer indians are happy with their own ‘X-files’ a.k.a. C.I.D.
sigh..
what sucks even more that we cant even buy tv shows in here , yeah sure i can download them off itunes but considering the very slow of internet that seems like such a hassle , now any store like planet-m ? are selling them.
you can also watch them online but them again , internet sucks here, which you obviously know i suppose.