SIGHT & SOUND
What, no advertisements?
Amita Malik

Whatever else one might feel or not feel about DD's shining new news channel, it has at least given us freedom from advertisements. But one still gets to experience interruptions. They come in the shape of anything from brief spells of Bharatnatyam to the many revived fillers of DD.

Another less pleasing result of the lack of ads is that we have interminable discussions and the most unexpected fillers on news. Never mind, freedom from ads is sheer bliss and DD is bound to soon pick up some of the ads which made an exit after the exit of the Metro Channel. Terrestrial channels have a bigger reach and advertisers are very canny people, as is DD. Meanwhile, we can say goodbye to rupa underwear, toothpaste and other necessities of daily life.

Another casualty of the result of DD picking up ideas and broadcasters from what it calls the "garbage" private satellite channels is that having done the copying act, the most incredible people who have been lured by DD are being given the most incredible roles. While we all like Deepak Chaurasia's experience, acquired in the garbage channels, he is hardly an expert on economic affairs. The private channels have built up specialists on defence, culture, business and other disciplines and its anchors and newscasters are also encouraged to cope with an emergency, but they are never called on to be specialists. Having got some talent from private channels, DD now does not know what to do with it.

Well, however, hard one tries to get away from news in this column, one wouldn’t like to not dwell on the dramatic confrontation between The Hindu and the Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker. This is where the immediacy of radio and TV stands out. I rang up a number of friends who were interested in the judgement of the Supreme Court. Those who were monitoring the news on their car radios had barely got an idea of what it was. Those not watching TV as they were in office or otherwise engaged thanked me profusely because otherwise they would have had to depend on their morning papers for the news. And nothing but TV could have shown the joy and relief with which the staff of The Hindu celebrated the news, mobbing editor-in-chief N Ram and literally jumping with joy while shouting slogans. That is something only the cameras can capture as also the protests by journalists and others from all over India. That was also a visual treat and most channels captured this all-India note to perfection and also did interviews with N Ram, legal experts, member of the Press, people on the street in Chennai and other parts of the South and also places like Kolkata. So, with all its faults, and they are many, TV does have its uses and its exclusiveness remains unparalleled on important events.

Meanwhile, Jassi Jassi Koi Nahin is still going places, but the number of ads which clutter up Astitva, Ek Prem Kahani is beyond reason. I am pretty sure that ads take up more time than the serial itself and the long intervals between episodes break up the continuity and irritate viewers.

Surely there should be some limit, self-imposed by intelligent people on channels, to stop this rot, which is increasing at a frightening pace.

I was in Aligarh for four days and had a chance to look at Lucknow TV broadcast on my guesthouse set. Almost an entire morning was taken up by Amitabh Bachchan saying the same things about getting children to take polio drops. Then I watched the news. First, there was a station announcer playing coy in a garish red saree with loud checks and her announcing left much to be desired. Why can’t these girls speak naturally, since they were presumably chosen for their voices and style of speech. There was a reasonably good newscaster called Archana, who was neatly dressed, slightly over made-up on the cheeks, but she spoke clearly and read the news intelligently. What spoilt it is this awful habit, which used to be prevalent in Delhi some years ago, of looking sideways after finishing a sentence. It is pointless. Why not look cheerfully at the camera before signing off?

I also liked the language used, a judicial combination of Hindi and Urdu. The news was deadly dull and DD's big bosses might instruct stations to move with the times as the national news channel is trying to do.

Tailpiece: I owe an abject apology to, first Swathi Thyagarajan and then Sarah Jacob for mixing up their names last week as I was in a hurry to catch the train to Aligarh and slipped badly. The absorbing programme, Born Wild on NDTV on India's wildlife is Swathi's programme and not Sarah's. Swathi has done a splendid job and I stand by my prophecy that she might yet become India's David Attenborough. Sorry, girls.