|
It’s
said that the camera never lies. Wish the same could be said about
those who come on them. "The Bachchans Versus The Gandhis'
story was created completely out of thin air, as we could see when
NDTV very kindly showed us footage of Rahul Gandhi being questioned
on the ‘betrayal’ issue.
 There
he was, dimples directed to the TV cameras saying, “The public
knows who betrayed whom.”
That’s
it! The next morning’s newspapers screamed the dread-lines.
The very same day Bachchan reached Varanasi to shoot for a film.
The news channels just wanted their share of the dope. Off they
trotted to get him to say something naughty.
After
Lataji’s birthday Bachchan’s reactions to Rahul Gandhi’s
apparent insult was the most sought-after ‘event’ on television.
I lost count of how many news channels I saw AB give that ‘raja-runk’
quote to. It was apparent that he was being pushed into a corner.
Earlier
it was up to the tabloids to convert non-issues into juicy sensational
stories. Now we have news channels, forever on the look-out for
shockers specially those involving glamorous people. Non-stories
are often turned into primetime menu-toppers. Aaj Tak even dug up
an old interview with Bachchan on Seedhi Baat, where Prabhu
Chawla questioned the star about his relationship with the Gandhi
family.
The
fact that the "sabse tez" channel had to resort to archival
material to support its hot news story just goes to prove there
was no hot new story in the thirst place.
****
 Hot
and new was Brett Lee on Simi Garewal’s Rendezvous.
Lee’s face lit up as though he had just spotted Preity Zinta.
No she wasn’t around. Though naughty mentions were made of
Lee’s penchant for dimples (from Rahul to Preity, elegant cheek
is what the dishy antennas were sending into our homes this week)
it was Bachchan (again!) whose name brought a smile to the Aussie
in India.
Lee
described
the Bachchan as a “beauty” and a legend. He then fished
out his guitar and sang for Simi, first a few snatches of A R Rahman’s
Muqabla (with Laila pronounced as ‘Lay-la’) and then a
full song sung with glamorous gusto.
Just
one question. Why was Lee comparing a wife to a grand piano? I agree
he wanted to make a point about the permanence of a marital alliance?
But a piano? Please! The key was all wrong.
****
All
keyed-up is how all the characters on Star’s Kyunkii Saas
Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi have become. I hope the kids were tucked
away safely from their range of vision. Because there was a prolonged,
ahem ahem, rape in a hotel room.
Did
it have to go on for nearly ten minutes of shlokas on the soundtrack
with mother-in-law Tulsi banging on the door incessantly while daughter-in-law
Nandini is manhandled by Ansh. And then later he tells his sweet
and supportive mom to go fly a kite and even raised his hand to
hit her!
Kid
this be true???!!! All this was extremely harrowing and unsavoury,
far from the family values that Ekta Kapoor’s soaps once promised.
****
|
|
But
then the norms and yardsticks of TV entertainment are changing
fast. This week the notorious Item Bomb contest hosted
in Mumbai to choose a sizzler for Sanjay Gupta’s Musafir
was telecast on MTV.
Frankly, I was aghast at the desperation of these girls.
Accompanied by pushy mothers the contestants were all of
a very poor quality. And I really can’t blame the judges
at the semi-finals for failing to hide their disdain when
the ungainly and unbecoming girls gyrated to a music that
seemed to blare in defiance to their aspirations.
One
overwrought girl told a judge that she was known as the
Mallika Sherawat of her locality and that boys ran after
her calling out the star’s name. “What
do you think?” she rounded off her meandering monologue.
“Best
of luck!” the judged retorted contemptuously.
|
The question I want to ask is, why were the girls subjected to
this humiliation? Why weren’t they asked to politely leave
before being degraded on camera?
 Zee’s
India’s Best is another of those talent-hunts that
border on a witch hunt. How does it feel when hard-working starry-eyed
aspirants are knocked off the list publicly? I really liked judge
Javed Akhtar’s comments on Friday night when he said today’s
wannabes have to work on their pronunciations.
They sure do. I had no quibbles with their joie de vivre , though.
I loved the way the wannabe couples supported one another. It
was almost like they believed more in their partner than in themselves.
****
Star
News did a much publicised expose on the film industry’s
casting couch in their crime investigation section. Frankly it
turned out to be much ado about nothing. A girl in a blurred focus
told us the rates that were charged for sleeping partners in the
industry. This was supposed to shock us out of our wits.
Girls sleeping around for roles? Yawn! Give me the History Channel
any day. I loved the truly heartwarming Biography on Christopher
Reeve on Thursday night. Reeve’s life was profiled with rare
care. The next night there was an equally brilliant profile of
actor Tom Hanks.
There’s only one problem with the Biography sections. They
all SOUND strange. The entire commentary was re-done replete with
the voices, intonations and exclamations of Reeve and Hanks very
poorly replicated by a superimposed voice-over.
Now, enlighten me, please. But why on earth would non-English
speaking viewers be glued to profiles of Hollywood actors? And
if only the urban audience is watching Biography then whom are
the profiles dubbed into Hindi for?
(The views
expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
|
