| VINTA NANDA |
Posted online: Friday, August 25, 2006 at 0000 hours IST
"There is no sure way to success, but if you try to please everybody, it is one sure way to failure" Bill Cosby said, I overheard Hrithik Roshan quote Bill Cosby in his Rendezvous With Simi Gerewal last weekend and as I continued to watch him speak so honestly to her, I realized that he is truly an inspired soul, which makes him so inspiring himself. He went on to tell her that he did not believe them when they called him a phenomenon and never believed them when they said he was finished, so now sits proudly before all those watching the show, at the eve of his release Krissh and with the success of Koi Mil Gaya behind him. Anyway, coming back to Bill Cosby, it's true that you really cannot please everybody and therefore if I get overtly critical about something on television, please understand that whoever it is, I'm criticising, may not be able to please me but has ended up pleasing some others. Having said that let me continue. I got to know from some friends in the advertising industry that soap operas comprise just about nine per cent of the entire television viewership. The remaining 91 per cent goes to others including news channels, regional channels and music channels. Not surprising though, considering that the world is shaken with an undeclared war with terrorists, living in fear of every other person next to them at every other place. While the lives of the characters in our stories remain untouched by the realities that surround us and stay under the influence of karva chauths, shaadis and barbaadis in business, real estate and marriages, I must admit that one dialogue in Kasamh Se.. on Zee TV caught my attention the other day and I really believe that it is dialogue like this which is going to darnn the fabric of our completely frayed and confused society. Ram Kapoor tells another man about his wife, who for some strange reason calls him Mr. Walia that the biggest mistake Ram made in the Ramayana was to make Sita go through Agnipareeksha. Like I said in one of my previous columns, the rewriting of our misinterpreted mythologies is what is desired and that is what will end discrimination in our country, whether of women, caste, colour or creed. So a pat on the back for the makers of the show and the channel it runs on.
Another very interesting channel promotion is that of NDTV, which boasts of the stunning five women army. Barkha Dutt for news, Sonia Singh for politics, Shailly Aroor for business, Sonali Chandra for sports and Ameesha Baig for entertainment. It takes a real man like Dr. Prannoy Roy to position his powerful talent like that which in no way undermines the strength of their awesome male colleagues like Srinivas Jain and others. I believe these are small revolutions in themselves
The stories about human tragedies and human failures on other channels are so involving and moving that viewers have in large numbers shifted to watching more of those than General Entertainment Channels where a set of characters inside a house have no life outside of it. There are no maids, no housekeepers, no drivers, and no uniforms. There are no layers explored by the story tellers. So the poor characters are left to mouth the same old lines over and over again because nothing else surrounds their lives. Television has to get inclusive of the various types of people that come together to make one small world in the larger one. Families consist of and know people from all walks of life. Those in business have to know beauracrats, teachers, policemen, corporate honchos, designers, artists, poets etc. It's when you put all such people together in a common environment that you come up with interesting dialogue and you capture various points of view.
Television today is so huge in its impact. It is the very Indian spirituality and the mix of truth portrayed that will see us past this phase, where everyone everywhere is gripped by fear.
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=13303
MY COMMENTS: I think this is quite a complement as the author of this article doesn't seem to favor indian soap operas very much. You know the song in the background when Jai is apologizing to Maci...Ram Jai Sita Ram.. I love the part that it combines Ram Kapoors name Jai Wallia's name and Sita... taking this author's words to a whole other level......WOW...that was clever background music for a powerful scene...and the symbolism in the music...
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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