PUNJABI ANTENNA
Bollywood’s brawny patriot
Randeep Wadehra

THE heart-warming scenes at the Wagah border, when prisoners from the two countries were exchanged, have given way to sobering reality. Sarabjit’s fate is still in limbo, and things are not looking bright for him and other Indians on the death row in Pakistan’s jails. The media should continue focusing on this issue and mobilise international opinion in favour of our stricken compatriots.

ETC Punjabi has an unusual way of featuring the artiste of the week. It divides the presentation into two segments — Caught On Camera (Thursday 8.15 pm) and Dil Diyan Gallan (Monday 8.15 pm) — wherein the artiste is interviewed. This time it was Bollywood star Sunny Deol who talked about his achievements and future plans. He has inherited dad Dharmendra’s he-man image and combined it with Manoj Kumar style high-decibel patriotism, thus enrapturing his fans.

Women are storming one of the most sacrosanct male bastions — priesthood. After Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, it is now the turn of Sikhism to face the poser: should women do seva in a gurdwara and can they now climb higher in the Sikh clerical hierarchy? Khabarsaar takes a look at the latest developments in the community.

Ridka on Road (ETC Punjabi) is still in its nascent stages. Yet one can’t help pointing out some of its drawbacks. Anchor Anirudh Sharma needs to be told to curtail his gestures. He gets into the applause mode even before a celebrity singer clears his throat to hum a tune. His hands begin to form classical mudras, his lips spew forth wah, wah and his head begins to sway as if his guest is already crooning the finale. This happened a bit too often while Master Salim was on the show.

Has the IT revolution made the conventional form of education redundant? Those who passed out of schools and colleges a decade back feel disadvantaged vis-`E0-vis the new generation graduates. The IT skills are now part of the curriculum right from primary school itself. Parat Dar Parat highlighted the manner in which the education scenario in Punjab has changed and its implications for those who have the IT skills and those who don’t. It also examined the qualitative difference between private and government-run educational institutions. Anchor Bhalinder Singh impressed with his incisive questions while providing backgrounder to the episode.