After a busy stint in Pakistan, director Tarun Mathur had gone on a self-imposed exile for a while as he felt that the industry did not accord much importance to directors. He feels that while television serials have become completely commercial, story selection too is not being done in a proper way.

Those who are not very familiar with the name Tarun Mathur, let us tell them that this director had directed numerous serials for television.

His directorial ventures include ‘Parikrama', ‘Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan' and others. Along with Dheeraj Kumar he directed ‘Kahan Gaye Woh Log', a popular serial that traced the lives of unknown and forgotten freedom fighters.

He also directed a serial titled ‘Adha Sach Adha Jhooth' for Rajesh Khanna. His other directorial works for the television includes ‘Banjara Guest House', ‘Aawaz Ki Duniya', aired by DD and produced by Mahendra Kapoor, and a few episodes of ‘Rishtey' and ‘X -Zone' for Zee.

He has also directed the award winning tele-film ‘Apna Ghar'. He has also released a film in Jakarta amidst a warm response.

He has also been to neighboring nation to make television serials as also to conduct a writing workshop for the Pakistan TV and found the system better there.

He says, "I feel that the television industry has not only become out-and-out commercial today, but is also in a chaos. I was surprised to see television serial directors using duplicates for long shots.

Recently, I was working with a cameraman and asked him to zoom, and he started a noise ‘Shooooooooooooooooo'. When I asked him what he was up to, he nonchalantly replied that he was doing so to get a rhythm in his work.

When I told him that such actions would disturb the actors and affect the voice recordings, he surprised me saying, ‘there's no such problem as the scenes would be dubbed'.

I feel bad because the television industry has gained popularity and monetarily, but lost discipline. These aspects need improvement."

He adds, "In Pakistan the working conditions are more favorable. They are nice and cooperative people and have a good pool of talented writers. Only they lack in technology."

According to Tarun, people in Pakistan are very enthusiastic about Indian television shows and the ‘saas-bahu' type serials are very popular among the Pakistani audience.

Mathur has some interesting notes for the Indian serial produces from Pakistan. He says that while he was conducting his workshops there, many raised questions as to why many Indian directors and producers were so inclined to make serials and films on ‘bhoot-prets' (ghosts).

The Pakistani intellectuals are of the view that such topics should be shunned as they only ruin the minds of the people.

He said that when he was put this question again and again, he suggested the Pakistani views to either enjoy the serials from their entertainment point of view, or simply change the channel with the remote!

Mathur said that he told the people across the border that serials are produced from the economic point of view too and if someone finds that making a soap on ‘bhoot-prets' will succeed, then he would definitely go for it.

Mathur is now engaged with an Indo-Pak film venture produced by Eveready Films and also making a serial for the Pakistan television. He also plans to direct a couple of serials for the Indian television and longs to have his own production house soon.