SIGHT & SOUND
All for a laugh
Amita Malik

I was going through the programmes on different channels for what is certainly prime time for serials. That is, 8 pm to 11.30 pm. And believe me, no less than eight of them had the description "comedy" against them. Now it is my firm belief that a comedy has to stand in its own right. You merely have to look at it and hear the dialogue to discover for yourself that it is funny. And the more canned laughter they use, the more you expect and the more let down you feel when it is not really funny. I wrote last week about Star Plus’s new comedy LOC.

I watched the second episode last week and I am afraid it did not raise too many laughs on my part. Then I had a go at the Indian version of Star World’s The Kumars at No. 42. In the British NRI setting, the serial has certainly found many addicts in India, so I was a little worried about whether in an Indian-Parsi setting with the Batliwalas whether the producers could carry it off. And I think they did. To the extent that they did not really need all that canned laughter to rub in the funny bits. I am not saying the situations and dialogue were perfect, but as comedy it was much more credible and bearable than LOC. But, I repeat, these are early days and LOC might yet pick up. And Batliwala House No. 43 must stay on course.

Yes, like the rest of India, I also watched Indian Idol but felt sorry all the time for those who lost — poor young things facing all that hype. The Mumbai boy Abhijit eventually won this cruel contest — cruel on the finalists because there had to be a loser — because, I think, of his looks and he also got a better draw of songs. My heart bled for Amit from Bhilai, a small town boy who looked more studious and modest and sang equally well. In fact, I always feel miserable for the losers in these competitions, especially children, such as in the Child Genius contest. I think the losers and their parents take it hard. And the open gambling atmosphere of Khul Ja Sim Sim or the even sillier He Man, chosen by a gaggle of giggling girls who push the losers into a pool of water while they are egged on by Shekhar Suman, strike me as singularly unfunny.

I tuned in by accident to a much more harmless and amiable contest, Ms Kerala 2005, on the South Indian channel Asia Net. I feel very frustrated not knowing any of the South Indian languages. This robs me of the pleasure of watching some of their programmes, especially news, which look to me to be much more tez than some Hindi channels. The nice thing about the Ms Kerala contest — there were 19 young women competing — was that most of them got a prize.

There was a very smart young man in a cream sherwani conducting the proceedings and the judges included an architect and a woman with ginger-coloured hair who was probably a designer. They not only judged the beauties but also asked them monotonous questions.

For instance, if you had to choose between love and money, what would you choose? They all gave pretty answers. And I think they looked best when they got rid of their western dresses, both long and short skirts, and got into their beautiful Kerala sarees, the off-white ones with gold borders.

I am only sorry they walked on uncomfortable high heels which were a contrast to their dancer-like walk when barefoot. Apart from the winner, and two runners-up, there were prizes for Ms Beautiful Eyes, Hair, Smile, the lot. A nice, kind competition and even the few losers looked cheerful. This is the ideal ending. Wish it could always be like that.

This feature was published on March 12, 2005