TV REVIEW
Channel surfer
By
Randeep
Wadehra
Thrills and chills, comic and tragic, profound and farcical,
wholesome and crass… they purvey it all, our news channels; giving the
entertainment channels more than a run for their respective monies.
Witnessing the spectacle of Aussies on their knees in the
ongoing test series gives one a high, matched only by Shikhar Dhawan’s twirled
up mustaches. News clips showing cops raining lathi blows on women and children
in a village – with a lonely woman armed with a rickety wooden stool standing
up to them – send chills up the spine no “dayan” serial can match. If the aam
aadmi (or rather aurat and bachche) were at the receiving end of cops’ violent
attention, then in Mumbai a cop got the taste of similar medicine, courtesy
some Maharashtra MLAs. And, that is not the only place where politicians have
been savaging policemen. Nevertheless, apart from chills, other elements (or
rasas) too formed part of onscreen political dramas.
The anti-rape legislation pushed the budget proposals, and
the fate of various reform bills, off the channels’ radars. More heat than
light on the issue was generated in various talk shows. Haggling over semantics
(“sexual assault” versus “rape”), arguments over the age of consent (16 years
versus 18 years) and omission of marital rape from the list of cognizable
offences would have gone on ad nauseam had not a series of political cantatas
burst forth on the idiot box.
All of a sudden, the DMK rediscovered its fervent concern
for Sri Lankan Tamils, and the party’s need for reviving, and adhering to, its
ideology. Did the approaching general elections have anything to do with this
dawning of the enlightenment? What no anchor asked the worthies was, “Would it
in any manner have mitigated the misery of the hapless Sri Lankan Tamils if the
word “genocide” was included in the resolution?” But, such concerns do not
drive our politicians’, or media’s actions. However, with DMK walking out of
the UPA, one thought it was curtains for the cantata; but the CBI discovered
illegally imported cars in Stalin’s garage. “Vendetta!” cried TR Baalu across
the news channels, “Due course of law” retorted assorted sarkari spokespersons.
But the “due course of law” skidded to a halt in less than an hour when political
bigwigs vocally distanced themselves from the raids.
The cow belt decided to enact its own farce no less riveting
than the one played out across the Vindhyas. The Beni Prasad Verma versus
Mulayam Singh Yadav verbal duel turned into a rigorous exchange of invective,
leading to the possibility of another ally flouncing out the alliance. Multi-threaded
scenarios sundered the political air; some TV talk show experts predicted
withdrawal of Samajwadi Party’s support to the UPA; correlatively SP
spokespersons gave assurances to the contrary, even as the party Supremo
demanded Verma’s sacking. Although Kamal Nath escorted Verma to the waiting
media for recording his regrets it obviously was not enough in terms of the
action’s effectiveness as palliative to Netaji’s hurt ego, who swiftly
discovered positive traits in Advaniji contrasting with the UPA’s warty visage!
Echoes of the tragic blast from the past rippled through the
Supreme Court’s hallowed precincts, bringing relief to many an “arrow” even as
the honorable judges frowned at the absconding “archers”. But news channels
preferred to latch on to the Sanjay Dutt story – as if that was the defining
moment of the closure to the 1993 tragedy. Even Tiger Memon and Dawood got a
passing mention, while the wretched Tiger Memon was ignored completely. Various
film personalities, including the passionate and persuasive Mahesh Bhatt, the
emotional but ineloquent Ajay Devgn, offered pathetic alibis in Dutt’s defense.
Nevertheless, the Italian mariners’ conundrum turned out to
be the week’s ultimate entertainer. The manner in which the Italian government
tried to renege on its promise on the killer mariners’ return had all the
trappings of a Mafiosi burlesque, which was interrupted by the Indian
government that played hardball and came up trumps. Or did it? The TV talk show
jury is still out.
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