Figure this - Does the Meerut fire tragedy and Salman Khan's legal tangle receive the same footage on TV news? Well, almost the same, and in fact I won't be surprised if the latter actually receives more footage. After all, Bollywood stars remain our all-time national obsession.

What food was Salman served in the Jodhpur Central jail, who all came to meet him along with the Bollywood brigade etc etc... For the last few days it has been one of our bad boy's of Bollywood who has been providing all the fodder for news channel to chew on. Some aggressively went ahead with special bulletins, packaging it with rather filmy names like Salakhon ke peechey Salman and Maine Shikaar Kyun kiya while others dug out all the historical footage on Salman's legal battles.

As if the footage around Jodhpur's Central Jail wasn't enough, viewers got the actor's full life being scrutinized and analysed. The black buck case, the road accident case, beating up his former girlfriend (read Ash) in a drunken state. And, of course, some of the channels didn't miss out on the opportunity to play up the tapes which had the alleged conversation with Aishwarya "revealing" his connections to the underworld.

Lost in all this footage, was Salman's own statement which somehow stayed with me. He said, 'I have the seeds of my own destruction in me. I don't know why I do certain things.' Just when I was about to reach for the remote, I saw some footage of underworld don Arun Gawli on his foray into films. It seems shooting has started in Dagdi Chawl in Mumbai... Now, do we really know this?

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Moving on from underworld dons to real people and real issues. I find some of the studio discussions on NDTV India rather interesting though not necessarily enlightening. Sunday evening, I caught a rather heated and unusual discussion on the institution of marriage. So, it seems men are from Mars and women from Venus. Debunking the institution of marriage, a rather vociferous & aggressive young girl on the show proposed live-in relationships to save women from the tyranny of it all.

An elderly gentleman had to bear questions like do you ever help out in the house? Have you ever made tea? Well, well - some of the points raised seemed too clichéd and it all also ended on a rather cliched conclusion with the anchor declaring ye to Shaadi ka Laddoo hain....

Since, we're on Shaadi, I find Zee's Saat Phere Saloni Ka Safar getting more aggressive by the day. Aggressive, as in, in terms of its dialogues, melodrama and overall treatment. The characters seem real people who scream their lungs out when angry. Targeted at the middle classes, the show is not just about matimonial hassles in the Indian context, but In-law strife and issues like dowry etc. No wonder, this story weaved around the story of a dark-skinned girl and the adversaries she faces in her life is doing well because it addressing real issues faced by millions of girls.

By the way, our new dusky protagonist (debutant Rajashree Thakur) has also grown tremendously with the serial.

Since, we are on Shaadi & barbadi, we'll soon have another soap on the battle of the sexes - Suno… Harr Dill Kuchh Kehtaa Hai, a daily on Sahara One Television. it's going to be a story of girl who has the unique gift of being able to read the minds of the opposite sex.

Since, we are on soaps, Star's new offering Pyaar Ke Do Naam...Ek Raadha Ek Shyaam again offers a refreshing change So, is the channel finally moving away from its regular weepy sagas.

Coming from the Rajshri stable, who are currently riding high on the success of Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki on Sahara; Pyaar... looks like a simple love story straight from the heart. What is particularly interesting is that the show has a certain haunting quality to it, with a theme of reincarnation weaved in. Way to go...