charukesi October 18th, 2004
What’s with television channels and the number One? Harini says Star is offering yet another channel from its stable. Star One - to be launched on the first of Novmeber is aimed at the upper end of the TG.
And now I see hoardings all over announcing that from now, Sahara TV wil be One TV…
One with what? One of what?
A thought on the side - will Sahara Parivaar now be called the One family?
And another irrelevant and irreverant thought - remember India’s desperate attempts to spread the message of family planning in the early eighties with this tacky slogan - one family, one tree 
The tv channel war is hotting up… Am waiting eagerly for the next One!
(For the uninitiated, employees of Sahara are believed to be - by the owner - part of the large and rather sycophantic Sahara family - or parivaar)
Note : By the way, I just saw that it is Sahara Manoranjan that is now One television. So, earlier, they atleast promised entertainment, and now nothing but television! Entertainment not even in name…
charukesi August 26th, 2004
Can media sources please please start acting in a slightly responsible manner and stop ‘live, never-before-never-again footage, from the scene of action’ telecasts
I realise that in this age of 24 hour news-channels (too many channels, too less news), ‘exclusives’ rule. Be there first - or be TRPless. But this is too high a price for society to pay….
(If I can rant - and of course I can - this is my blog, remember? Dhananjoy was a child-murderer, then what are these newschannels? Shouldn’t they be held responsible for the deaths of these children?)
Do we really need to see footage of murderers hanging? Or people dying in any other way - war, bomb blasts, shoot-outs whatever…. Live coverage of people dying - is as ironical as it can get. Not to mention exploitative.
In any case, I think the news business in the West has gone far beyond redemption. Naked news-casters!
Why should India go the same way? And all for TRPs, which in any case are the sole prerogative of the saas-soaps….
charukesi March 15th, 2004
A friend of mine recently started her blog with a post on a topic that has been on my mind for a while. On her tryst with the telly. She wonders through the post at the way educated, intelligent women soak up whatever trash is churned out in the form of popular entertainment. Very thought-provoking…..
As for me, personally, my K quotient* is pretty low as is my tolerance for all things soapy on television. However, ratings for such soaps show without doubt the popularity of serials which run on for years and years….. Without really going anywhere in terms of storylines…..
What makes people watch such soaps where people live in palatial, outlandishly garish houses, in joint families extending to over fifty people at times….. where everybody is forever plotting and planning for the downfall of the next member of the household…. Where the women especially are GOOD or BAD…. And man, are they GOOD when they are good….. Unsufferably and cloyingly so…. And when they are BAD, you can make out from just the size of her bindi and the weirdness of her eye make-up…..
Where the proceedings are so far far removed from real life and real people…..
Or are they? Is fact truly stranger than fiction? is that the reason for the popularity of such soaps?
Or as Ana says, is it about us seeking drama and excitement…. since drama in our lives consists of what to make for dinner and what to wear to work the next day…..
Or is it as my aunt says, it’s such good fun to see other people’s problems…. I know I am not the only one….
Escapism ? Those few minutes of thoughtless nirvana ?
Or just sheer relief….. Thank God it’s hapening to these strangers and not to me….. (I can quite understand this sentiment, especially in the context of these extended joint families!!)
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*For the uninitiated, the queen of Indian soaps is Ms. Ekta Kapoor with her fixation for soaps starting with the letter K.
charukesi January 21st, 2004
Can the news genre support more channels? In an already crowded space with ZEE News, STAR News, Aaj Tak, Sahara Samay National, DD News and NDTV India, is there place for more ? Agencyfaqs says that the Adhikari Brothers, promoters of SAB channel have announced plans for a new currents affairs and news channel by April this year. And there are more where these came from…..
Is India a newsy culture? Yes, to the extent that we seem to be inordinately fond of discussing politics and exchanging gossip all the time. But to watch news channels on television regularly is another story altogether…..
Is there enough news to support 24 hour news channels through the day and week? Everyday, I see more and more ‘features’ on news channels, on the man with the long crooked nails and the cat which became friends with the rhino and so on….. news items bordering on desperation…..
Why this fascination for this genre among TV channels? Is news that hot a proposition?
charukesi November 17th, 2003
The BJP has gone nuts….. or is the word desperate….. the latest to jump on the BJP bandwagon is Smriti Malhotra, the tear-jerky daughter-in-law of KKSKBT (too long, man)….. I remember the lady who played Sita in Ramayana (Dipika something) had also campaigned for the BJP, as did Krishna of Mahabharata, Nitish Bharadwaj…. Sita nahi to Smriti hi sahi, what ?
What is The SB’s (Swadeshi Bahu) trip ? To work for a party whose ideology she believes in. What ideology, please ? For a ticklish wannabe youth icon, she seems quite confident…..
And what does the BJP get ? Star Value, they say…. Yeah, right…. Next, they will be roping in Donald Duck…. Oops sorry, NO Videshi please, we are fully Swadeshi; Chacha Choudhry maybe…..
What they do get is a Made-in-India daughter-in-law (Smriti Malhotra has no other claim to fame) who is eager to serve her country….. Take that, Congress.
The Battle of the Bahus hots up ! This should be fun…..