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.’
