Building bridges

Discussants strive for a definition. PHOTO: STAR

Among the new jargon, are phrases such as 'drama series', 'package drama/programmes' 'telefilm' and the most contemporary 'mega serial'. While viewers easily get used to these new trends and terms, they might nevertheless wonder what these are all about.

What do the people involved in these trends, for example, think about them?

To get a first hand view of the mindset of the cultural personalities, the Culture Desk of The Daily Star recently arranged an informal discussion session with some of the trendsetters. For the first session, we invited the writers, directors and performers of two very popular mega serials, Ronger Manush and Sharey Teen Tola.

The participants were ATM Shamsuzzaman, Sharmilee Ahmed, Masum Reza, Wahida Mallik Joly, Khaled Khan, Afsana Mimi, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Azad Abul Kalam, Pantho Shahriar, Debashish, Nazrul and Monirul. Sadya Afreen Mallick, Incharge Culture Desk presided over the discussion.

On the emergence of the term mega serial, all of the guests unanimously agreed that it is the media, especially the television, which has established the term. They also agreed upon the fact that the TV channels of the neighbouring country have influenced the adoption of the term. Masum Reza, the writer of Ronger Manush, pointed out, 'We wanted to call Ronger Manush a Dirghachal Dharabahik (prolonged drama serial), but the ntv authority preferred to call it a mega serial'

Several participants felt that the trend of the mega serial is akin to the daily soaps of the western television.

Due to the shortage of time-slots, however, very few of the productions have been telecast on daily basis. Only the serial Jowar Bhata could attain some perfection in this regard as it was aired five days a week.

'At present, the idea of mega serial largely depends on the number of episodes,' said Afsana Mimi, and most others seemed to second this opinion. However, they could not settle on any requisite number for mega serials. But it seemed that the number has to be more than 25.

Regarding the duration of the airtime for an episode, the artistes said that this is decided absolutely by the concerned TV channel. And, as can be imagined, the decision is greatly influenced by the sponsors. One important aspect was emphasised in this regard: a large part of the peak hours, when viewers would rather prefer entertainment, is spent for a good number of news bulletins, news headlines and other news-based programmes on all the channels.

All the participants agreed on another point: that the popularity of our mega serials is much less than that of the neighbouring India. According to Khaled Khan, who came up with some statistics, the viewership of our mega serials is in the range of 3 percent to 14 percent, compared to 16 percent to 25 percent for most of the Indian serials.

Selim considers this to be an effect of the subjective and presentational difference between the serials of the two countries. 'Indian serials project much more glamour and unreality which are almost entirely absent in the serials of our country', he said. Moreover, many Indian mega serials have been made on religious, political and historical subjects. On the other hand, makers in our country generally prefer subjects of socio-economic importance.

The popularity of a mega serial also depends on the sponsors. Factors as to how many ads are telecast during the half-an-hour slot of a serial or which companies are sponsoring the serial are very important in this regard. Azad Abul Kalam says that the production houses have to compromise with the demands of the sponsors. While the ads irritate the viewers to the highest extent, the artistes seem to take it as an indicator of the popularity of their drama.

The budget for a drama series has an important role to play in its making. Even some 10 years ago the budget often would be over Taka 3 lakh, while at present it has come down to a meagre amount of around Taka 1.5 lakh.

The discussion gave us a glimpse of the current scenario of the mega serial.