Yudh (War), is a dark, depressing, but gripping watch. Anil Kapoor’s 24 is an action packed, edge-of-the-seat thriller that kept up to speed throughout season one last year. Season two is due soon. Both didn’t quite set the television screens on fire but are symbols of an important change sweeping the R43,000-crore Indian television industry its attempt to push the envelope in fiction.

For the last five odd years, it had become fashionable to throw money at the need to get an audience and, therefore, the advertiser. Get a big star in an event-based show, and ratings and revenues were sure to follow. It started with Amitabh Bachchan in Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000, but had become standard operating practice in most broadcasting houses. Now, two things are changing the whole dynamic of content production.