Mysore/Mysuru: “I give importance to maintaining a steady a balance between the sentiments of TV serial viewers and commercial considerations of TV channels,” said renowned TV serial director, actor and screenwriter T.N. Seetharam. There is a drastic swing in the choice of new viewers with the advent of innovations in entertainment and screen watching, he added.

 He was speaking at a panel discussion in Kannada on ‘The changes happening through new viewers of the big screen/small screen and the OTT (Over the Top) media’ organised by Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs-2015, at Hotel Southern Star on Vinoba Road this morning.

Pointing out that he had directed over 6,600 episodes of TV serials, Seetharam explained in detail the changing nature of viewing serials and cinemas right from 1993 when he debuted as a director, till today. Recalling that he chiefly focused on the trauma, uncertainty and helplessness of the middle class in his TV serials, he said that he saw much success in this as this got down well with the middle and working classes.

Noting that he took great care to ensure that there is no deviation from decency in his scripts for serials or cinemas, Seetharam said that now with the passage of time, viewers, especially the young ones are getting more attracted to OTT media for entertainment.

Aravind Kuplikar, director of ‘Puksatte Lifu Purusotte Illa’ cinema, said that the number of OTT subscribers is increasing by the day in Southern India. Noting that Karnataka is growing big in content wise in OTT media, Kuplikar said now the people are showing no interest in stories-based on novels.

Observing that viewers, especially the younger generation seems to be more interested in dark content such as crimes, killings, violence etc. he said that the people’s mindset in watching cinemas at theatres have changed following the outbreak of COVID pandemic.

Contending that the pandemic drastically changed the viewing habits of movie buffs, he felt that content writing in web series is getting difficult by the day as the audience is showing little or no interest in novel-based stories or poetic works.

Asserting that actor Puneeth Rajkumar had shown great interest in promoting visual media platforms such as OTT after realising that there was big trend developing in favour of it, he said that it is very unfortunate that the talented actor died at a young age. Kuplikar maintained that watching web series on mobiles, OTT and other visual media platforms will soon become more attractive as days pass by. Journalist Preethi Nagaraj moderated the discussion. Founder-Trustee of Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs Shubha Sanjay Urs  was present.