All Gere'd' up but no fire on show

All it takes is that one flick of a finger and you're transported into the world of entertainment. But why do all television channels follow a distinct pattern? Take the case of the news channels — when the bomb blasts in Gorakhpur took place on Tuesday, CNN-IBN promptly carried a red banner, announcing, 'first on TV'. they may just have reached a little earlier but it's not like that they have traversed the Sahara Desert to get the news and considering that a few minutes later all the other channels had the same news, where was the need to pat their own back?

In fact, it sure seems like the news channels are so desperate to outdo each other for those blessed TRPs, they keep flashing the same headlines 100 times a day. While it was Gorakhpur on Tuesday and the Mecca Masjid blasts a few days back, it's pathetic how TV reporters push the mike straight into the face of a grieving mother as was evident during these blasts. Or they expect a 12-year-old victim of the Mecca Masjid blast (who was recovering at the Osmania hospital) to talk about how he feels even as the poor child is seen writhing in pain.

The lack of sensitivity is so off putting that you switch over to something lighter like MTV and you find an aging Salman Khan desperately trying to do an aerobic workout to the tune of Salaam-e-Ishq. Switch over to Hi music and it's Hrithik grooving to Dhoom 2.

Time to switch channels and you catch a rerun of Gen Next of NDTV Profit, where Big B's daughter Shweta Nanda holds fort on Next Gen. The concept is interesting as it features young achievers from all walks of life but the energy levels vary in terms of consistency. Although Shweta is articulate and intelligent, her comfort level comes through only when she's chatting with the Bollywood crowd or close friends like sarod players, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash.

But when she chats with people like businesswoman Schauna Chauhan or say ad guru Prasoon Joshi, she tries hard to sound enthusiastic but is not able to sustain the interest of the viewer. Again the 8.30 pm slot is not the best time but perhaps NDTV has deliberately opted for this timing on Sunday so as not to eat into Karan Johar's koffee with Karan show which falls on the same day at 9 pm. Karan after all has joined hands with NDTV and so can't afford to be offended. Speaking of Karan, his latest episode featuring Richard Gere was a damp squib.

Gere looked like he had been forced to appear on the show and once he had spoken about AIDS and the Tibetan cause, he started grilling Karan. Gere was not interested in winning poor Karan's hamper and very condescendingly told Karan that his question round was not rapid enough to which Karan quickly retorted, that it was because there was no fire. And on that note, it's time to take a break. See you same place, next week.