SIGHT & SOUND
The finest TV personality
Amita Malik

The irrepressible Shobhaa De recently described Finance Minister P Chidambaram as "The sexiest man in India". His wife, an eminent lawyer herself, graciously said: "I am thrilled at Shobhaa De’s remark."

Well, as a mediaperson, I would like to give Chidambaram top ranking in another sphere. I would like to rank him at the very top as the finest TV personality in India not only among ministers and politicians but also among male performers. Chidambaram is articulate, always speaks to the point, never loses his cool and is always relaxed. He is not only amiable to interviewers, but rustles up a charming smile when needed. He had a very long session in Parliament, presenting the Budget, but was unflappable even during the after-Budget interviews. In sum, I would like to describe Chidambaram as a gentleman, to use an old-fashioned phrase, and a true representative of the civilised Indian.

I always reach, if not exactly for the gun, certainly for the remote whenever I hear the word "comedy" mentioned in the Indian TV context. This is because it usually stands for crude farce of the slipping-on-the-banana-peel variety, more reminiscent of the early days of the Hindi cinema. I respect and enjoy good social satire, as in Jaspal Bhatti’s delectable spin-offs, or in Public Hai Sab Janti Hai, or Office Office. I always take them seriously. But the crude farces, passing off as comedy, usually make me switch off. It was therefore with a certain sense of trepidation that I tuned in to the first episode of LOC — Life out of control — on Star Plus.

It is a reasonably funny subject, about what is described as the love-hate relationship between an Indian and a Pakistani. The two share the same house and name and work in the same restaurant in London, with Tom Alter as the British restaurant owner. It is a good idea with a good director (Rajeev Mehra, who also directed Office Office) and stars such as Sanjay Mishra but it has not been too well executed, at least to begin with. For instance, what does one make of a particular exchange when one waiter, to make a fool of the other, sends an order for butter chicken in the form of a live chicken in a basket with a pat of butter on the side? Ha, ha. However, these are early days and we can watch out for more episodes before we make up our minds.

I had warned in an earlier column that we must not kill Sania Mirza with kindness and with too much media hype. And I must confess when I heard a veteran editor like Shekhar Gupta introduce Sania in his TV programme Walk The Talk as the biggest sports icon in India after Sachin Tendulkar, I was flabbergasted. I ask you, what about Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Leander Paes, Vijay Amritraj, Dhyan Chand and, now Kartikey. I could go on and on.

I repeat that we must spare Sania this kind of hyperbole, as it is likely to put a strain on her. Let her concentrate on her game. She is, at the time of writing this piece, still only 99 in world ranking and is being rushed into giving polio drops to babies, and visiting orphanages in Kolkata. She is asked endless questions on trivia such as her nose ring and dark glasses. She is only a teenager, we are proud of her and wish her well, but all this is going too far, isn’t it? Please spare her the media hype.

It was a stroke of genius on the part of NDTV to take its delectable Gustakhi Maaf to Bihar itself and let Laloo, Rabri Devi, Sonia Gandhi and Ram Vilas Paswan in their duplicate versions speak directly to the crowd and even answer questions from the delighted audience. I am not sure if it is comedy, but it certainly makes my point about good satire. And, it also proves that the so-called masses have a tremendous sense of humour if they can respond to sophisticated wit like this.

As I write this Sania Mirza is playing in Dubai. Why couldn’t one national channel DD obtain the footage and show it in India?