Uncomfortable encounters: Weeks after it began telecast
I still can’t figure out what Zee’s Reth is trying
to do or say. Last week there seemed to be some more stress between
the husband and wife. The Vivek Oberoi- lookalike Ankur Nayyar
announced he had to go for a business trip to Hyderabad. “Sure,”
the wife pursed her lips. “I understand. Professional compulsions.”
Then the husband looked at his mother accusingly and told his
father to look after his wife 'because she isn’t comfortable
here.'
Sorry, but neither are we. The soap is stuck in a sappy vacuum.
It seems to be going nowhere at all. On the other hand, efforts
to revamp Zee’s Kittie Party have also gone to waste.
****
Pumping
in some good values....: There was a valiant attempt to introduce
a social issue into the otherwise-skittish soap when we were taken
to a AIDS rehabilitation centre. For the kitty-crowd that’s
quite a leap forward in terms of social relevance. When an AIDS
patient barged into the hospital ward one of our heroines wanted
to know about his whereabouts.
“I
don’t know where I come from. But I do know where I am going,”
answered the HIV positive guy, rather positively.
In
a medium single mindedly inured to fantasy, such concessions to
human values appear to be more the exception than an indication
of things to come. Soaps are careening more and more towards a
high-flown fantasy.
****
Stuck
on a formula: Formulistic elements like mistaken identity
(Hum2Hain Na), long-lost siblings (Zameen Se Aasman
Tak), Mills & Boon romance(Jassi Jaisi…Koi Nahin)
which Hindi cinema abandoned have now overtaken the soaps.
Last
week I caught several episodes of DD1’s daily thriller Aakrosh,
where the wife was bumped off by her gloriously wicked husband
(played by Faraaz Khan who once-upon-a-time made his debut as
a leading man in Vikram Bhatt’s film Fareb) and her
bestfriend. They first chased the poor (actually killingly rich)
wife in a forest, shot her in the visible distance of her children,
and then like Anurag Basu in the now-rejuvenated Kasautii Zindagii
Kay, pushed her down a cliff in a car. We didn’t see
the car rolling down. Too expensive. Doordarshan, remember?
****
Getting hot 'n' wild are we?: Star’s long-running
Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand has gone for a total revamp.
Sangeeta Ghosh, who earlier appeared as a salwar-kameez clad Punjabi
woman, is now the party-going damsel in tight jeans and loud music
who’s being wooed by the ubiquitous Ankur Nayyar (he’s
in Reth and I saw him on Star Utsav’s Kiss Mein
Kitna Hai Dum with Sonali Bendre the other day).
Right at the dead-centre of a ‘wild party’ (at least
that’s what it was meant to be) the newly wardrobed Ms Ghosh
climbed to the roof and threatened to jump off if lover-boy didn’t
follow her to the top of the world. Before she could carry off
her threat a jealous girl gave her a helping nudge from behind…
Now stop stop ….one moment! What kind of an example is this
sort of rash and apparently-adventurous behaviour setting for
the Indian middle class? While Sony’s Yeh Meri Life Hai
shows the low-income Gujarati girl Pooja aspiring to better
herself without becoming a part of the upper-class crowd, the
rest of the soaps show the jet-setting glamorous lifestyle as
not only desirable, but eminently covetable.
****
 |
|
Conflicts
galore!
|
Ironical???:
Isn’t it ironical ? While on one hand Zee TV has introduced
AIDS awareness into one of its soaps, on the other hand there
was some heavy duty gay-bashing going on the same channel’s
talent-scouting contest Zee’s India’s Best. Judge
Deepti Naval wanted one of the contestants to react to a situation
where her boyfriend turned out to be gay.
Wisecracking emcree Cyrus Broacha (he’s making a habit out
of cracking wifey jokes on all his shows) compounded Ms Naval’s
query. “You thought he liked you, but he liked your brother
instead.”
Gosh,
is that what alternate sexuality amounts to?! The best was yet
to come. The out-of-the-closet boyfriend had to react to his girlfriend’s
accusation. He moaned, “Call me lame or cripple. But please
don’t call me gay.”
Er…hello hello? Political correctness, anyone? Or is that
thrown out of the window when starry ambitions strike?
****
Back
biting! |
Hunting
TRPs: MTV has also started its own abrasive talent –hunt
show where last week a girl came behind stage and began to abuse
the nervous contestants. “Most of you will be eliminated.
You over there (she pointed to a guy) aren’t handsome enough…”
The contestants naturally got all worked up and abusive. I think
they called her a...ahem ahem…bitch, which was beeped on
the soundtrack.
This
was like a gladiator fight with the contestants suddenly wearing
pajamas instead of loin cloth.
