There were times when Bollywood actors didn't touch television. Doordarshan ruled the roost and the only programme worth watching on TV were Bollywood movies or Chitarhaar. The only other appreciable programme was celebrity interviews by Tabassum and it was called 'Phool Khile Hein Gulshan Gulshan'.

Things started changing when 'Hum Log' serial started getting telecast on Doordarshan and this followed by very successful serial 'Buniyaad' featuring Alok Nath in the lead. Humour genre took center stage with 'Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi'. This Friday telecast stopped the whole India and this was followed by 'Nukaad'. Nukaad was also an instant hit and it carried out for long.

The above scenario was there before the advent of Zee TV in 1992 when the govt. allowed the setting up of private channels. 'Saanp Seedi' took center stage and this reality show hosted by Mohan Kapoor was the start of reality shows in India. It opened up a plethora of opportunities for fringe actors.


Things changed dramatically after Kaun Banega Crorepati and Bigg Boss started airing in 2000 and 2006 respectively. Amitabh Bachan started the trend of getting into the idiot box and Salman Khan soon made his entry with Dus Ka Dum. Shah Rukh also aped the trend with Season 3 of KBC in 2007 but without much success. Akshay Kumar followed suit with 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' and then how could Aamir be far behind. He came up with Satyamev Jayarte in 2012.

After the relative failure of 'Dus Ka Dum' by Salman Khan, he was taken as a show host of Bigg Boss and now he's a quintessential part of this successful reality show. This trend also made other big names like Karan Johar coming up with Koffee With Karan in 2004 and Rohit Shetty in Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2014.


And for all the above, Colors TV is basically responsible for this trend when they made a foray into India in November of 2007. They started a number of programmes but their emphasis was primarily on reality shows. Though Sony started the trend, Colors made the audience eating out of their hands.

One successful programme followed another. Some celebrities have literally made TV shows their second home. May it be Shilpa Shetty, Kapil Sharma, Bharti Singh, Kirron Kher, Malaika Arora, Shakti Mohan, Remo D' Souza, Terence, Maneish Paul and a host of others. This list is simply endless. And Kanwaljeet was the father of Indian television. He started with Buniyaad and he still continues to appear on TV even after appearing in it for the first time in 1986.

Shekhar Suman is another actor along with Annu Kapoor who had their moolah with television. Now, this trend though very popular in the West has taken roots in India. Now the reasons are quite obvious. Lack of good movies being on offer for everybody and the accompanying money. We shall talk about it in part 2 of this write-up.

For Part 2 Click here