Home entertainment

The black market in DVDs of TV shows is booming, probably capitalising on the weakness of the formal market.

The face of TV today is completely different from five years ago. Now not only are we producing TV serials, documentaries and even whole news channels by the dozen, we're also importing the best TV shows from abroad.

Even a couple of years ago, if you wanted to watch the latest American TV shows, you would have to pop down to the nearest representative of our booming black market, or if you were in Delhi, the sprawling environs of Pallika Bazaar, or ask the next relative flying down from phoren to pick you up a DVD.

Today, even if the latest seasons aren't on TV, the shows are, and this has created hype enough to encourage the Music Worlds and Planet Ms of the country to stock complete sets of DVDs and VCDs, most of which are flying off the shelves.

However, it is only a handful of shows that are creating this hype. You're not going to find DVDs of The O.C., just recently introduced to TV channels here, or even Sex and the City in very many places, and as for lesser known shows that are making it big in the States or the UK, such as 24, the new show starring Keifer Sutherland where one episode represents an hour of real time, and the entire first season only spans one day (hence the title), forget it. You're only going to get your staples of Friends, Lost and Desperate Housewives in most mainstream stores.

Friends is mostly available in the earlier seasons, usually up to season five, but the later ones are also starting to trickle in. You can buy a DVD of Friends for anywhere between Rs 394 at Planet M, and Rs 599 at Music World. A VCD will cost you much less, around Rs 150 at Planet M. Two-season sets of Lost and Desperate Housewives are available for Rs 2,000 each as packs of 3 DVDs in New Delhi.

"While we used to have shows such as Sex and the City and Mind Your Language in the store, there is just not as much demand for them as these three big American shows. And companies don't import any other American shows, so we can't stock them. And in any case, we don't really get very many requests for them either," says Amit, a store manager in New Delhi.

This selection is the staple at most big stores across the country. In Mumbai, the Crossword bookstore's flagship store, the selection comprises only the first season of Desperate Housewives, available for Rs 2,000 for a pack of six DVDs, and all 10 seasons of Friends, available for Rs 2,495 per season, sets of five DVDs. Such has been the popularity of Lost that it is sold out, but other than these three, no other shows are available.

If you're looking for selection, however, and are willing to nobly eschew the black market, maybe the best plan would be to hop on the first flight and head out to the City of Joy; for the shows that are still making it big in stores such as Musicworld, Landmark, Crossword and Planet M in Kolkata are golden oldies such as the BBC's Yes Minister, Mind Your Language (a set is available for Rs 1,999, or you can buy 5 DVDs individually, each worth Rs 299).

Perhaps thanks to the recent film Narnia, the TV adaptation of the C S Lewis classic by the BBC from 1988-90, is also flying off the shelves at Musicworld, as are shows such as the BBC's natural history series Space, Life of Mammals and Blue Planet.

However, in tune with the general refrain, Desperate Housewives is also available (season one in a three DVD pack, Rs 1,999), as is Lost (a seven DVD pack, Rs 1,999).

"If I want to buy DVDs of foreign shows, I just go to Pallika Bazaar," says Sonali, a journalist from New Delhi.

"Apart from the fact that you wouldn't even get shows like The O.C. or old comedies like Seinfeld in mainstream stores, they're usually much cheaper at Pallika as well. You just have to resign yourself to the fact that all the VCDs will not be of the best quality, and some will not work at all. However, nowadays, shopkeepers are getting better at keeping up a certain level of service, and some will even agree to send someone to your house to exchange the faulty VCD for a better one." So much for the white market.

Additional inputs from Gargi Gupta in Kolkata and Arati Menon Carroll in Mumbai