BackThat nineties show
As Channel V prepares to return to its music roots, a trip down its brand of disruptive, 'desi' cool
Premium
Last month, TV and entertainment circles were abuzz with rumours that Channel V, Star India’s long-running youth channel, was going to shut down. On 11 May, fans took to Twitter to seek confirmation of the rumour and to ask Star to reconsider the decision, using the hashtag #SaveChannelVIndia. Publications like India Today and Mid-Day ran stories. The channel was forced to issue a clarification on Twitter: “Thanks for the love guys, but we’re not going anywhere. We’re reinventing ourselves as a youth music channel."
The fiction and reality TV shows that have been the mainstay of the channel since 2012 will end on 30 June and viewers can expect an all-new Channel V from 1 July. A Star spokesperson said, “Channel V will be revamped as a youth-focused music brand effective July 1," but didn’t divulge any details.
This is the latest in a string of reinventions for the channel, which has been around since the early days of youth-focused television in India. Twenty-two years after it started and four years after it discontinued its music-related programming, Channel V is all set to bring music back to youth television.
The Channel V story began in 1994 when Star TV decided not to renew its contract with MTV because their content wasn’t “Asian enough". Channel V was launched a little less than a month later, in what used to be MTV’s time slot. Aimed at India and South-East Asia, with programmes in Hindi and English, it quickly became the go-to channel for Indian youth. It brought international stars like Michael Jackson, Sting and Madonna to our living rooms and gave Indian youngsters the confidence that they were on a par with everyone else in the world. These were the early days of liberalization, when there was a real sense that India’s youth culture was finally ready to take its place in the world. And with its uber-hip VJs, massive concerts and uniquely desi brand of “cool", Channel V was a creative force.
“It was a great time for creative experimentation and unbridled creativity, fuelled by the sudden exposure to international pop culture trends and psyche," remembers Luke Kenny, who joined the channel as a VJ in 1995 and eventually became the head of music programming and artist relations in 1998, a post he held for 10 years. “Channel V tapped into the urban and upmarket masses who were harbouring intense aspirations of living up to Western mores," says Kenny, who is now an actor and director.
“Before then we were subjected to only a certain type of music, but with Channel V, the whole thing became global," adds writer and former VJ Juhi Pande, who worked with the channel from 2004-13. “We didn’t have to depend on VHS tapes to be able to see the music videos or concerts we wanted to see. It gave us a sense of internal acceptance that we were the same as kids anywhere in the world."
The channel also encouraged many to start making their own music. In the early 1990s, with the advent of the Magnasound record label and artistes like Daler Mehndi, Baba Sehgal and Alisha Chinai, India finally had the makings of an independent, non-Bollywood music industry. And with Channel V—and MTV’s new Indian channel, MTV India—ready and willing to give them airtime, these artistes finally had a way to break into the mainstream.
What followed was the Indipop era, with a number of diverse and highly popular independent musicians taking over the airwaves. At Channel V’s award shows, which started in 1996, Indipop artistes stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s biggest pop stars. Remo Fernandes played bass on stage with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin and Queen’s Roger Taylor. Sting performed an Indian classical version of Every Breath You Take with Shiamak Davar and Talvin Singh. For a brief period, it felt like India was planting its flag in the world of global pop music.
“As Channel V started playing home-grown music alongside music from all over the world, we started feeling like we were not behind in the race of international music any more," says Palash Sen, frontman of popular Hindi rock act Euphoria. “They gave very generous airplay to this huge number of home-grown artistes that suddenly came up. It made non-film musicians into big stars, and they were accepted for who they were and what they did, not who they sang for. And this was what Channel V stood for at the time."
And then there were the VJs. Whether it was the sexy and urbane Sophiya Haque, the walking music encyclopaedia, Kenny, or Meghna Reddy, whom Pande calls “the coolest girl India’s ever had", the channel’s VJs were India’s new merchants of cool. Many of them became bigger celebrities than the stars or musicians they interviewed. They would be mobbed at public events, teenagers would want to dress like them, and they were the final arbiters of what music was cool to listen to.
“The whole concept of having a video jockey who would impart music information or just be the style quotient was a sensation," says Kenny. “The VJ was the friend you never had, an alternative to the pot-bellied, bloated Hindi film heroes/heroines of the time."
The other highlight of Channel V’s early years was its award-winning branding and promotion. With its strong visual identity, a cast of characters such as Udham Singh, Quick Gun Murugan, Lola Kutty, Jawalkar (“without a V") were born. The writers and visualizers liberally used one-liners in the local tongue: “Gheun tak", “Itne paise mein itna-ich milega!". It was a uniquely Indian visual aesthetic—fun, brash and young—which set Channel V apart from the norm in the Indian TV scene of the 1990s. Many of its early catchphrases are still a part of young India’s vocabulary and characters like Simpu Singh and Brought To You Bai are memorable pop culture memes.
“The kind of team we had, it was a lot of people willing to work for zero money just so that they could make magic," says Dynamite Design co-founder and creative director Sheetal Sudhir, who was Channel V’s creative director for nine years, till 2011. “Whether it was doing claymation in the country for the first time with Banjo and Macho—the most ridiculous series we did—or iconic characters like Simpu Singh or Udham Singh, we were creating a brand new identity for ourselves. We were just making fun of ourselves, not bothering about the rest of the world, not being politically correct in any way and just having a ball," adds Sudhir.
In 2002, Channel V launched India’s first reality TV show, Popstars, which signalled a shift of focus. Over the years, as the pressure for higher TRP ratings grew, Star tightened its hold on the channel’s reins, and Channel V transformed from a cool niche channel to a mass entertainment one, with reality shows and youth-oriented serials taking over.
The channel no longer needed its curators of cool. Kenny shifted to a managerial position. Others went on to become actors (Anuradha Menon, the late Haque), TV presenters (Kamal Sidhu, Gaurav Kapur) or models (Nina Manuel, Reddy). On the music front, Bollywood pushed both Western and independent music to the late night time slot before taking over the programming altogether. In 2012, the channel officially discontinued all music content.
Now that it’s set to become a “youth music" channel all over again, those in charge will be well aware of the legacy they have to live up to.
“It was the first slap in the face to any external forces, saying that here’s a bunch of Indian creatives that can take the world by storm," says Sudhir. “Channel V wasn’t just a music channel, it created a counterculture. So many of us found our calling because of that channel."
Or as Menon, better known as Lola Kutty, puts it: “It’s a channel that covered all facets of what’s important in a young person’s life in a fun way, through its characters, its VJs, and even its promos. To capture the imagination of an entire generation of people is amazing."
Chartbusters
Jawalkar without a V
Dressed in a blue uniform with a red sash, like a Latin American military dictator, Jawalkar “without a V" is on a mission to confiscate every ‘V’ in town when he isn’t making sure Michael Jackson’s pelvic thrusts stay within acceptable limits. A great take on censorship and authoritarianism.
Banjo and Macho
Probably the first claymation video on Indian television, Banjo and Macho were Channel V’s space ‘khalasis’, two Punjabi-speaking astronauts who fly into black holes and have encounters with giant space dogs, while shouting “Oye Banjo!" and “Oye Macho!" Classic.
Udham Singh
“Mera naam (my name) Udham Singh, District Meham." Those opening words, from a promo for Channel V’s 1996 awards show, instantly made Munish Makhija into a minor TV institution. Mukhija played VJ Udham Singh, a Haryanvi Jat in a shawl, holding a ‘lathi’ in one hand, who threatens viewers inro voting for the awards (“Nahin to thari khopdi Haryana Roadways ki neeli peeli bus daure"). He’s the VJ who got Haryanvi policemen to watch music television.
Simpu Singh
This turbaned, bearded Sikh schoolteacher and his class full of mischievous pranksters were an integral part of pop culture for those growing up in the early 2000s. These animated shorts were witty, lovable and still elicit chuckles.
Lola Kutty
A character that VJ and actor Anuradha Menon can’t get away from even when she’s playing Sarojini Naidu on stage. This bespectacled, sari-clad Keralite character with her over-the-top accent has interviewed global pop stars, grinded with Shaggy and even starred in Quick Gun Murugan, a 2009 movie based on another memorable Channel V character.
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