OTT and Tamil serials!

COVID-19 has made our lives terrible. Our children’s even worse. But there is always a silver lining! In the case of COVID-19, there are many!

One such is the permeation of OTT platforms. They did exist even before. But COVID brought it to most houses for families stuck together, had not many avenues for entertainment, theatres remained closed and the world shrunk. Not only elite classes, all middle, upper middle and upper classes have got into this culture as it is slowly becoming inevitable.

 

This OTT world has opened doors to watch, re-watch umpteen number of movies, documentaries, series and what not, in all languages. We get awestruck at first, gradually get swamped and finally end up binge watching. It has become another obsession for many just like what social media platforms do to us. Leaving aside drawbacks, OTT platforms are highly entertaining with world-class shows and movies; indeed an enriching experience for movie lovers.

A quick flashback: It was during our school days that satellite channels came into existence and slowly culture of ‘serials’ took our time. To be honest, there were quite a good number of serials in Tamil channels and they were of diverse genres too. The serials of K.Balanchander and ‘crazy’ Mohan stood unique those days amidst usual ones. They were quite progressive then and now too. More came up in different other genres targeting audiences of various age groups – school children, college students, adults, housewives and elders. They came with not-so-bad storylines and screenplay and they did glue us to screens for years. Then started the era of ‘family drama’ and it still goes on. The plot of all stories, characters, poor portrayal of women and revenge drama are all the same across all Tamil channels and serials since last one or two decades.

Back to 'today': The distressing truth is that diffusion of OTT into our homes has not changed this design of Tamil serials and shows. One wonders why and how Tamil serial/series directors and producers do not get to catch the taste change of consumers. They terribly fail at delivering and updating themselves to contemporary changes. What could be the reasons for this reluctance to change – from the perspective of consumers?

• Most of Tamil serial watchers during daytime are non-working women and elders. May be they prefer to relate themselves to stories screened.
• Children, young adults and adults have moved on to watch other language shows and therefore there is no demand.

These justifications do not seem to be satisfying. Tamil audience, irrespective of their age, have always welcomed changes and prefer to have varieties in their living rooms. But Tamil serials are regressive though, if not progressive.

If COVID & OTT platforms could not change this trend, I am not sure what else could!