As a result of lockdown serials went off the air resulting so many house
hold guests like serial characters disappeared abruptly. Perhaps they
might have gone for quarantine or maintaining social distance.

What will happen to the existing serials after lock down is removed? Will
newest Serials  come to the sets ? Will old ones start from where it has
dropped off? Is there a need for serials with a heavy dose of negative
stuff to be dropped to let a New breed of concepts with humane content
take the driving seat?

Are the producers ready to give the remuneration to their staff without
any cuts? Taking advantage of this crisis, will the dubbing serials
start again? These are haunting questions among the TV fraternity!

The funded programs have completely changed the colour and texture of
Telugu TV Channels. The effects of Egocentric Heads and Mediocre
Executive producers’ harassment on genuine producers has emerged. At
times, the heads of the channels are not even in a position to go for
novel concepts. They often forget TV is a living room media, where
positive assumptions and human interesting stories will be received
rather than routine stuff.

Due to lack of foresight of the TV heads, no single episode remained in
hand at the time of Lockdown announcement. This resulted in the serials
disappearing suddenly. This shows the irresponsibility of the Chanel
heads.

On the other hand, most of the heroines in Telugu serials are imported
from The Kannada Industry. However, the artist doesn’t know acting and
is not even good looking, but despite this the tag 'Kannada' has become
success mantra .The amount of remuneration and frills for the 'Kannada'
stars is more while native stars are treated like step children.

Now, one more thing to discuss is the unwritten rule that an artist
should not act in more than one serial for a Channel. They are not even
considered for any other channel. They  have to sit idle and work for a
few episodes in a serial while the same serial runs for four to five
years. Isn't this the violation of a fundamental right of a citizen to
work ? This is unfair and unwanted as well!

At the time of Gemini TV's inception many enthusiast Telugu producers
have incurred heavy losses for buying slots at Rs 50K per episode.
Production cost was another burden. Madhu mahankali’s Vishnumaya,
Shareef Mohmmad’s Police File, and Agasthya Sastry’s Kothakonam belong
to this category. The scenario has now changed after the increase in
revenues. All the Hyderabad producers were neglected and a red carpet
was paved for Chennai producers. Radaan, AVM, Balaji telefilms and
Vikatan reaped the harvest out of the TRPs made by Telugu producers ‘
blood and sweat . This is an example of a Channel’s step brother
treatment towards Telugu production houses and creative crews.

There is no Telugu nativity in the serials and creativity is absolutely
missing, Serials are spreading negativity and are making the people
think in a completely different manner. The heads of the serials will
not approve the final edit copy and will make the directors & producers
wait till the last minute. This has become a torture and  is causing
tremendous pressure on producers. The comic part is the heads are not
even capable of coining a title for serials. They always opt for cinema
titles and do not hesitate to take the title of a flop movie for a
serial as well.

There was an awkward situation when a fleet of dubbing serials occupied
the chart. After the indefinite hunger strike of artists association leader Vijay
Yadav to ban the dubbing serials, the number of dubbing serials
decreased, but within no time, the Kannadigas started ruling the Telugu
small screen.

So, it is the time to encourage Telugu talent and there is a need to
stand by all the native actors who are much more talented than those who
are imported. Another agitation is brewing against Channels in regard to
step brother treatment to Telugu artists and producers.

In the wake of OTT invasion into Telugu territory, these Channels will certainly loose their charm and grip unless they change their concepts  and practices.

Contribution by:  PVR