Sight & Sound
Channel wars
Amita Malik

For some weeks now, a long and sordid legal wrangling had been going on about television rights for the India-Australia cricket series. BCCI, Zee TV, ESPN-Star, Doordarshan and Sony had been involved. The argument had been more about the highest tender and the power of the BCCI to suspend contracts under what seem to be out-dated and lop-sided contracts.

What seemed to come very low down in priority list was the quality of the telecasts, both technical and in terms of expert commentaries. And the viewers came the last in the list. They didn’t seem to figure at all and their views and wishes were completely ignored. And it seemed that even more ignored was DD’s poor relation, All India Radio, which also earns good money through advertisements.

This controversy shows the lack of organisation of the Indian viewers, otherwise how can the BCCI and the greedy channels hold them to ransom. In Britain or Australia, there would have been riots.

In such horrible situations, one needs relief and I was delighted to see a programme called Hangama last week. It showed two school teams of under-teens boys playing a cricket match. Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel, who were on either side, played with the boys. Ashish bowled under-arm and slowly and a little boy hit him for six. So cricket can still be fun, in spite of the BCCI and the sordid channel wars.

Radhika Bordia has not received as much publicity and hype as her louder and more pushy colleagues from NDTV but she continues to do outstanding programmes which require courage as well as broadcasting perspective and skill. I still remember her report on Ladakh scouts, who were as sure-footed as mountain goats and climbed steep, sheer mountains and also did heroic deeds during the Kargil war. Last week, Radhika was in the Bandit Queen territory, visiting lonely stretches and villages where families, terrified of raids by dacoits, locked themselves in. She persuaded some of the village women and young men to voice their fears and discuss their problems. Bravo Radhika, you and your team showed exemplary courage. Keep it up.

The 13th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was the sporting event of the year in India, according to sports watchers. It was a joy to see international runners, including legends from Kenya, Ireland, China and other countries. As for India, one did not miss the normally omnipresent Suresh Kalmadi. Sheila Dikshit presented the award with dignity and grace. And even if our official teams came very low in ranking, the zest and spirit with which the ordinary citizens of Delhi of all ages, shapes and sizes participated in hordes was heart-warming. And as the commentators were the choice of ESPN-Star, we had Harsha Bhogale for one, although we could have dispensed with Gautam Bhimani. Had the commentators been left to Doordarshan, we would have been left wringing our hands. Anyway, it was an event tailor-made for television and must have also had delighted viewers in other parts of the world.

The Apsara Awards for excellence in television, presented by the Producers’ Guild of India, made for interesting viewing. At least half a dozen of the awards could have been predicted. What came as a surprise was the endless list of awards for Jassi of Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. But the K lady did get the consolation prize for production of a series. The award was received by Ekta’s father as she was not present for the ceremony. The lifetime achievement award went to Dilip Kumar. He accepted it with grace and dignity. Abhishek Bachchan, who was called on the stage along with an actress to give away the award, bungled it. He first spoke out of turn, then apologised and after that again forgot to give precedence to the actress. Ah, well.