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Of
late there's a lot of cross-pollination going on… Television
seems to get progressively more symbiotic, especially on Sony
Entertainment.
 Rajeshwari,
who plays the spirited social activist in Rihhaee,
showed up on the rapidly declining Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin
as a fiery protestor charging Armaan (Apurva Agnihotri)
with sexual harassment.
Whatever happened to Good Old Jassi, her spectacles and her
middle class demeanour? I've never come across a more wayward
soap in my life. Everything in Jassi, from the cast
of characters to the character of the cast has gone downhill.
There was a time when one actually looked forward to seeing
Jassi's angelic attempts to find space at a high-class modeling
agency. Now, when she's glamorized to look like one of them
the shine has gone out of the old wine.
Rihhaee, too, has slumped. From being a hard-hitting
look at the crusader's conflicts, it has moved into turgid
territory. Last week we even had an item song - if you please!
- by one of the Indian Idol finalists Prajakta Shukre.
Soon after, a model-friend was bumped off and Shukre began
to get threatening calls.
 How
on earth does this qualify as a women's issue??? Rihhaee
is among the better happenings on television in recent times.
Let's keep it that way, huh?
I
was appalled to see Pooja's elder sister in Sony's Ye Meri
Life Hai undergo a 'see' change. The original actress
has been replaced without a murmer of explanation. Of course
long-running soaps are susceptible to such changes of guard.
But shouldn't we be gradually introduced to the radical facial
makeover instead of pretending nothing has changed?
****
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It's
sad to see the truly deserving getting swamped in
all sorts of kitschy contradictions. Not too many
people watched the gifted documentary filmmaker Minnie
Vaid's enigmatic, enchanting, enrapturing excursion
into a nature-driven community of Meghalaya. The film
entitled Sacred Forests Of Meghalaya was screened
on Doordarshan some time ago. Does anyone know? This
is a pity, really. Green, the presiding colour in
this celebration of nature, isn't translatable on
national television.
I wish the satellite channels would create a slot
specially for docu-films. Eminently gifted filmmakers
like Minnie Vaid would get a chance to have their
say.
Say
what you will, but non-fiction programming gets a
raw deal on the home viewing medium unless it happens
to be a celebrity talk-show.
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The
political prattle on the news channels is getting way out
of hand. We had Tonight At 10 on CNBC this week where
terrorism was being discussed as an "emotive issue"
(whatever that means). But hello? The same discussion was
shown twice over a period of half an hour!
We realize intellectual discussions aren't quite the common
man's domain. But surely we need to go easy on driving in
the point.
The incessant hammering of the Salman Khan tapes got my
goat. Surely we need to exercise more self-control in matters
that have to do with paparazzi-styled scandals. One Hindi
news channel - desperately trying to consolidate its position
- sent out SMS messages to all and sundry to 'hear' the
Salman tapes on screen.
One thought audio kicks were for radio only. Besides, the
voice on the soundtrack was so blurred (or was it slurred?)
we couldn't make out what it was saying. So why go into
it in the first place?
****
Lately,
the talent-scouting shows are becoming the hottest kicks
in town. And never mind if most of them follow the bully-the-wannabe
role-model from the West. Perhaps realizing how tough the
going gets for the contestants, principal Ila Arun in Fame
Gurukul sat down a contestant and wept with him as he
spoke about his tough fatherless childhood. This get-to-know-the-aspirant
approach is commendable, as long as it doesn't become an
exercise in self indulgence.
The closing episode of Zee's Closeup Antakshari was
quite the most memorable event I've seen on television lately.
There were tears galore… by the gallon, in fact. Host
Anu Kapoor invited all his co-hostesses from Pallavi Joshi
to Richa Sharma to Durga Jasraj to Rajeshwari Sawant to
join him on stage to sing farewell songs.
But where-oh-where were Renuka Shahane and Shefali Shah
who co-hosted Antakshari many moons ago. Admittedly,
they are now mired in motherhood. But surely they could
have made an effort to drop the curtain on one of the most
momentous musical events on Indian television. And they
were part of it.
It would be hard to forget Anu Kapoor and his achievements
on Antakshari. More so now, when there's so much
that's plainly mediocre.
One
soap that conveys some hope is Star One's Siddhanth.
This week's guest actor was Arif Zakaria. As a defence lawyer
arguing on behalf of a man accused of being rsepomsible
for the bad road conditions precipitating a woman's miscarriage,
Zakaria was quite watchable.
 But
of course the counter-opinion in courtroom won. This is
one of those rare shows where the the good guy gets to have
an upper hand. Otherwise, it's the meanies who are having
a ball. Just see the way the popular soaps are going. Meanie
No.1 Mandira (Achint Kaur) has practically taken over the
show from super-heroine Tulsi in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi
Bahu Thi.
Is she neurotic or plain bananas? Who cares? As long as
the TRPs sing a heartening tune.
(The
views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
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