Be it a typical Sunday evening where every member of the family use to watch the famous Indian sitcom SaraBhai vs. SaraBhai or the famous teenage romance Mile Jab Hum Tum, Indian television series live in our minds and hearts, rent free. There were days when being called “chashmish” was rather considered a compliment, as it was a reference to the latter television show. “Monisha Beta” are still to be said trending on social media. Time has passed by, but the essence of these shows hasn’t. Mahabharata was mandatory to be watched with our grandparents as an “obedient” child. Children were and still are very fond of cartoons. Unlike Shinchan and Doraemon which are often being binged watched by today’s kids, cartoons were a whole lot different back in day. A 90s kid might know about cartoons like Oswald, Noddy, Dragon Tales, Power Puff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory and so many more. It was like a routine to come home straight from school and then turn on the TV to watch Ben 10. Imagine a scenario : it is the year 2004, it is impossible for you to go to school today as it is raining heavily outside, you come back to your house from the bus stop and the time is 8 a.m., you turn on the TV, switch to channel Pogo and Oswald is being aired. There is nothing more peaceful and joyful in the world at the moment, and as a kid, you’re living the best life you can. Time flew and we all grew up into adults. Along with time even the TV shows changed. Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chashma became famous a comedy television show in no time. It is a family show which mainly revolves around a Gujarati family whose main character is Jethalal Champaklal Gadha who owns an electronic store. He resides in Gokuldham Society which is in Mumbai. Other members of the society also play a significant role in the storyline and portray daily shenanigans of a middle class Indian society. Since the lockdown, people have built interest for web series instead of the usual TV series. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot and many other platforms gained a lot attention and subscription. Shows like Mirzapur received immense love and praise from the Indian audience. Hollywood teen series like 13 Reasons Why, Riverdale, etc, were welcomed with loving hearts and open arms by the audience on Indian platforms. Online flat forms have for sure covered a great deal for keeping us all entertained, but it has also somehow created a gap between our loved ones.
Everyone in the family is seen to be indulged in their mobile phones for some or the other reason. Well, most of the time, the reason is none other than but our very own web series. Web series are known for keeping its audience intrigued and intact. Whenever you see someone glued to their mobile phones in a public place, be it metro or alongside a bus stand, make a rough idea that they must be watching some web series and 99% of the chances are that might be right. Web series have this special essence of maintaining the suspense and creating a plot twist no could imagine. Recently, a Karan Johar production was released on Netflix with the title of Ajeeb Dastaans. It is collection of four short films by different writers namely, Shashank Khaitan, Sumit Saxena, Neeraj Gheywan and Uzma Khan. The short films involve all sorts of emotions and thrill. From steamy romance and heartbreaks to a horrifying murder mystery investigation, Ajeeb Dastaans is a worth collection of these spine chilling stories. Along with Bollywood production, Hollywood has also been up for competition towards Indian audience. We as audience are always drawn towards historic period films like Padmavat. More than the story or the role plays, we are often interested in outfits and jewellery. Lately, teenagers and young adults, which includes only females on social media, have developed a little bit of enthusiasm for floral printed dresses and ball gowns worn by those Disney princesses. This trend arose after a Hollywood web series was released with the name of ‘Bridgerton’.
It is an American drama series which was released almost a year ago and soon became the most watched series on Netflix. It is based on a story of 17th century about a family of seven siblings with a single mother. The series is not as sad as the description here. In fact, it is a love story which goes along with fun and sarcastic conversation between the siblings of the Bridgerton family. All the women in the show are represented in beautiful traditional ball gowns, while the dashing British men are also seen in calf high boots with fitted long coats as horsemen. One thing which I personally liked about the show was that they used latest songs but with a traditional twist. The songs were played in Oprah style with use of violins and piano instead of any EDM beats. Sitting on the couch all day and watching these is no more a habit but it has now become a routine. Due to lockdown, many people are not able to get their dream jobs or admission in their dream college. Out of frustration and boredom we started watching web series to divert our mind. These series have been by our side day and night, through all our ups and downs. We have often heard the phrase ‘old is gold’ and Netflix proved it when it released the world famous 90s series F.R.I.E.N.D.S. That was when we all rejoiced as one big family. Yes, of course the latest web series are commendable and worth all the attention they get but some old television drama series are irreplaceable. We all have different tastes yet we all fall for such old series because we all find one thing common in it- our childhood memories. So binge watch on all these 90s movies and series in order to relive your childhood which gave us the hardest laughter than we almost cried.