Remote Control

Shoma Munshi

Description

What do the TV shows we re watching tell us about ourselves? Television is the single most powerful and dynamic agent of change in India today. It is also the country s most popular and accessible form of entertainment. Remote Control examines three kinds of programming 24x7 news, soap operas and reality shows that have changed Indian television forever, and analyzes how these three genres, while drawing on different sources, are hybridized, indigenized and manage to ultimately project a distinctively Indian identity. Shoma Munshi s book shows us how everyday reality in India in the twenty-first century shapes television; and how television, in turn, shapes us.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Large-screen television technology
• Television
• Technology
• Technologie

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184757552
• Langue: English

Extrait

SHOMA MUNSHI
Remote Control
Indian Television in the New Millennium

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
About the Author
Detication
1. Introduction
2. 24x7 News
3. Reality TV: So Bad, It s Good?
4. Soap Operas Then: Kyunki Tab Ekta Thi
5. Soap Operas Now: Kitne Achhe Lagte Hain Yeh Balika Aur Vadhu Aur Yeh Rishtey
6. Postscript
Appendix 1: Drivers of the New Millennium: 2000 through 2012 in Indian Television
Appendix 2: Channels and Genres They Belong To
Appendix 3: List of 24x7 News Channels
Appendix 4: Percentage Market Share of News Channels
Appendix 5: Viewership of News Channels
Appendix 6: Hindi GECs
Appendix 7: TAM Annual Universe Update 2012
Appendix 8: Viewership across Genres
Acknowledgements
Copyright Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
For my father, Wing Commander Anil Chandra Munshi- the source and inspiration for it all
PENGUIN BOOKS
Remote Control
Shoma Munshi is Professor of Anthropology at the American University of Kuwait and Senior Research Partner at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, G ttingen, Germany; as well as the Joint Centre for Global Communication Research, Shiv Nadar University, India and the Anneberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Prime Time Soap Operas on Indian Television (Routledge, 2010); editor of Images of the Modern Woman in Asia: Global Media, Local Meanings (Curzon, 2001) and co-editor of Media, War and Terrorism: Responses from the Middle East and Asia (Routledge, 2004), in addition to authoring several articles in refereed journals. She earned her PhD from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France; and her work experience encompasses the University of Delhi, University of Amsterdam, University of Pennsylvania and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New Delhi, India. She speaks several languages fluently and maintains close collaborative research and personal ties with scholars and institutions worldwide.
Advance Praise for the Book
At last, an analytical book on Indian television-its content, its production, viewership, its role and impact on society, its evolution and changing character. Shoma s writing is interdisciplinary and the joy of this book is that it is situated at the intersection of anthropology, sociology, media and cultural studies. As a market strategist, deprived of accessible social science writing on subjects of direct relevance to me, this book gave me a lot of insight into the life of mainstream Indians and plenty of food for thought. -Rama Bijapurkar, market strategy consultant and author of We Are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India
This is an in sightful account of the power of television in India told with great clarity and deep understanding. Rooted in academic rigour, but written in a highly accessible manner, this is the story of media in India narrated not by a disinterested spectator, but by someone who has a passionate grasp of what it means to all of us. A must read for all those interested in popular culture as a living vital force. -Santosh Desai, columnist and author of Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense of Everyday India
Shoma s book captures the rapidly changing pace in the Indian television domain. Big plots, subtle changes, new scripts, stolen ideas, factual updates, dreams and disrupted plans-all neatly explained. Good if you know nothing about Indian TV. Even better if you think you knew it all. -Sunil Lulla, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Times Television Network
The growth and impact of television in India, strangely, hasn t got the academic attention that it deserves. Shoma s book is a refreshing attempt in that direction. It is well researched and insightful. She has an insider s sensitivity and an academic s objectivity. -Uday Shankar, Chief Executive Officer, STAR India
Broad in scope and rich in detail, Shoma s book examines the ever changing face of Indian television in the first decade of the new millennium. She delivers a compelling analysis of trends that are transforming India s most popular medium. Imaginative and accessible, this book makes a vital and timely contribution to the fields of media and cultural studies. Anyone with an interest in Indian television s present and future will find Remote Control an indispensable read. -Ashvini Yardi, Co-founder, Grazing Goat Pictures Pvt. Ltd, and former Head of Programming, Colors and Zee TV
A vigilant army of media critics keeps watch over the content of Indian TV news; a militant band of feminists dissects the gender politics of TV soap operas. Munshi does this and more. Impossible? No, she s done it! Building on her earlier pioneering work on Indian television soap operas, Munshi provides critical insight into the three dominant genres of contemporary TV viewing: news, soap operas and reality TV shows. A unique, scholarly and mercifully readable account of the everyday culture of contemporary TV viewing. -Patricia Uberoi, former Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
This is a serious study of not-so-serious forms of entertainment. Shoma Munshi is a brilliant guide towards a new understanding of the significance of Indian television for understanding Indian society. This book makes sense of the overwhelming amount of entertainment and infotainment that is flooding Indian living rooms the world over. A must read! -Peter van der Veer, Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
We have heard about the Indian hi-tech revolution. But few of us in the West realize how the dynamics of change are being transformed by India s television. News and entertainment, from established soap operas to recently introduced reality TV shows, are not just the most popular and accessible; they are also the most democratic ways to engage the Indian public with the media, market, and politics. Munshi immerses us in the world of Indian television as it reaches the viewers from rural areas to overseas markets and engages them in the reality and concerns of the twenty-first century. This is the first book-length study that sets Indian television apart from the other media as the most dynamic and impactful agent of change in India today. A serious academic inquiry that manages to avoid media jargon, it discusses expanding viewership, strategies of public engagement and the popular genres of TV entertainment. Munshi s knowledge of Indian media is wide-ranging and deep as well as personal. From news programming to soap operas to reality shows and the business of television, Munshi gives us an inside-out overview of what makes Indian television today the powerhouse of Indian social and cultural life. -Marina A. Tolmacheva, President Emerita, American University of Kuwait, and Professor of History, former Director of the Asia Program, Washington State University
Remote Control is the authoritative and entertaining story of India s rapidly evolving and hotly competitive television programming in the twenty-first century. A must read, it places Indian television on a worldwide stage and is a model for comparable studies elsewhere. -Dale F. Eickelman, Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Anthropology and Human Relations, Dartmouth College (USA)
Professor Munshi has done it again! Anthropologist and media studies specialist, Shoma Munshi gives us a wide-ranging, scholarly analysis of the popularity and impact of television programming in India today. Through this widely accessible medium, 24x7 news, soap operas and reality shows tuned to Indian audiences are shaping world views and self-images and providing a showcase for talents. A scholar of media and cultural studies focusing on India and South Asia, author of Prime Time Soap Operas on Indian Television and editor and co-editor of several books on different aspects of the media, Dr Munshi entertains and teaches us. -Indira Nair, Professor and Vice Provost Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University
Post-liberalization satellite television has been extensively watched and featured in the popular media but not given, ironically, the scholarly attention it deserves. Shoma Munshi has consistently attempted to remedy this lacuna. An engaging scholar and a regular viewer of the TV genres she writes about, Professor Munshi s book Prime Time Soap Operas on Indian Television led to a lively debate among feminists and remains one of the most important ethnographies of the television industry. Her new book Remote Control: Indian Television in the New Millennium will be an essential read for students and scholars of the media, while being at the same time an enjoyable read for anyone who takes television seriously. -Shohini Ghosh, Sajjad Zaheer Professor, AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia
It is the most welcome book-for those of us who produce TV, for those of us who watch TV, for those of us who measure viewing patterns, and for all of us to understand how television woos audiences. -L.V. Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer, TAM Media Research
1
Introduction
United by Television as Consumers
In the first year of the new millennium, television production and consumption (viewing) was changed forever when, on 3 July 2000, Star Plus launched two new, by-now iconic shows: the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, henceforth KBC ), anchored by Amitabh Bachchan; and Ekta Kapoor s Balaji Telefilms soap opera based on the life of the Virani family, titled Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because the Mother-in-Law Was Also Once a Daughter-in-Law, henceforth Kyunki ).
Amitabh Bachchan, arguably Indian cinema s greatest superstar, strode onto the sets of KBC at 9 p.m. IST, tall and immaculately attired, and put the contestants at ease before asking, Sure? Confident? Lock kiya jaye? (Sure? Confident? Shall we lock the answer?) in his deep baritone; and the