Comedy was and will remain the primary motive (TB6 has been off the coaxial-cable for quite some time now) behind my occasional presence before a box infamous for producing more idiots than the big bad country far away.
Yesterday (my troubles didn’t seem far away), I chanced upon yet another inspired indigenous imitation of a money-minting television show. Lo Kal Lo Baat on SAB TV has more than a striking resemblance with the ‘stand-up comedy and game show’ hybrid Whose Line is it Anyway? Though SAB TV prefers the adjective ‘improvisation comedy.’
Saurabh Shukla steps into Drew Carey’s shoes, which appear to be a size or two bigger (their waist sizes might match). The show’s so-so and the vibrant spontaneous humour of the original couldn’t be replicated.
Shekhar Suman tickled late night Indian television with Movers n Shakers in a manner not much deviating from the style of Jay Leno (with a pinch of Conan O’Brien). Anupam Kher’s attempted to find out whether Indian kids also say the darndest things as they do in the US of A. His childishly titled show Say Na Something to Anupam Uncle drove both adults and kids away.
A television generation ago there was Zaban Sambhal Ke which translates into ‘Mind Your Language’. I don’t want this post to turn into a directory of ‘Inspired Indian Shows.’ But the directory – if there exists one – would be voluminous.
A few are ‘authorised’ versions exist like KBC and Indian Idol (though not exactly from the comedy genre, the latter does come close) else most remain cheap imitations.
Our movies have been doing this for ages, our television is a mere reflection of the silver screen, research scholars do it, our newspapers are doing it … getting INSPIRED.
Waiting for a future post titled – ‘India Inspires’ (not anything to do with spirituality or yoga).
P.S. The term ‘plagiarism’ is too offensive for our native sensibilities, we prefer the more politically correct terminology – ‘inspiration.’
nice to find a post not about shillong…….that was getting monotonous.
so true, this inspiration thing is getting onto my nerves, where is the thing called creativity?
When you are living in a country with an “inspired ” opreating system, name it “Democracy” (that sounds ‘Damn-O-Crazy’at times), how can you expect the sources of ammusement to be away from inspirations?
Oh my God! What have you done, Soumyadip? *eye roll* Written one whole post on ‘inspiration’ and did not even mention the name of Anu Malik!!Okay, maybe you didn’t because is not a part of the television industry.
What about the “Great Indian Laughter Challenge” and the “Great Indian Comedy Show”? Both come on STAR ONE. The “Great Indian Comedy Show” has Shekhar Suman as the anchor who takes pot-shots at Neta log, actor log and general celebrity log, while the rest of the cast spoofs current events. “Great Indian Laughter Challenge” is where ‘comic talent’ from all over India perform before the two judges Suman and Siddhu whose standard reaction to all gigs are “Kya baat hai!” PS: sorry for deleting comment: spelling mistake!
Why isn’t anyone thinking about a re-make of the original classic game show The Crystal Maze? It was awesome… And the baldy, quite hot really! And remember Tray on Channel [V]… or was it Mtv??
<>Dwaipayan,<> Shillong deserved a break<>Gypsy,<> ‘creativity,’ what’s that? Here creativity and originality do not supplement each other<>Aklanta,<> the Indian civilization is very adaptive and assimilative. So is our political system – the <>lathi and bhains<> damn-o-crazy.<>Rita,<> how can I dare to take the name of the great guru of inspiration – that would be blasphemous. Only the great guru can come up with a bilingual simultaneously translated song like “Dekho baarish ho rahi hain, it’s raining, it’s raining. Mera dil ro raha hain, my heart’s paining, it’s paining …” This I believe is an original.<>AFJ,<> I want to start a crusade against the original turbanator<>Shivangi,<> good idea, here comes my debut television show