TELEPROMPT
No more a hero
Mannika Chopra

THE funny thing about television is that it destroys the pictures you have in your head just as fast as it creates them. In your mind, Shashi Tharoor, now ex-Minister of State for External Affairs, was the new age politician India was craving for. Articulate, trained in St Stephen’s best debating traditions, a professional from abroad, and not having risen from the ranks of any political dynasty, it seemed he had all the right credentials. This 55-year-old author and international administrator was going to take politics to another level.

Backed by a fan following of over 700,000 on twitter, he was the new great Indian middle class hero that NDTV 27’s Verdict spoke of. He was going to rescue the system. Television and its all-star cast loved him. He was so captivating. With the UN training behind him, he knew how to give those sharp answers that news channels love so much. In the run-up to the general elections, and just after his victory, it was difficult to see a channel which had not interviewed him. His perfectly set floppy hair, which he occasionally pushed back in a seamless gesture, languorous eyes and carefully cultivated tones only added to his charm. As did his constant, not-so-artless, admission that he completed his PhD at the tender age of 22.

Anchors, bar none, male and female, fell all over him. You only had to see this week’s repeat telecast On the Couch with Koel, aired on Headlines Today, to get a sense of his pull. Granted that that chat show’s host Koel Purie is a little ditzy, but even then her remark about his about good looks and charm were entirely in keeping with the effect this former contender for the UN Secretary General’s post had on the Fourth Estate. Tharoor was very much the media’s darling, who, despite his repeated misdemeanours, could do no wrong. The captivating MP from Thiruvanthapuram, with the media firmly behind him, always hit the ground running.

Then, wham, in a week filled with high drama and low moral fibre, Tharoor, from a social networking site icon, became a nasty piece of work. IPL supremo Lalit Modi highlighted the Minister’s dubious role, yes, ironically on twitter, in seeing that the IPL franchise went to Kerala. The tide turned, and since TV voyeurs love to sit on judgement, they had decided, helped by TV, that Tharoor was zero number one. Channels went hammer and tongs against him and his association with friend Sunanda Pushkar, a Kashmiri.

NDTV 24X7’s Barkha Dutt managed a really exclusive interview with Tharoor as the dirt was hitting the ceiling. Tharoor’s tone and demeanour seemed unnaturally calm, which in comparison made Modi look like a twitching rabbit. Times Now may have repeatedly sulked on air about selective interviews given by the then Minster, but the truth is that Dutt’s exchange merely gave Tharoor a platform. It did dot plumb new forms of corruption in public life that have invaded the political system. The most quotable quote used both by CNN-IBN (Face the Nation) and NDTV 24x7 (The Buck Stops Here) — those who live by twitter, die by twitter — seemed to say it all.

Vijay Mallya, dressed in the Royal Challengers colours, was valiantly batting for Modi across all leading channels but, alas and alack, it was not to be. It is not official yet but the writing is on the board. Its splitsville for Modi and the IPL and, sadly, the focus on the IPL finals has got swamped with news about dubious ownership patterns, match fixing and dirty money.

Now on to happier things like Shekar Gupta’s Walk the Talk (NDTV 24x7) with Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik. Now happily married, the demons of the last two weeks seemed to be a thing of the past. Technically, the interaction should have talked about the Ayesha-Shoaib entanglement, peppered with some mea culpas. But this conversation was about celebrating a relationship and not about ruining it.

I, for one, was particularly pleased with Sania’s infectious giggling enthusiasm (she did most of the talking in English), and her husband’s barely audible, low-key performance (in Urdu). You could tell that both of them were bright of eye and happy of smile. And papa; well, he came across as a warm, paternal figure, affectionately blessing the newly married couple and encouraging them to greater sporting heights. In a week filled with high temperatures and tension, the exchange was such a welcome relief.