Into the primetime slots densely populated with insipid tearjerkers and scripted reality shows, Amrita TV launches a show seldom seen in the demography of Malayalam Television schedules- a sitcom series, Just Fun Chumma. Propelled by youth power, the light breezy entertainer of a show that will add the sparkle of fizz to weekend evenings, will be launched on October 29th and telecast Monday to Thursday at 8.30pm.
Just Fun –Chumma is a new generation serial that comes in the wake of the new wave in cinema which has sent formula-ridden themes crashing out of box-office reckonings and swept the Mollywood beachfront clean of stale offerings; devoid of hackneyed plots and convoluted story line, Just Fun-Chumma with its fresh faces, new topic and different treatment may start a ripple that will transform the maximum viewership space in Television.
Modeled on the immensely popular American series F.R.I.E.N.D.S that ran for 10 seasons, Just Fun –Chumma is a situational comedy or sit-com that fields a regular set of 4-6 characters sharing the same environment and repeated in each episode. Each installment is a complete, self-contained independent story with its own conflict and resolution, so that the viewers can join in at any point of the series without missing the earlier plot line.
The star cast consists of five, 20-something youngsters, as natty in their dress as they are trendy in their outlook and attitudes: Roy, the do-gooder NRI, a responsible big bro who has opened a coffee-shop; Tony the irresponsible younger sibling for whom life is one long, flirtatious fling; the rustic Anand, a wannabe actor who sets out for the big city, promising his parents he will return a hero; Parvathy, a health obsessed, materialistic, gym instructor and Sarah , a bubbly hotel management graduate, who is a health freak reaching for her mop at the slightest excuse.
The setting is completely urban, with the action taking place either in the flat they all share or the coffee shop where they hang out together. The story of each episode spins out naturally from their daily lives, their routines and the interactions between the characters, Anand with his idiocies, Tony getting into scrapes, Parvathy doling out free advice, Roy trying to maintain peace and so on. All the 5 characters are given equal prominence, with none in the shade of another and contribute in equal measure to the fun element
The script is penned by a block of writers, one for each major character, with each scenarist being responsible for the lines, reactions and actions of one particular personality in the serial; the individual dialogues are then compiled into the complete script for each episode. By assigning characters to different scenarists instead of letting one writer handle all , the individual identity of each character is maintained throughout .The dialogues are utterly natural, in the characteristic young-speak peppered with colloquialisms used in everyday life, without a trace of the dramatic flourishes and high-flown rhetoric that makes serials sound so unreal and artificial.
The humor that soaks through the entire episode arises from the hilarious and sometimes bizarre situations they get themselves into and the comedy that ensues when they try to wriggle out of those tight corners.It is not the sort that will set one rolling about in uncontrollable paroxysms of laughter but of a milder variety that keeps one amused and feeling happy, the dead pan one-liners, ready repartees and jokes at another’s expense eliciting a smile or a little laugh at the most.
In contrast to the video graphic language of usual serials, chock-full of clichéd angle arches and predictable zooms, Just Fun Chumma is cinematic in presentation with the visual richness and typical of the silver screen.
Just Fun-Chumma is captained by Sabu who shot to fame as the helmsman of the first candid camera show in Malayalam, Tharikida and also steered other original shows like Attahasam and Enthum Cheyyum Sukumaran to success.
Just Fun-Chumma with its vibrant characters, droll situations and light hearted comedy which the youth and the young at heart can easily identify with, will in the near future , sow the seeds of welcome change in the television programme scenario.
Smitha Sivaji
Amrita TV