Ideally there should be an optimal mix of news based and entertainment programs that would be of interest to viewers belonging to different walks of life and age-groups. Unfortunately, the Punjabi TV programming is lopsided. True, some channels telecast news and talk as well as road shows but almost all of them revel in popular music. And, one of the indispensable ingredients is religious music for which slots are reserved in mornings and evenings. One thought no new channel would venture into this territory, but was wrong. Divya, a brand new channel wholly dedicated to mystic music has come up in February. So, one can now nurture one’s soul by listening to shabads, kirtans, bhajans, bhents and similar compositions 24X7. Such is the channel’s dedication to pious renderings that only VCDs and DVDs with spiritual content are allowed to air promos. Well, obviously the saturation point has still not been reached as far as this genre is concerned. Occasionally one might come across something different on the small screen but it is impossible to recall anything worthwhile barring Mukesh Gautam’s Sajda telecast ages ago on Zee Punjabi. Then, a few years back, on the same channel’s Parat Dar Parat show one had viewed a very interesting documentary on Gurudwaras in Pakistan.
Song and dance shows predominate the ETC telecast. Only a few of these are worth hearing/viewing. Viewers and reviewers can keep whingeing till the cows come home but the head honchos of various Punjabi channels wouldn’t budge from the hackneyed formula of music and more music. One feels sad and desperate when one looks at the rich Punjabi heritage and literature waiting to be tapped for quality mass entertainment. How many historical movies/TV shows on the sacrifice of Hakeekat Rai or the rise and fall of the likes of Banda Bahadur and Maharaja Ranjit Singh have been produced so far?
Is it really too much to expect biopics, docudramas and serials based on the lives and works of such poets of universal appeal as Bhai Vir Singh, Shiv Batalvi, Dhani Ram Chatrik, Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh, Balwant Bawa, Preetam Singh Safeer, Avtar Singh Azad, Prabhjot Kaur etc.? it should also be mentioned here that in the sphere of drama, novel and short story, the path blazed by the likes of I.C. Nanda, Nanak Singh and Gurbax Singh has not been forsaken, but trodden by such talented writers as Balwant Gargi, Sheela Bhatia, Gurdial Singh Khosla, Harcharan Singh, Sant Singh Sekhon, Kartar Singh Duggal, Kulwant Singh, Navtej and a host of others. There is a regular spate of literary output of merit from old and new litterateurs even today. Even in the sphere of Hindi literature, Punjabi writers like Yashpal, Upinder Nath Ashk, Pt. Sudarshan, Mohan Rakesh, Dev Raj Dinesh, Charanjit, Chandergupt Vidyalankar, Rajiv Pannikar etc have made notable contributions. Perhaps their works could be translated and adapted for Punjabi productions.
Clearly there is no dearth of source material for television productions. If only the channels/production houses would digress from the cheap and easy path leading to quick bucks and mass boredom. Will Punjabi television ever witness the kind of renaissance that would catapult it into the category of genuine, quality entertainers?
THE TRIBUNE Punjabi antenna
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