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 Butt
seriously! Even while the issue of Kareena Kapoor’s public
display of affection raged across the media, Fardeen Khan came on
Karan Johar’s show to comment on her “cute heart-shaped
butt” for the second time in three weeks.
To
hear an actor objectify his colleague in this manner just to raise
a few cute moments during a talk show seems like a case of excessive
self-projection without regard for the other person’s feelings.
Can
we imagine Dilip Kumar talking in public about Madhubala “cute
heart-shaped butt.” Or for that matter Shah Rukh Khan commenting
on Kajol’s physical assets? The brash brigade threatens to
bash every definition of decency to a pulp-age, profession and stature
no bar.
****
 On
Wednesday night on NDTV, I was shocked to hear senior journalist
Anil Dharker’s ‘cute’ comments on the Kareena-Shahid
controversy. When asked to comment on the ethics of paparazzi journalism,
Dharker launched a monologue on what bad kissers Shahid and Kareena
are, and that the pair should employ the services of a ‘kissing
coach’, etc.
Hello
hello??? Isn’t this a bit like taking a discussion on rape
into areas of aesthetics? I believe responsible mediapersons who
are asked to comment on socio-political issues have no right to
be frivolous. The quality is more suited to stand-up comedians.
We don’t have too many of those around any more. They are all
trying to host talk shows now.
****
The
most compassionate mob that I’ve ever seen has to be the one
in Star Plus’ new horror serial Kaalchakra. A large
group of people with blow-torches in hand descended on the village
heveli. They wanted to murder the twin infant daughters because
one of them was supposedly evil (a bit like talking about the art
of kissing on a discussion on violation of privacy). The baby’s
aunt stormed inside, brought out the babies and bellowed, “Kill
them if you think they’re the root cause of your problems.”
The
blow torches fell out of the mobs’ hands like over-ripe mangoes.
Instant reformation. It’s hard to believe Kaalchakra comes
from Shakti Samanta who once gave us fabulous feature films like
Aradhana and Amar Prem.
****
Television
tends to shrink the size of the maker’s creativity. I am still
hopeful about the quality of performances being seen in some of
the fiction programmes. Mandira Bedi was far more engaging as a
woman coming to terms with tragedy in Star One’s telefilm Bali
this weekened than she is as a cricket commentator. The hand-held
camera movements together with a unhurried evasive pace added to
the theme of imminent disintegration.
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The
other telefilm on Sahara One was Rishta Dilon Ka.
It featured Ankur Mohit (who till recently was teacherji
on Star’s flop Jeet) as a young man in love
with a much older woman (Irawati Harshe). Just one hitch.
The lady’s daughter has a serious crush on the man
Mom wants to marry.
The presentation never took itself seriously. I came across
many portions in the narration that were sunshiny. When
the woman wants to sacrifice love and happiness for her
daughter the man says, “You’re designing your
daughter’s life. Don’t use me as a prop.”
That’s
perhaps the best line I’ve heard on television recently.
The film faintly recalled Guru Dutt’s Baharen Phir
Bhi Aayengi where both the sisters Mala Sinha and Tanuja
loved the same man Dharmendra.
These
weekend telefilms are giving filmmakers a chance to grow.
Not much of that is happening on the large screen.
|
 Zee
has an ace up its sleeve. They’ve started a Friday-night
telecast of Shah Rukh Khan-Preity Zinta-Rani Mukherjee-Priyanka
Chopra "Temptations" world concerts from last week.
This week I loved all the behind-the-scenes banter among the stars,
the rehearsals, arrangements, etc. We also got to see Priyanka
singing live on stage.
Coincidentally I also caught her father singing on the same channel
in Zee’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The outstanding music contest
is now a daily occurrence on Zee. The capsules are so deftly done
that we never feel we’re watching old material. Besides,
I any day prefer to see old segments of Sa Re GA Ma than
new episodes of Sahara’s Parchaiyaan.
This long-winded soap about the Man (Milind Gunaji), wife (Reena
Wadhwa) and the psychotic other woman (Achint Kaur) was earlier
shown on another channel. Now after the initial episodes the story
is being carried forward on Sahara… with the main plot duly
diluted by jumbled distractions, like the hero’s pregnant
sister who’s rejected by the man she loves.
Now check out the way the above situation was filmed. The man
rudely told the girl to get lost since he has nothing to do with
her. The tearful girl bravely announced she was pregnant with
his child.
“Nope… It’s not my child… don’t want
it… leave!” the cad pursed his lips, folded his arms
and looked like he wanted to catch the night’s episode of
Indian Idols rather than discuss his procreative activities.
His mother (herself impatient to see Tulsi and her truant son
at loggerheads) seconded her dear son’s motion.
Such
scenes are so stale and so badly written you wonder what the writer
was doing… besides watching third-rate big-screen potboilers.
Shouldn’t
Indian television show a growth beyond the clichés of Hindi
cinema?
****
 Both
Esha Deol and Kareena Kapoor confirmed on Koffee With Karan
that they were buddies of Zayed Khan and Fardeen Khan, respectively.
No affair. Esha also implored Zayed to be his natural self and
not put on an accent.
Zayed
still spoke in an indecipherable accent and misused words, like
“retrospect” when he meant “respect”
Dude
with an attitude… and a vocabulary problem.
(The views
expressed here are those of the author and indiantelevision.com
need not necessarily subscribe to the same)
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