Mansi

Will somebody ask Prannoy Roy to quit????

The NDTV 9'oclock news is turning me into a media-hating Medusa. With the case of electricity tarriffs, to collapsing buildings in Mumbai and then to the stint in Afghanistan, we do not need George Bush or his government's fear therapy. We have our own home grown democratic gremlin- NDTV to do the above and more.

Case 1 - Protests against electricity tariffs: NDTV's mirch formula: The Great Indian Middle Class is against privatization. I feel sorry for the chap who gets invited every evening - -each show, he seems to improve on his technique to cram in 'No Privatization without competition' in just as fewer seconds as possible without having an NDTV correspondent pounce on the word privatization.
Does Dr Roy even care about 'No privatization without competition'? All he wants to do is join the whipping line and add a few personal blows to what he patronizingly calls 'the Great Indian Middle Class'.

Case 2 - Collapsing buildings in Mumbai: NDTV's mirch formla: X number of people's lives in threat and the Mumbai government finally wakes up! If this isn't the grossest example of misinformation. While dilapidated buildings have been declared such for years and years, it is the residents within the buildings who refuse to budge. The fact that these buildings survived the rains is amazing. However, if they were to tomorrow begin to fall down like a pack of cards, I will be damned if I am asked as the Great Indian Middle Class to pay up for 'relief' efforts.

What has Mumbai afterall come down to? Torrential rains, flooding, gross mismanagement of disaster relief, falling buildings - - and amidst of it all, all the media channels are on 24 hour alerts to continue to display the Mumbai spirit - with the Janmashtami celebrations this past weekend ( where every year more than 60 Govindas are hospitalized and quite a few of them lose their lives) and the upcoming Ganesha celebrations. The next person who comes to me with sound bits on the 'Mumbai Spirit' is going to get smacked!

NDTV's 24X7 is fast losing it's share of eyeballs. Hindi channels, a new one is launched every week, are dominating news in the North. South Indian news channels ( Asianet - that is my absolute favorite) and other South Indian channels that also do News dominate the market in the South.
So where does NDTV's 24X7 go?

Me thinks the obvious logic (even if it isn't as obvious in NDTV's branding) is to go International. 24X7 can be the BBC World for Indians. Sadly, mere-copying of digital effects from the BBC will not suffice.

Case 3: Prime Minister's visit to Afghanistan - -
In every foreign stint, NDTV's broadcasts project a sense of impending fear and danger to their reporters. If anybody followed the Afghanistan story closely, the fear levels projected were akin to NDTV's recent stint interviewing key leaders of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. To me, it's quite hilarious that a channel gearing up to be India's premier International news channel, while on foreign assignments, displays the heart of Punjab's official state bird. The reporters have no grasp of international history. There is no sensitivity to ground sensibilities (and please don't tell me Barkha Dutt has a grip on Kashmiri sentiment!!!). Last night, Dr. Roy greeted his afghani foot soldier - Amitav, with relief oozing out every pore on his body. "Afghanistan is so dangerous - we're glad to have made contact with you, dear loyal NDTV reporter'. Forget the occasion - An Indian PM visits Afghanistan! No, NDTV is quite happy spreading the fear of Afghani soil. To my best judgement, I doubt Amitav strayed too far from the official Indian delegation's to-dos -- and yet, Dr. Roy felt it pertinent to ask if 'People in Afghanistan truly support democracy' - - HA HA HA - - Like Amitav would know.
And of course when faced with no answer, Amitav in true reporting fashion, replied with such zeal, you'd think the Afghanis were democratic by birth!

(Let's not forget how they sat and watched when Buddha was blown up)

Every time Dr. Roy comes to read the 9pm news - the device that scrolls the content always breaks down - or so it seems - for Dr. Roy is always faltering for words, expressions and when lost, he then injects his fast dilipidating personal sense -- The outcome is nothing short of goofy -- and this coming from our premier News channel (or so they would think )!

Somebody tell Dr. Roy to just up and quit! And bring on his disenchanted pupil - Rajdeep Sardesai -- I'll take his indignant panting for Dr. Roy's syrupy dialogue any day!

A friend sent me this link (http://spaces.msn.com/members/mangalpandey) sometime this week. I got to viewing the page this morning and in response to his email, a flurry of thoughts hit me all at once - which is often a sign that I need to blog.
The subject is Aamir Khan and he seems to regard his 'space' as a medium through which he can keep in touch/interact/respond to his fans. What we get to read in Aamir's responses are his perception of being a 'star' - actor - albeit in my opinion grossly misunderstood - Nevertheless his attempt to connect with his audience / fans ( not sure which is which in his mind) is laudable.

Before I get into the 'slurry of thoughts', let me quickly add that in no small measure, it does delight me to view this page. There is nothing like an opportunity to connect with an artist - in this case Aamir Khan - at some point, I will get to see Mangal Pandey and hopefully then will have my two-bit thrill in commenting on his 'space'.
In the larger context, this is one more door open in to the cultural space of film-making. All of us indulge in the performing arts and with films in particular, sadly, there is a huge disconnect between the artists and the audience. This is, in my opinion, largely due to media companies that monopolize the bridge of communication between film makers and their audiences.
In all art experiences, both the artist and the audience have a meaningful exchange in store that in turn fuels the cycle of art. Enter the media, TV channels, newspapers and magazines, and any 'meaning' towards the former exchange is seriously compromised. In such a scenario, the ability then to connect with Aamir Khan, an actor in the movie Mangal Pandey is quite thrilling - a renaissance of a lost connection - a resurrection of sorts and a restoration of means. While we do have virtual media facilitating the exchange ( MSN), it is far less intimidating than traditional film and paper media houses. So, Mangal Ho! to such opportunities.

Moving on....

If journalism (traditional media houses) sat on one end of a spectrum, Blogging, in my opinion, sits at the other extreme. While bloggers tend to confuse the two (in search of journalistic fame), in my mind, blogging is and can never be journalistic (and thank god for that!)in culture. It's kinda like juxtaposing justice against law. While the latter is the formalized medium to achieve the former, such is not necessarily the outcome. Over years of formalized practice, sometimes we find the business of law can be as far away as possible from the execution of justice.
Similar is the case with blogging and journalism.
Blogging is a medium by which readers get an insight into the blogger. It is governed by a personal morality that within reasonable definition rings true across humanity. Unlike journalism and their presumed sense of morality (all show, no go) it is rarely that you will come across a blog where you are unable to understand the underlying morality map.
Another example to illustrate the divide: American Idol vs INXS Rock star ( tacky name) - - While the former sells an 'IDOL' - somebody that takes on different hues in our media-glazed minds - the resolution of the show isn't necessary. Any one of the contestants could be Idol and we'd not care beyond a certain short time frame - BECAUSE the manipulation is being metered inside our heads. It's like a lullaby, babies don't really get it about the cradle rocking and the baby falling ( how traumatic that one!!!) but it still gets them to sleep. Contrast A.Idol with the INXS Rockstar ( if ever a tacky name in recent television history was created....!!!) where there isn't anything on sale. It's real and performance nights (the only nights I watch) is like going to a rock show (and hating the fact that it's on TV). I will not compare individual performances (Rockstar is far far superior!!!!) but then again, that isn't what seperates the two shows. It's the packaging of cultural intent - glaringly all icing in the former, and simply meat balls in the latter.

At Aamir's space, I was immediately slapped by the Mangal Pandey promotion theme. I was saddened to understand the motive of his 'space' - Promoting Mangal Pandey while connecting with fans/audience. Once that objective registered and was promptly dismissed ( I am not going to rush to watch Mangal Pandey), I got to the 'blogging' part of Aamir's 'Space'.

The ability to blog gives readers an insight into the blogger - Aamir Khan - and to me, he reflects a misconstrued sense of public responsibility.

What does it mean to be a 'star'? Often we see our Bollywood actors pained by their 'star' status. Some of them spend all their spare time in public demanding that they be spared their privacy (No, not their name (a la Crucible) - just their privacy). To me, this is often hillarious. After years of living off steets, friends and spouces, they 'make it' in a career in public entertainment which to me seems like the most personal and most private choice they've ever made. Once here, most of them seem completely inept at understanding themselves, their roles or their career environment. This is often because Aamir the actor becomes Aamir the star.
What is a 'star'? Were I to say that most actors cannot command their starship in any direction whatsoever, it would be a gross understatement. The list of crash-outs are plenty : Sanjay Dutt, Shakti Kapoor, Salman Khan....

Here again in Aamir's 'space' we are treated to one too many servings of misplaced gratitute and holy patriotism. In response to a fan's comment that Aamir is Hollywood material, he akins Bollywood to nothing short of a holy institution. (excuse me???)
Why does Aamir Khan have to assume any 'star' responsibility? Why does he need to handle his fans with kid gloves? Why wasn't he talking to us about his experience of Mangal Pandey, the production woes, the marketing woos??
HEY - you might interrupt - A guy can do only what a guy can do - look, you point out, at the kind of hero-worship comments on the site ..... how can Aamir respond any differently?
There in lies the problem. After years of monopolized bridges, the disconnect is now a deep divide. Even when we do get to communicate with artists, it seems like we're shouting at each other across the grand canyon. And if any of you are familiar with the 'suicide point' experience, the most powerful words are always 'I love you'. So there we are, at it, screaming words of adoration and praise, simply because we aren't sure when we'll ever get to do that again. We're not sure when the channel of communication will be severed again and all we'll have left is NDTV and Stardust!

Serious dialogue on the culture of films and film making will need to adopt informal channels such as blogs. Traditional media will need to be shunned like an untouchable for the damage they have and still continue to wreck on society at large is immense. I don't necessarily mean that all of traditional media is bad or worthless. All I want to stress on is that on more occasions than one, traditional media has transgressed our collective personal justice and worser still they seem to be getting away with it.

With informal media on the rise, we will be able to save the Aamirs and the Aamir audience and in the process re-invigorate the culture of cinema.

What is the USP for media firms? Looking across news channels, I reckon it's 'C'redibility.
Across all news Channels, more and more we see reporters and news readers trying their best to look earnest and Credible. A man who Caught on early to the sword of Credibility is none other than NDTV's Pranoy Roy.

I Caught him two nights in a row anChor the 9pm news this week. While he still wields the mighty 'C' sword, I think he's also lost his own reporting edge.. This evening he called Uddhav Bal Thakeray's nephew and Raj the latter's son! Yesterday he had trouble Choosing between the words livelihood and living.

His humor isn't as sharp or reflective either. Tonight and as always he thanked his weather anChor, telling her that viewers believe her more than we do the Met dept. And then he swung around and brandished us (any of us who aren't part of his Chosen 'Viewers') to 'pay Close attention'. Quite funny that - for we were listening when NDTV's weather report yesterday predicted rain today in Delhi and down here in the Capital as of 10:06 pm the day after, we're still listening!!

But that's not what got me irked on the mighty 'C' sword he weilds with such arrogant Charm.

The story - The assasination of Sri Lankan foreign minister.
Last night Prannoy Roy Came in informing us that his brave reporters, in the thick with the LTTE, had eliCited an exclusive denial. (Never mind that LTTE has denied just about any and every assassination and attempt of)
The LTTE Confessed to having no hand in the assassination. Of Course, while we waited to see just what our brave reporters were unravelling, we lost all footage.
Was Dr. Roy fazed? No, ( I do now suspeCt that this was a post-recording editing job) for not for a single second was Dr. Roy even aware of what had even happened.

Today the LTTE's political spokesperson was heard reassuring India that we do not have to 'fear', for the LTTE would not now or in the future use their arms against us or our leaders ( Yeah right! Like Rajiv was not plenty enough)
Next we were on the phone with the Sri Lankan milatary. EaCh word uttered by them was measured against NDTV's interview in the heartland (a la Chamba valley - no less) of LTTE.

The question remains: While the LTTE has denied a hand in the assassination, what is the evidence that the Govt of Sri Lanka possess?

Does NDTV care? NO! All the news channel does care about is promoting it's own bravado ( however hare-brained the motive of the project) and it's (in)accurate weather news (Dr. Roy: Thank you dear - News Anchor: You're welcome, Chacha Roy)

Is media Credible?
Why do media Companies repeat the same two bits of news over and over again, lest we suCCumb. Are our minds that fuddled?
What will it take for the media to admit that they fumble?
Why are most media professionals and a growing seCtion of eager bloggers smug about their perCeived swords of justice?

Let me leave you with a startling Connection between modern literary aesthetiCism and the Contemporary worlds' indifference to violence (read truth) - Courtesy, a Bosnian writer Dzevad Karahasan. He said " The decision to perceive literally everything as an aethetic phenomenon - completely sidestepping questions about goodness and truth - is an artistic decision. That decision started in the realm of art, and went on to become characteristic of the contemporary world.' ( further courtesy - Amitav Ghosh, Tehelka)