Archive for the '- Television' Category

When the fates conspired

charukesi January 14th, 2008

At home in Chennai, the TV is always on, background noise to drown the noise of the T nagar traffic. And for my parents, noise that is vital in an otherwise silent house with just the two of them. And so kolangal kolangal, la la la la it goes in the late evenings, and news headlines through most of the day, and assorted soaps and game shows, interrupted by thunderous voices announcing indiya tholaikatchiyil mudal muraiyaga - for the first time in the history of Indian television - and what? a movie released six months ago to be shown on Sunday afternoon. History of Indian TV, indeed. And what is with that thunderclouds and lightning announcement tone?

… As I write this, Barkha Dutt is asking the studio audience what they think about writing explicitly about sex on personal matters on blogs. And I have one eye on the TV, and my peripheral vision shows my mother deeply interested in what Meenakshi Madhavan is saying there, and someone in an armchairy analytical way is saying something about blogs being “self-affirming and empowering” - “holding forth to an audience…” (turns out she is a psychologist… sociologist?). Oh, never mind.

About when the fates conspired.

Last night on one such Tamil show, two “teams” sit opposite each other, women in their twenties and women in their forties. Mothers and daughters, perhaps. Definitely women from two different generations. I do not know what the discussion is all about - till one of that twenties says on the mike - I was always jealous of my mother while growing up - she was more beautiful… she had “more color” (local term for fairer). I kept cursing fate for being so dark And when I got married, my mother-in-law said, I hope your children do not take after you and take after your mother instead… But vidiyin vilaiyaattu (game played by fate?) and my children are also dark…

Thunderous applause from the audience… I wonder if the woman is happy - atleast my children are not growing up jealous of me?

Who will be your Jeeves?

charukesi August 24th, 2007

We have finally started watching the Jeeves and Wooster DVD set I bought recently. My husband and I have read each of the books so many times that it is great fun knowing what line is to come next - the anticipation and then the pure pleasure of hearing it said in those rich English tones.

As difficult as it is to recreate the magic that surrounds Wodehouse language, the series has managed it considerably. This is what I found on the P.G.Wodehouse books website - In 1989 Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie were approached about playing Jeeves & Bertie Wooster in the first television adaptation of PG Wodehouse for over twenty years. They were initially unconvinced about taking on the characters However after seeing the quality of the scripts they agreed.

Hugh Laurie is just perfect as Wooster - he is my idea of Bertie - bumbling and clueless. Stephen Fry as Jeeves, while is superb, is taking a bit of getting used to. For one, I had always pictured Jeeves as older, much older than Bertie. I have no idea why. And then, there is that smug look on Fry-Jeeves’ face that I cannot digest - Jeeves does not smile that way, if Jeeves if feeling smug (as he no doubt does all the time, what with Bertie’s negligible intellect, I am sure he does not show it that way.

We were watching “Gussie presents the prizes” last night (one of my absolute favorite pieces from PG) - and in the first scene, As Gussie steps out of the cab, my husband and I both identified him correctly. And then at Brinkley Manor, Madeline Basset was just perfect, soppy and treacly as ever. However, a different Madeline Basset in the other episodes, nowhere near Wodehouse’s Basset - none of the soupiness.

And I immediately thought of Amisha Patel - my perfect Madeline - from whose lips ‘don’t you think stars are god’s daisy chains‘ would not sound terribly preposterous. Or even every time a fairy sneezes,a wee baby is born (which as we well know, is not the case). And from there to wondering who the other characters (from Indian TV / cinema) would be was for me but a morning’s job - the closest I could come to Wooster was Ritesh Deshmukh (yes, I know, it was a pleasant though not very fruitful morning I spent on this) - so who will your Wooster be? and Jeeves?

Beasts of burden and bearers of wealth

charukesi October 19th, 2006

Speaking of ads that make you sick, if I did have the option of tagging outdoor ads with “this sucks”, I know where I would start… with that serial on Zee TV which ran those terrible teasers all across Mumbai and Delhi last month which said among many other appalling things - “Bete ek mannat, betiyan ek bojh” (boys are a blessing, girls a burden) and “Bete banaatey kanoon, betiyan khaana” (boys make the law, girls, food). Puke. “Bete chalaye vansh, betiyan silai machine“. Puke. [Boys carry on the generation, girls run sewing machines]

Betiyaan

[pic courtesy : mid-day]

Various organizations in Delhi protested against this campaign and the Delhi Police ordered that these hoardings be removed. And, and, here is what Ashish Kaul, Senior Vice President at Zee Network has to say - I don’t have means to replace the hoardings overnight simply because of a protest. Yes, indeed, poor man.

But hang on, there is hope. For this is only the first part of the campaign, according to Kaul - the campaign has been conceived on what we have seen since childhood, and the second campaign brings to the fore the myth that the male child is superior than the female child. As it happens, I did see the hoardings for the second part of the campaign and they go on and on about how we were trying to say that girls are indeed superior to boys in the family and hey, the first campapign was just to get your attention so on and so forth…

And while I google furiously while writing this, I find that Star TV has a similar serial about to go on air called —- Paraaya Dhan! And that Zee and Star TV have been at loggerheads claiming to be the “originnal” beityaan people. The ad for the Star TV serial raises this socially aware, thought-provoking question - ” betiyaan apni ya paraya dhan?” (girls, our own or someone else’s wealth?) - not only are we calmly writing about women as “wealth” and property, wer are also raising a question about who this wealth belongs to?

Normally low maintenance

charukesi October 2nd, 2006

I came across some SuperModel something or the other on Zee Cafe the other night (alright, I don’t normally do this - I am just standing in for Uma till she gets her laptop and blog back in place) - and found various people gushing about Ujjwala Raut, “middle-class Maharashtrian home”, “the only Indian model… international modelling scene”, “she makes use of her length very well” etc etc - yes, really, length. And I found Ujjwala Raut gushing about Ujjwala Raut too. And her baby. Many pictures of ideal-mom-with-chubby-baby later, cut back to Ujjwala (oh, only first names please, as the gushers would say) - oh, she is such a cute baby. So far so good.

And then she says, my life has become busier since she came blah blah blah. But I like spending time with her blaah blah blah. She is really a low maintenance baby.

Gasp! Imagine that - a cute baby. And low maintenance at that.

I wonder how she went about ordering for one - oh, I’ll take that baby please - she is so cute. But what did you say - high maintenance? I don’t have the time. I’ll take the other one then - the low maintenance one… Just make the service contract…

And oh, she also did mention that she wanted to give something back to her country “which has done so much for me” - and that would be, I want to be a normal person in my country, not some kind of some diva that people look up to. Ok, whatever. One more normal person will not hurt the country, I guess….

Telly me about growth rates

charukesi June 11th, 2006

The Week writes about new-generation televisions shows. Targeted at segments which have been ignored so far and so on - men and children. Highy inscrutable article. See what sense you can make of it. And if you know, do let me know how such staggering statistical analysis and interpretation is possible - I may be able to use this with my clients too.

Reality TV, comedy and romance are the new prime-time favourites. This change of strategy stems from the twin needs of grabbing the attention of the largely ignored audience segment of men and youth, and countering the increasing popularity of children and regional channels. A still bigger threat comes from news channels which are “growing at an impressive rate,” according to rating agency TAM. [phrase in quotes original and not mine]

Now watch this closely for the “impressive growth rate”. [this quote mine]

While the viewership of Hindi mass channels has grown marginally from 24 per cent to 24.7 per cent over four years, Hindi news channels have seen a rise from 3.8 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Indeed. While Hindi mass channels have grown marginally by 0.7% over four years, new channels have shown an astounding growth rate of 0.7% over the same period.

That is cause for concern.

And the article only gets better and better…

But, news officials think there is no reason to worry. “Yes, news is being redefined, but there is a core difference between us and mass channels. Their end aim is entertainment while ours is imparting information. So there is not much of overlapping,” says Raju Santanam, editor, Zee News.

No reason to worry about what? The impressive growth rate? Or the sudden uncomfortable realisation that the end aim of new channels is information and not entertainment?

Do read A telly tale fully and do telly me what you understand of it…

And someone please tell these producers about single tv households where the entire family sits around and watches the box - saas bahu, aunty-uncle, whatever saga is on. And whatever the woman of the household is watching. Study after research study has told us - and them - this…

I would tell them myself but I am writing this from a cyber cafe in Madras and need to run now…

Rumble-tremble news

charukesi February 1st, 2006

When was the last time news made your hands tremble?

Hmm, let me see now… Was it when I first heard about Raveena Tandon’s lost dog ?(on the front page of the Times of India) Or was it when I read that Indian couples are now quick to wed, quicker to split? (again on the front page of the ToI).

coffee

And if you have quite recovered from the trembly hands and mopped up the spilt coffee, get ready now to feel the news. Uh?

Times TV is now finally on air after a long spell of promotion and promise of news that is different and relevant. Yeah, right. As different as Emraan Hashmi’s next movie in which he claims to have a role that is challenging and different.

TIMES NOW will create the second generation of TV news in the broadcast space. ”Its vision is to expand the space by being relevant to the urbanite who is culturally aware, trend sensitive and brandcentric. With a focus on involving the consumer more closely in the news experience, the channel’s unique programming wheel blends the urgent news needs of the urbanite, says the impartial and totally-unconnected-to-the-Times-Group publication Economic Times.

I imagine this conversation on the morning local :

Commuter 1 : Hey, did you feel the news last night?

Commuter 2 : Oh yes, I did… wasn’t that something? My hands didn’t stop trembling…

Commuter 3 : *Spills coffee from styrofoam cup*

Commuter 4 : *Flashing understanding smile at Commuter 3*

I know how you are feeling… I tried so much to be the involved consumer in this second generation TV news wave. But I was so busy mopping up the coffee from the couch…

*Sighs and elbows her way out at Dadar station*

The page 3ization of television news?

charukesi July 30th, 2005

Do we really need 24/7 rolling news? asks Hasan Suroor in the Hindu. (Link via India Uncut) : this is Amit Varma’s take on this - Who is “we”, and what is meant by “need”? If there is a market for 24/7 news, then it’ll exist, as it should. If not, it won’t.

I don’t see this an an expression of a political ideology (as Amit does) - instead, I wonder - which came first, the market or the product?

Existential question, I know. But I see less and less of conventional marketing now - where a product was designed and launched according to the market need. Now, what rules is the hoary marketing rule - be there first - or create a category where you are first.

Seems to me this is the case with television news channels too.

Newspapers facing competition have resorted to the ‘give-them-more’ tactics. More pages, more lifestyle and general interest topics (not necessarily more news, of course).

And television channels, fortunate enought o be more flexible than their print brothers, believe in two things :

1.Give them more…

So now we have regular hourly, half hourly news reports. Followed by repeats of these hourly news reports. And then special programs. On different topics.

Crime, politics, parties, movies, fashion, health, sports. Where does a channel like Zoom end and a news channel begin?

And did I mention crime? And politics? What about crime then? Don’t forget crime. Sansani, Jurm, Vardaat, Kaal Kapaal Mahakaal, Crime Patrol, Crime Reporter.

Sex scandal in Patna beauty parlour was the scoop of the day on one of these channels last week… All the right ingredients : Bihar, beauty, sex - but hardly prime time news material?

2.And give it to them first - or scream loudly enough for people to believe that…

I was watching news on Wednesday - and each news channel worth its name had an “exclusive” on the rains - each channel claimed to be the first to send a man up in space for an ariel view of the city - I remember falling asleep watching Sreenivasan Jain on a chopper… The US and the then USSR would have been less hostile and competitive about their space program way back in the 1960s…

A strange situation where all television news channels are equally sabse tez…

Which brings me back to the original question - slightly altered to ask - is there really such a thing as 24/7 rolling news?

Ad now for the news…

charukesi May 27th, 2005

Did anyone watch Abhishek Bacchan and Rani Mukherji read the news on NDTV yesterday?
(I did not and I am very curious about this - do you think there is any chance they will retelecast the news? in a bid to increase OTS, of course - that is, for the uninitiated - Opportunity To See)

As the number of TV channels are increasing by the day, partnering with Hindi films is seen as one of the surest ways to grab eyeballs.

Ditto for the number of films which get released but never see the light of day beyond day 2 in theatres.

“Marketing synergy”

Quoting Shah Rukh Khan from a long-ago episode of walk the talk with Shekhar Gupta, the movies are selling everything but the movies - he has never said a ta-ta-ta-ta-truer word.

How long will it be before ads get passed off as news - on television, I mean - it already is in the print medium - Times of India < ---> Economic Times < ---> IndiaTimes < ---> Femina < ---> Miss India contest < ---> Filmfare < ---> and now Mumbai Mirror - you get the drift.

Petty political squabbles

charukesi December 29th, 2004

I have been watching news on Sun TV these last couple of days (thanks to my parents who are visiting)…. and it is full of crap about how the Tamilnadu government has failed to provide adequate support to those in distress in the areas affected by the tsunami. Now I am all for the role of the media as a watchdog and conscience-keeper and all that, but this is nothing but a concerted attack against the ruling government by a bitter opposition party (which owns the Sun network)….

and surely enough, when we switched to Jaya TV (owned by guesswho), there was madam in all her cloaked glory issuing a statement about the extent of relief work provided by her government. with a stern warning not to pay heed to the speech of trouble mongers….

It is so sad that even in such a time, politics is the all-consuming root of discourse in local media. a time when local political parties should ideally forget their petty differences and work together to hasten the relief operations… And privately owned media is being used only to settle personal / political scores - agenda setting at its worst for political followers and general viewers…

In all this, the only glimmer of sanity came from Mr. Manmohan Singh, the greatest non-politician in politics in recent times - who cancelled his visit to the affected areas since that would only hamper relief work. Kudos Mr. Singh, that is a wise and brave decision (albeit politically suicidal)… What do politicians achieve by visiting these areas except gaining mileage through media coverage…

Star Wars - attack of the clones

charukesi November 9th, 2004

Or should that be clowns?

On the idiot box. Which only gets more idiotic and mind-numbing with every passing day. More entertaining than actual tv content is the offline attacks and counter-attacks of tv channels against each other.

Sahara – STAR fracas takes new turn with conflict over tagline, says exchange4media.

This should be fun… I propose viewership ratings for such offline content too…

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