PAPA SHIRANDULA
Papa Shirandula is a Kenyan television comedy serial aired on Citizen TV every Thursday. It follows the comical events in the life of Papa Shirandula and his family, as he tries to maintain the façade that he works as a manager, while he is in truth a watchman. The show embraces Kenyan communities and the diversity between them through multicultural characters and their interaction. The characters include Papa Shirandula and his wife Willbroda, their daughter Naliaka and his in-laws Jalang’o and Otoyo. His workmates also play major roles in the TV show; his boss Juma Anderson and co-worker Njoroge are pieces in the puzzle of Papa’s life.
A few episodes that I watched for the purposes of this study (and otherwise) were particularly entertaining:
Episode 1:
Papa goes to his rural home in search of a housemaid. When he finally takes her to his home in Nairobi, Wilbroda and Naliaka ridicule her backward ways. The women also have to deal with spoilt meat bought by Naliaka
Episode 2:
Naliaka is a candidate for KCSE exams. Papa has to buy her clipboard and stationery for the exams, but he is (as ususal) short on cash. He tells his daughter to go to school without the required marerials, promising to provide them as soon as possible. Ths episode ends before the conflict is resolved- we are left unaware of whether Papa succeeds in buying the stationery.
Episode 3:
While Papa and Willbroda are separated, Papa has a Caucasian penpal, Stephanie. She travels to Kenya and gets to meet him. Papa uses Juma Anderson’s office to fool her by posing as the manager, with Njoroge’s help. Papa’s attempts to speak English are comical. When she suggests that they go for dinner, he is faces with a dilemma since he is, as usual, broke. She ends up paying for his meal and then proposing marriage to her. Amusingly, she accepts his proposal and goes with him to his home. Jalang’o interrupts the couple and proceeds to embarrass Papa with his folly.
Episode 4:
Papa has borrowed money from several of his workmates to keep up with the demands of his family. His debtors grow impatient and approach him, demanding their money. Papa is unable to pay, and argues with them. When they leave, a man promoting Ariel detergent approaches him, offering free detergent. This is a relief for Papa, and he takes several sachets of the product.
Episode 5:
Jalang’o and Otoyo are commissioned by Willbroda to sell at her kiosk, Will-P Shop. They are terrible salesmen, and drive customers away. Jalang’o makes a young girl pregnant in the shop. Her parents, on discovering that he is the father of the girls unborn child, demand that he marries her. Jalang’o denies association with her, and her parents call the police. Jalang’o is the arrested for impregnating a minor.
Episode 6:
With Jalang’o in jail, Otoyo is without a companion. However, the police arrest him on charges that he stole coats and clothes from his rural home before fleeing to Nairobi. He is sent to jail, but we are aware that it is a separate place from Jalang’o’s confinement.
CRITIQUE:
The episodes of Papa Shirandula that I have watched are of high quality in terms of production values like lighting and sound.
Lighting is used for basic illumination- the production of the show relies largely on natural lighting, and I did not notice the use of lighting for creative (or very limited) shadowing. There is no use of light colors (gels) creating a unified feel for all interior scenes across episodes. This type of lighting is relevant to the simplicity of the TV show, but would leave the creative visual viewer without stimulation.
The sound in Papa Shirandula is dominated by a soundtrack- a melancholy melody played on a flute (or instrument of some sort). This tune is played at the turning points of the stories in each episode. The audio from the scenes are also well recorded- up to standard for TV production. However, the monotony of the tune episode after episode is uncreative. It is wearisome to hear the same tune played each time something happens, with no variation for different moods.
The camera angles and movements in the show are up to standard- there is good use of the basic camera movements and shots, well framed and steady. However, the camera operation, like the lighting, is simplistic and basic. There is minimal use of creative angles and movements, and the camera is used simply to capture the relevant action; again, this leaves the visually alert viewer disappointed.
Product placement is a prominent component of most episodes of Papa Shirandula. Several goods are advertised on the show, including Ariel and Royco, and services like the KCB savings account. While this is an important source of funding for most TV shows, the product placement in Papa Shirandula is distastefully done; with the storyline diverting to accommodate obvious promotion for the products, or including irrelevant scenes to do the same.
In general, Papa Shirandula is an entertaining TV show that minimizes elitism through familiarity to most urban and rural Kenyans. However, the show can be better produced to appeal to a more international audience, not by altering the content, but by increasing the creative use of lighting, sound and camera operations.
By Loi Odhiambo 09-0882
loiawat@yahoo.com, loiodhiambo@yahoo.com
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