At a time when new forms and platforms of entertainment are eating into television TRPs, especially among young adults, the evening of July 10, when a Malayalam actor was arrested in the actress abduction case, Malayalam news channels had a field day and it seems to have given a fillip to television watching. That night and on the following night, for the whole week since the arrest, really, it was like all of Kerala, men and women, old and young, people from all walks of society, even techies supposedly on night shifts, were glued to their nearest television sets, watching the events. “Never before have I seen such a rush of people to those pantries in office where there are TV screens that eventful evening of July 10! People were trying to take as many breaks as possible just so that they could watch breaking news on TV and some were even trying to stream live television on their mobile phones. Usually it’s some cricket match or the other that plays in the background in the pantry TV but that whole week, it was only Malayalam news channels,” says Naveen T., who works in an MNC.
Sreejith V.G.
Sreejith V.G., a senior software engineer, is another one who is big on news channels, particularly debates and discussions. “Those discussions are as enjoyable as watching a movie. It’s great fun to watch people, some of whom you know are friends, go head to head on some topic or the other. Whenever I get time, I make it a point to listen to such shows. I also enjoy watching those shows that feature sarcastic takes on the day’s news that follow the debates,” says Sreejith.
Saneesh K. Purushothaman
Most techies we talked to seem to be divided on the value of news channels, for long a favourite of Malayali viewers. “Either you like them or you don’t. I enjoy reading the news online or from newspapers. I think some anchors leading the debates on TV have an agenda and I don’t appreciate them shoving it down my throat,” says Saneesh K. Purushothaman, an associate infrastructure administrator. “The only time I get to watch TV is after work, at night, mostly between nine and 10. In that little time I get, I’d much rather watch comedy shows on Flowers, Asianet or Surya or those travelogues on Safari TV. In fact, Santosh George Kulangara’s travelogues are a family favourite. I started watching because my wife watches them and got hooked. We love being armchair travellers because it’s the only way we know we can see all those places,” he adds.
Balashankar, a project lead at an MNC, meanwhile, is a fan of news shows but has stopped watching news channels for the moment because he believes “all that needs to be said has been said about the actress abduction case and that’s all the channels want to talk about even now.” In the interim he enjoys watching news-based shows like Akam Puram . “I think a person’s TV watching habits depends on age and what your peers watch. When I was an adolescent I liked watching songs and entertainment shows. In my 30s now I enjoy watching programmes with some value, whether its news or entertainment,” he adds.
Shruthy Sekharan
Software engineer Shruthy Sekharan, on the other hand, enjoys watching everything from dance reality shows and mega serials to food shows, cartoons and sports. “I stay in a hostel with women from other states. So, in the evenings, it’s usually Hindi/Tamil serials that everyone watches. I am able to watch TV only when I go home during the weekends and thoroughly enjoy it,” she says.
Interestingly, tech shows do not seem to have that many takers, while auto shows are quite popular with the men. Only a handful of the young professionals seem to have switched over to online platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and the like, particularly the plethora of Indian web-series in English.
