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Sometimes,
simple shows, simply put together can be a delight to watch.
Like, NDTV India's Zaayka India Ka, hosted by the inimitable
Vinod Dua.
 This
week, Dua took viewers along with him around simple eateries
around Delhi's Connaught Place, that have made a name for
themselves through their delicious dishes. An avowed gourmand,
Dua took obvious delight in walking the lanes of Delhi, pointing
out landmarks, strewing his conversation with Delhi history
and anecdotes and making you feel you were almost walking
along with him on his food journey.
At
the joints, Dua, unburdened by his image of veteran journalist,
unbent to chat with the proprietors, mixed with the crowds
to ask their opinions and sampled the fare with obvious relish.
There have been many such shows across many such channels,
but many take your attention away by focussing too much on
the host (particularly, if it's a celeb, or neo-celeb). Several
have no idea of the locales they are treading or any knowledge
of the fare they are sampling.
Dua
was a delight with a difference. Discovery Travel and Living
has been promising similar stuff with food connoisseur Vir
Sanghvi as host, but it's been quiet on the promo front for
a while. Perhaps the show has launched, quietly, and is awaiting
viewer discovery.
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Elsewhere,
news channels have been grappling with the issue of
the next president, with debates, opinion polls and
long winded analyses dotting the newscape the past
week. All of which turned on its head on Thursday,
and channels scrambled to get the lowdown on the low
key Pratibha Patil, who sudddenly, it seems, may just
bag the coveted post. And give the channels another
chance to run yet another poll on Patil's chances
in the presidential stakes.
Aaj
Tak took a detour to a Rajasthan village this week
to blow the cover off a 'baba' who had been
pretending to suck milk from his little finger these
past 40 years. Aided by a local ratiionalist outfit,
the channel shadowed the holy man for a day and uncovered
the secret of his trick - imbibing enough milk before
his daily showtime of 4 pm, and then pretending the
milk was actually flowing through his finger!
Not
all channels like to rub viewers' faith the wrong
way, though. India TV's special reports bear this
out. This week, the channel aired specials of holy
men indulging in 'shav sadhana' (corpse worship,
literally) inside graveyards somewhere in Meerut,
and cobras making their home in a Shiv temple somewhere
near Benares. A lot of reportage was dedicated to
detailing the antics of the holy men and the cobras,
with not much effort to explain the logic behind the
phenomenon or to uncover the charades of the holy
men, if any.
Then,
the channel tracked a pet monkey near Hardoi, somewhere
in the interiors of Uttar Pradesh, and detailed how
it is made up with cheap cosmetics every day, given
liquor to drink and then made to perform. It was gruesome
to watch, but the reportage stressed on the 'rangeelee
bandariya' instead. There was hardly an effort
to find out why the monkey's owners subject it to
such torture.
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Big
loser
 Across,
on Sahara One, the show by the same name could turn into
The Biggest Loser itself. If the show needs to be
spruced up, it might do well to change the host for starters.
Suniel Shetty no longer has star appeal among viewers, nor
does he do himself credit as a host. His conversations with
the participants are insipid, his observations dull and
there is no effort on his part to encourage sparkling debate
among the participants.
As
a result, the proceedings are reduced to dull records of
their days inside their Amby Valley residences. The format
of the show, too unfortunately, does not allow much scope
for the loves, hates and fights that add the necessary spice
to a reality show.
Musical
chairs
 Balaji
is meanwhile trying to cross-pollinate its shows, across
channels. So, Ronit Roy 'Mihir' has been planted into Zee's
Kasamh Se, and Ram 'Jay Walia' Kapoor has been planted
into Kyunki... soil, perhaps in an effort to infuse
fresh energy into both shows. If you are not completely
clued in to both shows on a daily basis, it just makes you
feel cross-eyed
Couch
potato tip - It took them longer, but Indian Idol
seems to have decided to take a leaf from the Sanjaya
Malakar episode on American Idol. The buzz is that communities
are being formed to oust a similar contestant, Suhit Gosain.
All's fair in the TRP war.
(The
views expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
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