‘Indian TV shows have ruined concept of family’
New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Many stories revolving around families, especially daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, have been told on the small screen. But director Apurv Singh Karki says Indian TV shows have ruined the concept of family for him.
“TV shows for me, have ruined the concept of family. In midst of all that, we (the team of ‘The Aam Aadmi Family’) wanted to present a show with positive emotions and no plotting. The small things in life and how family is emotionally attached…we wanted to show that,” Karki told IANS.
“We wanted to explore topics that have not been explored by others. In the first season, we showed an episode on the family getting a new TV. Maybe the craze for a new TV has gone now but there was a time when there used to discussions on where to keep it. Most middle-class families are like that,” he added.
“The Aam Aadmi Family”, hosted on the YouTube channel of Timeliners — a millennial focussed lifestyle channel — is the story of a Punjabi family nestled in the heart of West Delhi.
“We are in Delhi and it is easier to portray a Delhi-based family. When we made the show, our main motive was to reach out to all the middle-class families, irrespective of the city,” he said.
“TV shows are not portraying the way an actual middle-class family is. So, it was a brilliant opportunity for us to come up with the idea of ‘aam aadmi’.”
Has its title got anything to do with Delhi’s ruling political party Aam Aadmi Party?
“It’s nothing like that. We could have picked a name in French to be cool but there was no point. The title itself gives away that it is about an ‘aam aadmi’ family. We wanted the title to be simple so that the audience looks at the name and clicks on it,” said Karki.
As far as the inspiration for the digital show goes, he said: “The biggest inspiration was are our parents. Also, we were inspired by shows like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’. Those shows were beautiful and not over the top.”
His show is set to return with Season 3.
“The topics will be as simple as they have been in the first two seasons. We will make more relatable episodes,” said the director.
Would he want his digital show to be aired on TV?
“I think it is better where it is right now. It would feel good if it gets aired on TV because multiple audiences will get to watch it but we have the freedom here. We have had episodes that were of 15 minute-duration or were 22 minutes long. We can cut scenes.
“But with TV, there might be many constraints like time, channel and creative because of which we might not be able to deliver the kind of quality show that we would like to,” he said.