From Bill-Batorri To Maa-G

Well, while starting the piece, and re-calling about my initial memories with PTV, a smile just lit up my face. Of course it’s because of the memories from my childhood when we impatiently use to wait to watch Ainak Wala Jin, Uncle Surgum, Alpha Bravo Charlie on the television and specially the morning cartoon transmission. Yes, just because of the cartoon segment being televised in the morning , it used to be the best start to the day. The host, Mustansir Sahab, would announce this segment usually with the words (from what I remember), pyaray bachon barhon se baad may baatain hongi, phlay ap log jaa k apny favourite cartoon enjoy karo qk apko to school bhi jana hai. We used to wait until this finished and would set off for the school only after literally enjoying the cartoon segment and then discussing it and laughing on the characters and their naughtiness, on our way till reaching school. I think, we, the children from the 90s had been luckier to have a special kind of connection with PTV. Because despite all the cartoon channels today, what we witness now are the news channels being watched by the parents before leaving the house and children in a rush to get ready before the school van beeps at the door or they get ready to be dropped by their parents. If we talk about the technical evolution of the dramas, we have witnessed a speedy digital revolution in the form of the introduction of private channels and cable connection systems, which eventually have positive impacts on the standard of dramas. Technically, yes, we have more modernized picturization of the dramas as compared to PTV. Even today, despite having all that governmental support, unfortunately PTV can't compare with the pictorial quality, casting and plot selection as well as huge budget spent on the production of dramas by the other channels. There are lesser technical errors because of modern equipment being used by the private production houses. You can often notice a Mic hanging from the roof and unusual disturbance in the background in a PTV drama. Watching PTV today still feels like the characters are sitting in a set made up of cardboard and their voices echo around, while sometimes the background music is louder than the dialogues being uttered by the characters making it difficult for audience to understand it. Dressed old fashioned and wearing loads of unnecessary makeup tells it all, the characters looks funny even in the most serious scenes. Dramas today have beautiful soundtracks and popular playback singers to add more attraction to the title tracks. In this connection, I have my favourites (and not just mine) wo humsafar tha, Khuda aur muhabaat and maatti ka khilona. But I haven't heard of a hit title song from any of PTV dramas in near past. Characters do make a great mark in our minds but ahh, now Maa- G (the well-known character of Hina Dilpazeer) don't belong to the clan from Ptv. And yes we do watch dramas but the excitement has disappeared somewhere. There was a time when at 8:00 pm all the streets and roads were empty, and family members whether young, aged or even children at this time could only be found in front of television sets. As compared to PTV, dramas from the private channels have more bold scenes and stories and sometimes the bolder dialogues may redden your cheeks specially if the dialogue is between a romantic couple on their wedding night or about pregnancy. A couple's hugs, kisses on hand and forehead are common these days and ammi may give you a ghoori (ghussay wali thaar ),to tell you that (beysharm abbu bethay hain) if the drama is being watched on the dinner table. Despite all the technical and production errors, still PTV may be considered the most watched channel specially in rural areas of Pakistan. And the credit goes not to the quality entertainment provided by PTV, but to the lack of cable operating systems in those areas. PTV haven't evolved towards progress but to a worst kind of degradation in recent years. The things PTV can still be proud of, are the great drama writers and legend artists, who still wholeheartedly write for PTV, and the artist still willing to act genuinely and enthusiastically to do their best to provide Ptv with another opportunity to mark a much greater revival.