Sight & Sound
Why Bollywood-ise cricket
Amita Malik

The most tragic events have alternated with the most joyous this last week, leaving viewers emotionally drained. The horrific massacre of parents and children in Russia left one numb. Around the same time the three Indian lorry drivers held hostage in Iraq returned to their overjoyed families. On a totally different level, after our disastrous performance at the Olympics, the drubbing of Indian cricket players by England and dismal performances by the likes of Sehwag exasperated their fans. It does not seem to be India’s shining hour, at least in sports.

But there was good cheer elsewhere. Prime Minister’s new image on the screen came through in his press conference. Still courteous but polite and firm in his answers and that witty put-down about the pigeon among the cats. The soft-spoken professor is becoming a media personality. And then there was the return of Udaan. Producer Kavita Choudhary’s sister, the police officer of the serial, appeared in real life as the first woman who has achieved the highest position in her service. Director General of Police (Uttaranchal) Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya was interviewed by Doordarshan. It was a wide-ranging interview, covering her upbringing, family life and career. The smiling, soft-spoken lady emerged with honours on the screen. But this being DD, two mistakes were made.

First, the camera was too much on the interviewer. And, the microphone balance was appalling. While the interviewer’s voice came across loud and clear, the voice of Kanchan, the star of the programme, came at low volume and at times muffled. Unforgivable. Doordarshan’s sound engineers had better pull up their socks. But the wealth of visuals, unusual in a DD programme, was some consolation.

Meanwhile, the miserable lives of the neglected and the underprivileged drag on, and Prof Manmohan Singh has promises to keep. Fortunately, two of our best TV reporters are on the job to keep the PM and his government posted. And women always seem to be more compassionate about sensitive issues. It started with Sutapa Deb and has gone on to Shikha Trivedi. In this admirable series, India Matters on NDTV, Sutapa Deb has done the most thorough and documented job on Manipur that I have seen on television. Her interviews with women protestors, young people and intellectuals, put to shame the monotonous clich`E9-ridden interviews with politicians. Shikha, has been, as usual, to her usual beat of under-privileged people in forgotten areas. A big shabash to both Sutapa and Shikha.

Rajat Sharma and Tarun Tejpal’s INDIA channel has brought off a coup by its tie-up with Al-Jazeera. Our coverage of Israel-Palestine problems, of the Arab world generally relies so much on the western media, bar a few reporters like Ajay Shukla, that it is time we got the other point of view. It was something new that our Minister of State for External Affairs had contacts in the Arab world and was able to speak in Arabic on the Arabic channels during the hostage crisis involving Indian lorry drivers in Iraq. Another breakthrough.

On the lighter, but partly serious plane, it is a unique event that there should be a Jassi postage stamp, although sponsored. Jassi certainly established new values for a plain, hard-working and extremely ordinary heroine who is both efficient and knows her mind. The whole of last week I tried brief excerpts of all the saas-bahu kind of serials and found them stereotyped, badly acted, and the women having a look of coming out straight from the beauty salon. Jassi has not only put them in their place but proved that viewers are not half as dumb and captive as the K-producers presume.

As we go to press, Zee seems to have pulled off the cricket coverage contract. A word of caution to Subhash Chandra, who is sensitive to viewer tastes. Star and ESPN have set formidable standards in technical coverage as well as for commentators. And they have avoided ads intruding into cricket, Zee should aim for the best and avoid B-level commentators of the type DD has, and must, at all costs, avoid silly trivialities of the Mandira Bedi type. Cricket is serious business for cricket lovers. And, India has a women’s cricket team of international standards. It can surely produce professional commentators.

Shekhar Suman, being intelligent, was just bearable. But we do not need to Bollywood-ise cricket with noodle straps. Free trips and all the trimmings for Mandira Bedi and Gautam Bhimani and Co. are robbing India’s favourite sport of dignity, seriousness and precious commentary time.

Please do something about it, Subhash Chandra. You owe it to the lovers of cricket.