It was gratifying to see  attempts   being made by channels, production houses,   the writers and directors to try think out of the box and attempt to divert plots from the saas-bahu and joint family sagas complete  with machinations and overdose of trials. The year that’s just ended has thrown up two prime time daily shows where the script fulcrum goes beyond family clutter —  Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara on Sony Entertainment Television and Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi on Zee TV. Both channels in the past have aired path breaking shows. Zee TV particularly gave Indian television viewers a seminal daily soap, in early1990s, Tara which revolved round four single working women staying independently in Mumbai.  Earlier, in the two seasons of Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha, the leads were Megha an older woman, a widow with two children and a young journalist Mohan, who do marry.

Writers and  production houses have infused content with new angles. The romance hasn’t been taken out of the plot – the boys are now also older men say fortyish like Ram Kapoor in Bade Achhe Lagte Hain getting married to a thirty-something Priya Sharma. Maybe a marriage of convenience, as they marry so that their younger siblings can marry. But the series showed this middle aged couple emerge into  in a mature romantic story. Ram Kapoor in an eponymous role and Sakshi Tanwar as Priya Sharma are Ekta Kapoor’s tried and trusted actors, so in her book only this jodi could have pulled it off with panache. Which I am sure they did and still do considering the number of cribs I heard when Priya was in a coma and another track was filling up  screen time.

Likewise, in Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara, Saachi Prabhu,   in her late 30s, is  ‘parenting’ her younger siblings and looking after her grandmothers;  but importantly she is managing her father’s business. She has denied her family nothing, but herself the right to live. Till Dhruv Goel  (DV), a twenty something  lawyer from Mumbai  comes into her life. The older woman in love with a younger man hasn’t quite been comfortably  explored on Indian television. The initial resistance from the grandmothers has been passed by.  A turn and twist are round the corner. Sangeeta Ghosh and Ruslaan Mumtaz are prime time’s new lead pair. They epitomize a new generation for a younger audience – she with her glamour, he with his infectious charm. The value-add on of the show is a move away from the stifling garish sets of affluent homes to Panchagani and its spacious housing.

Currently on Zee TV,  in Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi, the young protagonist is 14 year old Ami whose father has died and her mother Shruti is forced to take  up a dual responsibility. A family friend Sanjay  falls in love with Shruti and wants  to marry her. Shruti at  first refuses, but  family pressure has her  marry him. The buzz however is the show could go off air. It has the makings of a really good show but lacks a purposeful script.   Shame really, for after all two fine actors Manav Goel and Gautami Kapoor are matching their talents after a long time. Even the younger actors Ulka Gupta and Reem Shaikh are not to be overlooked.

A few months after  Sony Entertainment Television was launched, I was then editing a TV magazine, almost every few weeks a new channel was being launched.  Mahesh Bhatt asked me: Do you think all these channels will survive ? I answered: No. He asked: Why? Me: Where are the content providers? Today, the channels that  have survived  are those which garnered content providers  and  innovated. Now, Innovation should be the buzz word for 2014, for the sake of freshening up the Prime Time fare.