Before glossy family soaps dominated television, Indian TV often found humour in hardship. Indian TV used to be biting and edgy but also so innately desi, with humour rooted in aspects that are deeply woven into our cultural fabric. From navigating corrupt government offices to surviving neighbourhood chaos and economic instability, shows documented the absurdities of working- and middle-class life with wit and warmth. They reflected a reality where bureaucracy was exhausting and money was always tight, but never without humour. Set against backdrops that we see everywhere in our lives, they also served as social archives of an India in transition, one grappling with urbanisation and widening economic anxieties along with its own lofty aspirations.

Even though they came out decades ago, these shows remain eerily relevant because the systems and inequalities they satirised continue to shape everyday life in India. What has allowed their legacy to endure is their understanding of a truth that remains unchanged: for many Indians, everyday life often involves negotiating systems that feel exhausting, indifferent, or stacked against them. They also in turn, recognised that resilience often emerges through the ability to laugh at situations that might otherwise feel unbearable.

Here are three Indian television shows that have underlined the nuances and absurdities of middle and working-class life:

Nukkad was a pioneer in this genre. Set around a neighbourhood street corner, the show followed mechanics, shopkeepers, labourers, teachers, and unemployed youth trying to navigate everyday precarity with humour. It explored issues like unemployment, inflation, debt, alcoholism, and housing insecurity without ever becoming overly grim. Instead, Nukkad found warmth in collective struggle, portraying how communities survived hardship not through institutions, but through each other. Directed by savants of Indian parallel cinema like Kundan Shah (Jaane Bhi Do Yaar) and Saeed Akhtar Mirza ( Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai ), in many ways, it was one of Indian television’s earliest and most empathetic portraits of the urban working class.

If there was ever a show that perfectly distilled the frustration of India’s bureaucratic machinery, it was Office Office. Through the endlessly exasperated Mussadi Lal, played by Pankaj Kapur, the sitcom turned everyday administrative nightmares into biting satire. Whether dealing with corrupt clerks, inefficient departments, or absurd paperwork, the show spotlighted struggles painfully familiar to middle and working-class Indians who lacked privilege or influence to “speed up” systems. Beneath the humour was a sharp critique of how corruption disproportionately burdened ordinary citizens, forcing them to waste time, money, and dignity simply to access basic services.

At first glance, F.I.R. appeared to be a slapstick police comedy built around eccentric characters and exaggerated humour. But beneath its absurdity is a commentary on everyday struggles faced by ordinary citizens interacting with institutions meant to serve them. Set in a chaotic police station, the show often revolved around bizarre complaints rooted in domestic disputes, workplace exploitation, neighbourhood tensions, and petty survival conflicts — many emerging from lower and middle-class realities. Through humour and exaggeration, F.I.R. captured the improvisation and resilience embedded in everyday life, even if it softened those struggles through comedy.

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