Short of laughs...

The face of Indian Television has undergone a significant change over the past few decades. We, the viewers, have been subjected to the "K" phase, the reality outbreak and the breaking news plague. Over the years, various domestic concepts as well as international formats got moulded into the Indian scenario. We have seen everything from the betis to the mothers to the mothers being exchanged :P However, despite so much experimentation, there is still that one void, especially in comparison to the American and other international telly zones. Where is the regular dose of rib cracking humor? You know, the kind of humor that you can call intelligent, witty, sarcastic... the kind where things are not funny simply because someone can't stop stammering or a fat dhoti clad businessman slips on a banana peel?!

When I think of quality humor on television, various shows come to my mind, only that most of them lead to the mental transcending of borders. Every episode of shows like F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Two and a Half Men, Yes Minister etc, ensures twenty awesomely funny minutes. I can't help but wonder how amazing it'd be if we had some kind of Indian parallel; because come on, it'd be so much funnier and easier to relate to if the cultural context was more oriental. Sure, a lot of the kind of humor we're talking about here would fall flat in a language like Hindi due to the oh so famous "lost in translation" syndrome. However, I'm sure the Indian context will open up a lot more possibilities of humor that suits our social conditioning (obvious, in-your-face done-to-death comedy excluded please!) I do remember some nice comic soaps like "Zabaan Smbhalke" being on air while I was a little kid but now, nothing really. By the way, Pankaj Kapoor is the ultimate :)

Anyhow, it's quite clear what I wish to convey. Although I am skeptical if wry kind of doses of wit would work with the masses in this part of the world, no harm being optimistic given that mentalities and sensibilities are slowly but surely changing (more often for the better, if I may add). So here's hoping that in the years to come, the Indian television arena would boast of some genuinely spine tickling, out of the (cliched humor) box quality comic shows. Let's hope we can have our own funny guys who can match the standards set by the super sarcastic Chandler or the uber awesome Barney a few years down the line. Cheers to the fulfillment of the void yet untreated.