TELEPROMPT
Cheer all around
Mannika Chopra

Festival fever is clashing with the 24/7 news business. As Divali comes upon us this week, entertainment channels are pressing the accelerator to give us programmes full of festive cheer, peaking to a grand climax on Saturday evening. On the hard news front, the news networks are following the elections in three states — Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh — with the balance being very definitely tilted towards Maharashtra.

What Star Plus has been yodelling about is Divali extravaganza special, Divali Mela Dilon Ka. A daily entertainment programme, it will end apparently on Divali day with actor Shreyas Tapade performing a grand Laxmi puja, like some sort of global TV deity.

The network’s sister channel, Star World, is also going to town with a new season of Desperate Housewives, giving viewers a two-hour special of this Emmy-winning show on Divali. What foxes me is that all these channels think, or perhaps they know, given their dependence on half-baked research, that this is the day when the general janata will prefer sitting in front of its television screens, lapping up high octane programmes, rather than being involved in some sort of social activity. Or may be, they hope that the promos of Desperate Housewives with its ultra hot dramatis personae, seductively dressed in red, hair blowing in the wind, accompanied with extremely come-hither looks, will defeat any attempts to meet sundry near or dear ones.

In a run-up to the festival, India TV did what it does worst — broadcasting the astrological impact of Divali. According to the channel’s in-house guru, the number of brightly lit diyas placed at certain points in one’s house will determine a person’s good luck throughout the year. Its programmes like these that make rational viewers beg for a regulation code. At the same time, the significance of this festival programming cannot be over-emphasised. In the wake of the recession, which has given the economy its worst battering in recent years, the linkages between festivals and money are clear.

It is not about people enjoying themselves and taking part in great family occasions. It is all about a revival in the markets so that people can enjoy themselves. So don’t be surprised, come Divali day, when the less laudatory aspects of the festival and the current rise in prices will be glossed over. Instead, the mood will be all about people preparing for the festival, cleaning their houses and distributing mithai. Maybe there is a reason that the festival coverage sounds like an upbeat manifesto.

In the meantime, on voting day the news channels have gone into overdrive mode (Question: Is there any other drive as far as they are concerned?). Channels are also mixing spot coverage with strategically placed features on the state’s attempt to remove Naxal activity. Both Times Now and CNN-IBN carried similar features on the steps being taken by the bureaucracy/Central Reserve Police to ensure safe elections, especially in the Naxal areas.

"Operation Seek and Destroy", screamed Times Now; "Combating Maoist Terror" was Headlines Today’s slug, while CNN-IBN followed more sedately. If you think that sedate means lay back, you are wrong. Sedate can also mean measured, mature, more accessible.

On the election front, the channels are running neck and neck. But with Kumar Ketkar, Editor of a Marathi daily and easily one of TV’s sharpest commentators in their studios, CNN-IBN has scored. But having said that, the coverage is all very conventional. In the election cinemascope, the goodies and baddies are all mixed up, even though Headlines Today in an epic catchline has called these three elections "Mahabharata 2009".

Apart from the unscrupulous politicians, the baddies also include the apathetic urban voter. CNN-IBN, to fire up the electorate, has even started a campaign, "Vote Mumbai Vote." As the voting day rolls on, all channels showed assorted celebs showing their ink-stained finger to cameras, indicating how they had done their civic duty.

Zee News did one better by repeatedly showing the channel’s owner, Subhash Chandra, displaying his index finger. But it appeared, superficially at least, that all the celebs were to be found only in Mumbai. But I do believe there are simultaneous elections being held in the states of Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh as well.