I am not an avid watcher of TV but even with my limited viewing, the inverse relationship of quality and quantity is not hard to miss.
Whether it is a reality show (frightening, really!!), some silly soap, news or even interviews, mostly the content on the telly is downright dumb.
It is in this context that the variety show “Oye Its Friday!” hosted by Farhan Akhtar quite simply stands out for its refreshing brilliance, seen on the TV after a long time.
Although it is technically a variety show, a major part is about Farhan interviewing the guests, leading to an inevitable comparison with earlier chat-shows of Simi Garewal and Karan Johar, other filmi insiders interviewing their fraternity.
I remember Simi as being positively mannequin-ish & maudlin, and Karan as very stylish and intelligent. Both, however, were overbearing – the former most of the time and the latter some of it.
In contrast, Farhan is sheer fun. His intelligence and delightful tongue-in-cheek humour permeates through the scripted lines, so visible in his clever turn of phrase and efficient wordplay (with Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani as his parents, can you expect anything different?). And, it is delightful to watch his unpretentiousness and masti quotient inevitably get to the guest. The episodes with Shahrukh and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were simply crackling with energy.
Adding to it is the ensemble of various interesting garnishing items like gags, songs, dances, instrument recitals, rope tricks, acrobats, what–have–you.
In short – good conceptualizing and even better presentation. Talking about the Indian telly, a rarity indeed!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Worthy Valentine
Since the day the cowardly attacks on innocent young boys and girls happened in a pub in Mangalore, I had been dreading what would happen on the Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, yesterday was largely peaceful.
It is clear however that this state-sponsored cordiality is merely a superficial dressing. Slowly but surely, the fault-lines between the self-appointed “guardians” of a glorious “Indian” sanskruti and the supposedly liberal thinking modern youth have come to run quite deep now.
It is a good time to think whether these fault-lines are as clearly defined in black and white as we think them to be? And, most importantly, where does one fit in, whose side one is on. A decade back, you needn’t have bothered to even ask me. I was young enough to root for “freedom” above all. Now, my take is a little different.
I am no closet member of Shri Ram Sene (how can they malign this name!!). I however seriously feel that in the garb of modernity, this “freedom & liberty” bit has been overplayed a bit by a small section of our populace, including the English media. After all, why do we need to be free from our culture and traditions so badly? What great purpose in life is being held from us by our allegiance to these traditions?
Forgive me for spewing clichés like a true-blue (or red?) Marxist, but it does remain a fact that the economic imperialism being perpetrated for so many years by the west has indeed skewed our reference points now, so that there is apparently no other individual goal except immediate self–gratification. And it is this exalted goal which is being lent inaccessible by the whole body of our culture and traditions.
It helps of course that the self-appointed custodians of culture are another over-zealous & misguided ideologues leading a whole bunch of equally misguided youth, most of which give in to being utilized because they are suffering from an acute identity crisis and have got nothing more worthwhile to do.
I wish we were seeking liberty and freedom for achieving some greater value addition to the society in areas where it actually matters, which would have made this fight more justified.
It is clear however that this state-sponsored cordiality is merely a superficial dressing. Slowly but surely, the fault-lines between the self-appointed “guardians” of a glorious “Indian” sanskruti and the supposedly liberal thinking modern youth have come to run quite deep now.
It is a good time to think whether these fault-lines are as clearly defined in black and white as we think them to be? And, most importantly, where does one fit in, whose side one is on. A decade back, you needn’t have bothered to even ask me. I was young enough to root for “freedom” above all. Now, my take is a little different.
I am no closet member of Shri Ram Sene (how can they malign this name!!). I however seriously feel that in the garb of modernity, this “freedom & liberty” bit has been overplayed a bit by a small section of our populace, including the English media. After all, why do we need to be free from our culture and traditions so badly? What great purpose in life is being held from us by our allegiance to these traditions?
Forgive me for spewing clichés like a true-blue (or red?) Marxist, but it does remain a fact that the economic imperialism being perpetrated for so many years by the west has indeed skewed our reference points now, so that there is apparently no other individual goal except immediate self–gratification. And it is this exalted goal which is being lent inaccessible by the whole body of our culture and traditions.
It helps of course that the self-appointed custodians of culture are another over-zealous & misguided ideologues leading a whole bunch of equally misguided youth, most of which give in to being utilized because they are suffering from an acute identity crisis and have got nothing more worthwhile to do.
I wish we were seeking liberty and freedom for achieving some greater value addition to the society in areas where it actually matters, which would have made this fight more justified.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Life's lessons or Death's?
An unfortunate death of a family elder took me recently to my hometown Bikaner in Rajasthan.
Notwithstanding the tragedy of the moment, what struck me wondrously, and in ways more than one, was the import of our social mores and customs, as they fit in all the facets of our life – from a celebration to a calamity; how the sincerity and honesty with which these customs are practiced in our small towns and cities makes them so relevant & useful, more so in times of grief.
I could see that none of the visiting ladies, who had come to commiserate with the widow, sported the bindi, in deference to her immense grief.
I could see that while the funeral procession passed through the bazaar, even some strangers joined in the funeral procession, chanting the holy name and taking turns to be the pall-bearers, brethren in a shared mourning, so to say.
I could see that all the people we passed, irrespective of their religious or caste affiliations, paused in whatever they were doing to pay obeisance to the dead. This included even the drivers of all the vehicles we passed. Those driving two-wheelers got off their vehicles.
I could see that while at the cremation grounds, none of the young were allowed to touch the feet of their elders in reverence, which is otherwise always expected of them. After all, each one of us was in attendance of the one irrefutable truth of life – the death, whom none could surpass in importance.
Far from being some inconsequential, dead rituals, as we forward–looking types are wont to consider them, I think all our customs are actually very finely-tuned responses to the psychological and social demands of the particular occasion.
It would therefore do well for us to neither discard our customs as hogwash nor mechanically adhere to them but to make an effort and understand their import, which could certainly enrich our lives a little bit.
Notwithstanding the tragedy of the moment, what struck me wondrously, and in ways more than one, was the import of our social mores and customs, as they fit in all the facets of our life – from a celebration to a calamity; how the sincerity and honesty with which these customs are practiced in our small towns and cities makes them so relevant & useful, more so in times of grief.
I could see that none of the visiting ladies, who had come to commiserate with the widow, sported the bindi, in deference to her immense grief.
I could see that while the funeral procession passed through the bazaar, even some strangers joined in the funeral procession, chanting the holy name and taking turns to be the pall-bearers, brethren in a shared mourning, so to say.
I could see that all the people we passed, irrespective of their religious or caste affiliations, paused in whatever they were doing to pay obeisance to the dead. This included even the drivers of all the vehicles we passed. Those driving two-wheelers got off their vehicles.
I could see that while at the cremation grounds, none of the young were allowed to touch the feet of their elders in reverence, which is otherwise always expected of them. After all, each one of us was in attendance of the one irrefutable truth of life – the death, whom none could surpass in importance.
Far from being some inconsequential, dead rituals, as we forward–looking types are wont to consider them, I think all our customs are actually very finely-tuned responses to the psychological and social demands of the particular occasion.
It would therefore do well for us to neither discard our customs as hogwash nor mechanically adhere to them but to make an effort and understand their import, which could certainly enrich our lives a little bit.
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