Telly-Tales

Telly – Tales

Watching the television can be a strenuous activity at times. This can be essentially experienced if you are not a diligent follower of the prime time soaps aired on Hindi channels.
When you are on a vacation, the time in hand to scan through the 110 channels provided by your cable T.V. operator ( or CAS, Tata Sky, etc,etc..), is conveniently large. During one such endeavours, I managed to catch a high-end claim – Star One was swelling in pride to declare that their serial “ Dil Mil Gaye”..( please forgive the spelling errors, if any..) is back on air. Now, if you stand to be a complete stranger to the novel concepts which come ‘back’ as sequels, without having a fair understanding of the events that took place earlier , you are bound to develop an instant misconception ( as instant as the instant idli mix ). It is justified if you seem to believe that Dil Mil Gaye would be a rosy romantic affair scripted to run for a minimum period of 18 months. This average run-time of T.V. serials is greatly enhanced by the relentless “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhie Bahu Thi”. As far as my memory goes, I remember ‘Mihir Virani’ melodramatically dying when I was in my Std. 7. This nation-stirring event occurred almost two years after the serial was a high TRP grosser with ‘Tulsi’ becoming a household name. Next year, I will become a first attempt Engineering graduate..( this information relayed just to ease the process of evaluating the run-time period of this benchmark epic.) Today, the ‘Virani family’ contains almost 5 generations with a minimum of one person belonging to every era. I cease to believe that ‘ Ba’ is a real human being, she is an eternal heavenly body. Well, I don’t know what happened post Mihir’s death ( he came back to life in the subsequent years without the super-natural forces playing any role.) as I discontinued my viewership. As per grapevine, he is believed to have one legal wife, one extra-marital affair and about 3-4 children whose biological roots remain a mystery to one and all ( including Ms. Ekta Kapoor ). Aforesaid are the declared assets of Mr. Mihir Virani. Trust the viewers to have lost track of a soap which is forced to continue to lather for a massive period of some 7,8 or 10 years.
Back to ‘Dil Mil Gaye’ , it is about interns practicing in a plush hospital called ‘Sanjivani’. It is unfair to judge a serial after watching just one episode, but I couldn’t help myself from drawing the following conclusions. The interns don’t look as if they have really cleared any medical CET to get into a medical college. Its again unwise to judge someone by their looks, but its difficult to imagine them as medical professionals who have been rigorously trained over a period of 4 years. Their topics of discussion include – how to get some nurse hooked up with a senior doctor, or which colour suit to gift to a prospective girlfriend. They loiter around the hospital corridors releasing red and white heart-shaped balloons, the excuse for the celebration being Valentine’s day. I wonder if KEM and AIIMS have such recreational facilities for their students. The small town girl ( the ideal protagonist- ‘chote shaher ki ladki’) wears the most lavish salwaar suit and the trendiest make-up. None of them read books, or discuss a patient’s case. Probably all of them have profound knowledge to tackle any case that comes their way and so don’t have to revert to books time and again. Their presence in the cafeteria is far too obviously long than that in hospital wards. Occasionally they hold a thermometer in their hand, otherwise a writing pad and a pen is all that the doctors at Sanjeevani need! You might as well mistakenly take them to be reporters..but they are interns ( would-be doctors in the truest sense!).The stethoscope is perennially wound around their necks, which could have been aptly replaced by headphones. Most of the time they hold the X-Ray reports high up in their hand pretending to understand something, other times they engage themselves in frivolous activities. They don’t utter names of medicines or disorders either.
Such a showcase of behaviour by the doctors treated to be only next to God in our society, only helps you realize that your initial conclusions are absolutely flawless. The script of the story nowhere revolves around the life of an intern who at times has to face Ramadoss and has no time to breathe, forget the frequent lovey-dovey encounters. The patient’s ‘dil’ or case seems to be the last worry for the doctors at Sanjeevani.
“Jassi” amidst the saas-bahu operas brought a new lease of life to the small screen. Yet, having being inspired by “ Ugly Betty” , it did lack originality. If originality comes in form of ‘Dil Mil Gaye’, then I would pray that our authorities resign from the arduous task of thinking and just be inspired!!!!