Do women make better serials?
‘’Yes,’’ replies actress Achint Kaur who plays Pixie in Kittie Party, ‘’because women tend to get into the details, the nuances of life, and weave them into the serial; they really concentrate on aspects that make a serial good.

So, having Shobhaa De as script writer and Tamara Nendumgadi as director may have impacted Kittie Party positively." Simone Singh, who plays Heena in the serial of the same name, agrees. "On a certain level, of course, you’re more comfortable working with another woman; and certainly women directors are very intuitive. I have worked with directors like Tamara, Aruna Raje and Tanuja Chandra. Tamara can tap into your feelings and know what you’re thinking and work with that; and Tanuja is so insightful about human nature; but I do believe that is more an individual thing rather a gender thing.’’

According to Uma Maheshwari, who anchors the hugely popular Tamil programme Pepsi—Ungaal (Your) Choice on Sun Television, (running for the longest time in Indian television history using the same concept — viewers dial in and choose their favourite songs and chat on air with Uma), "Women, by and large, are more expressive than men.

"For a woman to make it on television, looking great is not enough. You have to be talented, otherwise you will reach saturation point very fast. It isn’t easy for women to remain in this field because they usually tend to enjoy a small phase of popularity and once married, they almost always tend to move on and do other things, and television becomes a passing phase.

"It has been rare for women in television to stay on and reinvent themselves for this medium but I think this will change in the years to come, because of the success and appeal they’ve had with viewers.’’

With inputs from Primrose Monteiro-Dsouza, Mumbai; Purabi Shridhar, Reshmi Chakraborty and Seema Chowdhry-Sharma, Delhi; Meenakshi Doctor, Chennai; and Jeena Mitra Banik, Kolkata


Cable & Satellite (C&S)
Average Time Spent per day: (Males)133
Average Time Spent per day: (Females) 153
Conclusion: In the four metros, women audiences spend almost 15% more time watching TV

Serial Killer
Findings of a recent Harvard School of Public Health research have revealed that prolonged TV watching is directly related to obesity and type 2 diabetes. It was found that each two hours per day of TV watching was statistically associated with a 23 per cent jump in obesity and a 14 per cent rise in diabetes. In contrast, each one hour a day of brisk walking reduced obesity by 24 per cent and diabetes by 34 per cent.

Even standing or walking around at home two hours a day reduced obesity by 9 per cent and diabetes by 12 per cent. Compared with other sedentary activities including sewing, playing board games, reading, writing and driving a car, TV watching results in a lower metabolic rate. Prolonged TV watching is also associated with obesity in children.

It’s the soaps that bring on the addiction. Women, it seems, are not big on news, business or sports, the recent World Cup being an exception, of course

What you can do when your significant other is addicted to the TV, and more or less ignores you:
* Ask if they didn’t watch this same thing last month?
* Pretend to be asleep and snore loudly
* Ask if they would explain what’s happened so far?
* Change the channel
* Ask detailed questions about each character
* Ask when lunch/dinner/snack is going to be ready
* Eat a big bag of anything crunchy
* Shout “Wow !”, “Oh !” and “Ahhhhh” at inappropriate moments
* Start practising your golf swings in the middle of the room
* Pretend to be asleep and whisper the name of someone you know of the opposite sex
* Pretend to be asleep and whisper the name of someone you know of the same sex
* Ask who did the make-up for the players
* Get round to fixing the satellite dish or antenna
* Refer to their favourite actor/actress disdainfully
* Hide the remote control
* Water the artificial plant on top of the television
* Say “I want a divorce/separation”
* Set all the clocks in the house back three hours
* Meditate, loudly
* Play any computer game on your laptop; cheer yourself on
* Call your mother on the portable/cell phone while watching TV
* Keep checking the TV Guide for alternate shows currently on
* Get some tissue and clean the screen every five minutes
* Tell them not to believe anything the neighbours say

Photograph: Vaibhav Nadgaonkar
Models: Meenal, Madhura, Pallavi, Mangesh,Balwindar,Pritam,Harshal,Dingo
Location Courtesy: Balkrishna Thomare