Indian Television Serials tends to be regular-broadcasting soap opera broadcast on Indian Television. They are being telecasted in different languages throughout the country depending upon the region. Indian television serials deal with different messages and themes for the society or at times they are merely for entertainment.
Comedy, family relationships, social issues, mythology, children’s shows, patriotism, reality shows etc. are the few popular themes around which the Indian television soaps revolve. These operas are also broadcasted in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa.
History of Indian Television Serials
The first Indian television soap opera was ‘Hum Log’, which first aired in 1984 and concluded after the 154th episode. It was the longest running serial in the history of Indian television at the time at which it ended. The first flourishing wave of Indian late evening television soap operas started in 2000 with ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ created and produced by Ekta Kapoorunder her banner Balaji Telefilms. It was broadcasted not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and ended with 1833 episodes run.
Then biographies of famous people started being produced in the form of Hindi soap operas. ‘Meera’ was a biography of Meera, Shivaji was portrayed in ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Shahji Raje Bhosle’, Rani Lakshmi Bai was presented in ‘Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi’, ‘Chanakya’ covered the life of Chanakya, ‘Chittor Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur’ portrayed Rani Padmini, ‘Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat’ is a biography of King Ashoka and ‘Bharat ka veer putra Maharana Pratap’ was a biography of Maharana Pratap.
Crime programmes were also started being produced and aired. ‘Adaalat’ was an Indian television courtroom drama series which revolves around Advocate K. D. Pathak. ‘CID’ follows a team of detectives belonging to the Criminal Investigation Department in Mumbai. The protagonist of the show is Shivaji Satam. Indian audience is fond of television soaps but when it comes to reality shows, the interest for the show boosts.
Types of Indian Television Serials
Following are different genres which are broadcast as soap operas in India:
Drama: The development of daily long running drama series started with Ekta Kapoor’s ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ which was followed by several K-series such as ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii’, ‘Koi Apna Sa’, ‘Kkusum’ and more. Recent successful drama series are ‘Saath Nibhaana Saathiya’, ‘Sasural Simar Ka’ completing with 2000 episodes and the longest running ever Indian show is ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ with more than 2600 episodes and still counting.
Romance: It began to air in early 2000s with the drama series. Several shows were followed with it some of them being, ‘Kutumb’, ‘Kahiin to Hoga’, ‘Kayamath’ and so on. Most recent being ‘Ye Hai Mohabbatein’, ‘Kumkum Bhagya’, ‘Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki’ and ‘Kundali Bhagya’.
Social Message: In recent times, soap operas in India focused on socially appropriate themes such as child marriages, female child killings, rape, murder, sati and several themes that sends message to society. The most popular soap under this genre is ‘Balika Vadhu’ that focused on child marriages, ‘Na Aana Is Des Laado’ that focused on social evils against girl child and women’s rights, ‘Bairi Piya’ a soap by Balaji Telefilms, ‘Bandini’ a show that described how a female was married under forced circumstances, ‘Shakti – Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki’ which focuses on transgender and their social rights and many more.
Historical: Most of the historical serials are based on Indian kings and queens. The most popular soap opera in this genre is Zee TV‘s ‘Jodha Akbar’ created and produced by Ekta Kapoor under her banner Balaji Telefilms and ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’, a story Rani Laxmibai. Others include, ‘Veer Shivaji’, a story of Maratha king Shivaji, ‘Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap’, a story of Rajput king, ‘Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat’ a story of king Ashoka, ‘Porus and Prithvi Vallabh – Itihaas Bhi, Rahasya Bhi’.
Mythological: The first mythological series in India was produced in 1986. The most popular series in this genre ever produced are ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’. Since then, several versions of this series have been reproduced, the most recent being, ‘Mahabharat’ and ‘Siya Ke Ram’ on Star Plus. Other series made in this genre are ‘Dharmakshetra’, ‘Jai Shri Krishna’, ‘Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki’, ‘Mahakaali — Anth Hi Aarambh Hai’, ‘Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman’, ‘Suryaputra Karn’, ‘Vighnaharta Ganesha’ and several others.
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