| Bright
is the colour of the season. As hues of bright red, orange and yellow
adorn the small screen, looks like tellywood is all in a masti
mood. So, while it's G for throwing gulal with gusto, and R
for
rang barse
-
so just throw it, splash it across the screen, as you wait for the
next commercial break to arrive. Sounds inane… Well, that's what
I am getting on about. I caught a funny looking reporter from Times
Now asking some real weird and meaningless questions to people on
the street --- "So maam, do you play Holi? Why? And if not why
not?..." Sound byte journalism? Why not go a bit deeper into
the significance of Holi, any mythological significance behind it
or just how's it celebrated across the country? Well, to be fair to
the reporter, maybe the airhead conversation was all conducted keeping
the spirit of the season in mind.
Taking
it further, it's B for bhang as I heard Salman Khursheed
(Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief) on a discussion on NDTV India, "Well,
looks like Vajpayee and Musharraf have forgotten the Biryani they
had in Agra years back." But even for a serious discussion
on communal politics in the wake of the recent Varanasi blast Khursheed
was impeccably dressed with a tricolour scarf around his neck. A
toast to the season, perhaps.
 On
Jodi Kamaal ki, Star Plus's new weekend offering, there was
Hussain's blushing bride talk about his most irritating habit. It
seems while eating, Hussain makes a lot of noise and doesn't bother
to chat with her. To keep up with the USP of the show, Hussain actually
replicated the noises and said, "I actually relish my food
you know."
Do I care or really need to know this?
Coming to the show, produced by Creative Eye, it presents jodis
from different walks of life. Not necessarily couples, but people
who have made a difference to each other's lives. Rakshanda Khan,
the anchor does manage to pull off the show but somehow I think
we've had enough of Tellywood jodis.
It's amazing how simple questions, asked firmly, at the right time
with the right sound modulation, can bring out some really personal
statements. This is exactly what Vir Sanghvi does with his guests
on his show without putting them in the dock.
 There
was Dia Mirza on Faces and Names on the Janmat channel.
Dia:
I knew I was going to win the Miss India title.
Vir:
Why? Why were you so sure?
Dia:
I am still looking for a hit. I've had more flops in the industry.
Vir:
Why?
Dia: Well, maybe because I entered the industry at a very young
age and was going through a lot of problems then.
Vir:
What kind of problems?
Dia:
Personal problems.
Vir:
But you were in a girls' college.
Mirza:
Well, girls can be very nasty you know.
Vir:
Only to girls who have a lot of boyfriends. Did you also?
Dia:
No. Well, I had a lot of friends who were boys.
Vir
( very innocently): Now, what's the difference between boyfriends
and friends…
To
which Dia actually started explaining, without realizing the trap,
so-to-speak.
*****
Talk
about flirtatious interviews. There was Lillete Dubey with the country's
most celebrated ad man Piyush Pandey on her show By Invitation
Only on Times Now.
When
D ubey
asked him if he used to eye women in college. He went, "a certain
Mira Nair and certain Lillette Dubey."
Light
and frivolous statements, all in the name of lifestyle programming.
All
in all though, Dubey makes for a good anchor. In her one-on-one
with Pandey, she managed to draw out facets of the person behind
the O&M group president and national creative director, the
husband and brother to singer Ila Arun.
There
was also the obvious angles like the rise of the man, his roots,
his take on the Indian advertising market and the brand that is
Piyush Pandey.
Since, we are on Times Now, I must admit I quite like 'The Foodie'.
Anchored by theatre personality Kunal Vijaykar, the show is
fast paced (he cooks up three different dishes at one time), takes
us to all kinds of eateries… A real foodie's delight.
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