Comparative Analysis
Western TV Show V/S Indian TV show
Indian TV shows are struggling to adapt the Western TV shows concept to break down their audience boredom, but is it working? Because according to the recent report name under 'Hollywood is for everyone' 177 million people in India prefer watching Western TV shows over Indian ones.
Basically, Desi soap opera's are dramatic and unrealistic which audience may not relate to it in real life. But it has been seen many reality shows have been adapted from American concept like the famous Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bigg Boss, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, Comedy Nights with Kapil, India’s Got Talent and many others.
Though English shows have more clarity, boldness and originality than the Indian formats. But Indian reality shows contain melodrama and twist to bring more TRP. As we see the high drama get the more attention irrespective of the damage they may cause.
Comedy Nights with Kapil is one of the most successful comedy show which has won the hearts of Indians but very few people know that this show is unofficially copied from British show name 'The Kumars at No. 42.' Both have a similar kind of home set up, where celebrity are invited as guest to have chit-chat. Both the show have similar kinds of character who keep mocking the host and make the guest laugh hilariously with their scripted dialogue.
In Comedy Nights with Kapil was one of the platforms for the celebrity to come and promote their upcoming movies it was premiered on Colors TV on 22 June 2013. Within 3 years it delivered 191 episodes each episode was of 1 hour duration. On the other hand Sanjeev's Show The Kumars at No. 42 had 53 episodes in seven series and show duration was used to be 30 minutes each.
The Kapil Sharma's Show revolves around Kapil Sharma and his team of comedians, including Sumona Chakravarti, Kiku Sharda, Chandan Prabhakar, Krushna Abhishek, Bharti Singh and Rochelle Rao, who play residents of the Shantivan Non-cooperative Housing Society. Normally every episode unfolds in two parts with the first part being a comic skit enacted by the actors of the show and the second part being the celebrity interview where popular personalities from various fields indulge in a light-hearted interaction with Kapil Sharma. Navjot Singh Sidhu was the permanent guest of the show but was replaced by Archana Puran Singh after 16 February 2019. But Kumar's show stars a fictional British Indian family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim), their adult son Sanjeev (played by Sanjeev Bhaskar), and Sushila, Sanjeev's grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi (played by Meera Syal, later Sanjeev's real-life wife). The family lives in Wembley, London, England. The show's main argument was that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a television host by having a TV studio built on their back garden. Witticism include Sanjeev's apparent social clumsiness, Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point, and Ummi's stories of her absurd exploits with her childhood friend Saraswati the bicycle (so named because of her contortionist skills). It is also a regular conceit that the guests' appearance fees are paid in Bimla's chutney.
In one of the interviews Bhaskar stated, "We never rehearsed the guests, and the best ones were the ones to keep the ball in the air." But one of the guest of Kapil's Show posted, “We had to sit there for a really long time with straight posture and evergreen smile otherwise Rocky sir would tell us ki yahan kyun dekhne aaye ho ghar pe he dekh lete if you can’t laugh (Honestly only 40% of the show was worth a laugh, even less) and it’s really hard to laugh in fake manner yaar.” Hence we see how much reel is there inside Indian reality shows.
Though Kapil Sharma has few different concept of solo performance, Navjot Singh Sidhu as a judge and it's Shayari part and the audience asking question to the celebrity but from Sidhu's Shayari to audience asking question everything is scripted.
In 2016, Comedy Nights with Kapil started telecasting on Sony channel under the name 'The Kapil Sharma Show' with the similar concept. The Show has featured a wide range of popular personalities from Bollywood actors to famous musicians. However the show went beyond the usual celeb drama when it featured acclaimed Indian social activist Anna Hazare on its special Gandhi Jayanthi telecast on 2nd Oct. The episode garnered 60 million viewers. In 2001 Bhaskar' show The Kumars at No 42, which has been likened to an Asian Mrs Merton, pulled in 3.3m viewers. At that time it was one of best genre and was appreciated by many people around. It won an International Emmy in 2002 and 2003, and won a Peabody Award in 2004. In that case Kapil's Show was not less, it won Indian Television Academy Awards in 2012, CNN-IBN and BIG Star Entertainment Awards in 2013, Star Guild Awards in 2014, Indian Television Academy Awards in 2015 and Gold Awards and Indian Television Academy Awards in 2019.
Indian Show's from time immemorial have adopted the concept of British shows with their own twist and turns. But the fact somewhere this typical series or reality shows lack the sense of originality which we see in the Western show till date. May the our shows are gaining TRP and views but at the end we all no it's fictional and irrational most of time. Hence, the present generation is more inclined to English oriented shows.