"Bad Television shows responsible for the popularity of digital content"

New Delhi [India], November 1 (ANI/Mediawire): At the Times Litfest, one of the country's leading literature festivals partnered with Brookfield Properties, screenwriter, actor, and director- Anant Mahadevan related some of his first-hand experiences with film makers who were the founding fathers of television serials in his memoir- 'Once Upon a Prime Time'
When legendary movie director and producer-B R Chopra, chose noted Urdu Poet, Rahi Masoom Raza to write the script for the Mahabharat for Doordarshan, it did not go well with the senior officials there.
"Many found it offensive that a non-Hindu who may have limited knowledge of a major Sanskrit epic of Ancient India like the Mahabharata should be writing its script. But Chopra was adamant about having only Raza Sahab as the script writer if the show was to be made. He also requested the senior management for the narration for the show," stated Anant Mahadevan, noted screenwriter and actor at the book reading session of his book - 'Once Upon a Prime Time'.
Mahadevan mentioned that Chopra even assured that he would scrap the show, if the officials did not like the narration. "All the officials were stunned at the finesse that Raza sahab had brought to the epic story. He narrated almost four episodes of the show to a mesmerized audience. It was approved unanimously and the rest as you say was history," he said.
The book reading session was a part of the Times Litfest which has over the last many years become a platform for the exchange of views on literature and books attracting prominent authors, film makers, theatre artists and thinkers from across the country and the world.
This year Times Litfest partnered with
to curate offline sessions to offer unique experiences and engagements that promotes a pervasive and open culture across its campuses in India. The digital session with a massive line up of more than 100 Indian and International authors such as Jeffrey Archer, Douglas Stuart, Tom Holland, ElifShafak, Salman Rushdie, Devdutt Pattanaik, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Gaur Gopal Das, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Amish Tripathi, Shobhaa De, Anita Nair, with 70+ sessions, this year's Times Litfest is bigger than ever.

In 'Once Upon A Prime Time', Mahadevan has penned down his memories and experiences of his journey on Indian television over the period of last four decades.
"I earlier thought of making an autobiography on my journey, and then I thought it would be grossly unfair as my journey coincided with the journey of Indian television," he said.
Speaking about the journey of Indian television, Mahadevan stated that in the year 1983, two important events took place. "There were Asian Games in New Delhi and in the same year with the introduction of the Color television, the government decided to commercialized the television content to outsiders," Mahadevan explained.
He informed that till that year, the content was moderated by people who worked in the Doordarshan. "So film makers entered a zone which was alien to them in terms of grammar and format. We had legends like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjpye, Basu Chatterjee, Kundan Shah, Ravi Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Aziz Mirza, Gulzar and Govind Nihalani who decided to experiment in a format which was not their domain," he said.
Mahadevan explained that the content on Indian television has deteriorated over the years. "You can't blame the show makers as well. In the era of daily shows, the quality of the content is bound to take a beating. Today we have the worst kind of soaps going on the television," he pointed out.
He however revealed that this is primarily the reason why digital platforms are turning so popular now. "Viewers have an option to reject the content that they don't like and turn to the ones that have good content in them. We are going back to the seasons of 13 episodes in the digital format which were first started way back in the year 1983," he said.
Mahadevan also stated that it is a wrong notion that people have started liking content laced with abuses or is violent in nature. "People are still rejecting such violent content.

During the lockdown when there was no fresh content getting generated, channels did resort to showing classics like Ramayana and Mahabharata which had a huge TRP most of which were from the younger generation," he informed.
He added that his book does not have any specific format but is written in such a way that would touch upon special moments of several award-winning celebrities. "I believe that it is a journey of Indian television and is perhaps the first story written on the Indian television," Mahadevan informed.
Parul Thakur, Senior Vice President,
says,
has reimagined the potential of flexible workspace solutions, offering collaborative spaces and thoughtful experiences to develop growth and communities of like-minded individuals.
"Our partnership with Times Litfest redefines how people and places can come together to support wellbeing, arts, culture and diversity, allowing our tenants to evolve effortlessly beyond the traditional office setup," she said.
The event was organized at
at Powai, Mumbai.

For more details on the Times Litfest, login to

Amit.Shanbaug@timesgroup.com
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