(Mis) Representation on television

Indian television has suddenly seen a surge of Indo-Pak bonding in the last month. What started of as a peace building initiative through music by singers Sonu Nigam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in the form of Chotte Ustaad seemed to set a trend of sorts, with Bigg Boss 4getting two Pakistani artists to be a part of the show. However, the first being a novel and a brilliant idea, the second I have a problem with.

Chotte Ustaad as we all know has one Indian singer and one Pakistani singer team up and compete with 11 other such pairs of children. While Sonu Nigam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan played mentor, the special guests on the show ranging from Abida Parveen, Shankar Mahadevan, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Sonam Kapoor, Shaan, Priyanka Chopra, Mahesh Bhatt, the Kapoor khandaan etc too lauded the efforts and the talent.

The show was unique in many ways. Firstly, it made Indians and Pakistanis team up and not compete against each other. Secondly, many Pakistani families managed to accomplish things they just dreamt off, like visiting the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, watching their children share the same platform with biggies like Asha Bhosle and meeting stars like Rishi Kapoor which otherwise they would only see onscreen. Thirdly, it propagated peace and promoted talent and fourthly it was a show which ran on talent and an overwhelming message and not on controversies, drama and sleaze. Yes, it was high on emotions but in the right way.

The show not only gave a great opportunity to the young singers to showcase their talent but also showcased Pakistanis in the right light in India. For a change Pakistani’s weren’t looked down upon but were looked at in a positive light. Finally, most Indians realised that yes, people there are not terrorists or fundamentalists like they are made out to be, they are nice, they too have emotions, they are friendly basically they are the same as us and extremely talented too. Also when the voices of both the countries met in unison the songs just sounded more soulful and melodious.

On the other hand you have Veena Malik and Begum Nawazish Ali entering Bigg Boss. Now, firstly anyways Veena Malik is scandal ridden, and secondly, for your personal interests I hope they realise they are putting an entire country’s reputation at stake. Unlike the other contestants who are just representing themselves, these two have an extra burden of representing their country. Yes, for 2 weeks it’s easy playing Mother Teresa, but putting up a farce for 90 days is kind of difficult. And to top it all one small even genuine mistake of theirs will be lapped up by the media like there is no tomorrow.

Unfortunately, thanks to the relations between both the countries, not many Indian’s get to visit Pakistan and vice-versa; hence the level of misconceptions about both the countries amongst the masses is quite high. And television rather a show like Bigg Boss is catering to the masses, who will believe everything they see. So at the end of the show most will turn around saying that Veena Malika and Begum Nawazish Ali represent the general Pakistani. Well, I don’t know how they or any common Pakistani would take that, but as an Indian, who has friends and relatives there and has visited Pakistan, its so not true.

For once I would say Colors please listen to Shiv Sena and get those 2 out of there soon. Okay maybe that’s going a bit to far, no I don’t support Shiv Sena, but the reason I want them out of there is not because they are Pakistani but because Colors, with your editing skills, and want to catch eyeballs and TRPs you may just end up straining relations, not at a diplomatic level but on a people to people level. I agree the two are there for their personal gains, like maybe getting into the Indian television industry and so on but hello, you are kind of maligning the image of your country in return.

On one hand you have people like Wasim Akram, Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and so much so Pakistani kids creating a positive image and on the other hand the two of you in Bigg Boss which is known for sleaze and controversies. Till now no one has exited the show with a positive image, not even the winner, so what makes them think they will.

So, kudos to shows like Chotte Ustaad and hope many more such shows are introduced to build people to people relations.

Bigg Flop - 4

It’s been almost 3 weeks now, and one of Indian televisions most over hyped and much speculated shows – Bigg Boss 4 turned out to be quite a damp squib compared to the previous editions. Yes, one expected Salman Khan’s magic to work just like Dus ka Dum, well actually that’s the only thing which works for the show – considering the lacklustre line up of inmates who gave an even more lacklustre opening to the show.

Those expecting Shakti Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Shiney Ahuja, Chunkey Pandey, Sangeeta Bijlani, in return got a dacoit, a thief, a cross-dresser, a lawyer, two television actresses, two out of work actors, some Bhojpuri tadka and a supermodel. Talk about diversity.

So we had a terrorist’s lawyer, rather ex lawyer Abbas Kazmi, who thankfully like he was thrown out of the case was also thrown out of the house, and later on from a few circles in his personal life. Well seeing him roam around in sleeveless tshirts, complaining about less food wasn’t entertaining anyways. Then you have former bandit queen Seema Parihar, who not only looks scary but its difficult to understand what she says that when she does (and I think she too finds it difficult to understand what others say). Then you have a scandal-ridden star son Rahul Bhatt (apparently David Headleys gym buddy) who seems to be on a maun vrut of sorts most of the time. A former thief Devinder Singh or Superchor Bunty who couldn’t even last for a day thanks to his excess usage of expletives also made his presence felt. Suddenly, Bigg Boss’s house seemed more like jail in the literal sense.

Now coming to the list of entertainers - we have a traumatised divorcee and once upon a time soap queen Shweta Tiwari, who seems to be busy smothering everyone. Then there is Pakistani TV host Begum Nawazish Ali, who is sometimes referred to as Begum and sometimes Ali, I am pretty sure if she stays in that house a bit longer she will come out of there turning schizophrenic. Adding to Shiv Sena’s furore is another Pakistani actress Veena Malik who is better known as a world famous controversy queen especially after blowing the cover of Mohammed Asif. So basically one episode she spent crying about him, the weekends she spends trying to flirt with Salman Khan and the rest of the days either fighting or flirting with Hrishant Goswami. One minute, who is Hrishant Goswami??? I know a model but his claim to fame? Well talking about wannabe’s they even had Splitsvilla winner Sakshi Pradhan in the house for a while. Doesn’t speak much about the reputation of the show even when you have a Salman Khan hosting it.

With his endearing smile and pearls of wisdom is Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari whose favourite song seems to be Munni badnam hui (Doesn’t he know it’s the audience he has to impress and not Salman Khan). Besides that there is Mr super calm Sameer Soni. Yes, his nomination last week was quite surprising, but he seems like one of the only sane people in the house besides Anchal Kumar. Supermodel Anchal Kumar, sweet and helpful and has a great wardrobe too, but why exactly did she cry so much once Abbas Kazmi was evicted, and why was he praising her so much on all radio channels once he was out of the house?

When it comes to speculation though the only thing which managed to grab if not many a few eyeballs was Sara Khan and her damsel in distress act which is highly irritating and her proximity to the jobless Ashmit Patel who loves talking or flaunting his six pack abs but still complains that he is fat. Well, their closeness has surely left her boyfriend actor Ali Merchant stressed out and left him with a lot of questions to answer on his personal life. He even went on record saying “Sara treats Ashmit like a father.” Really now? Yes, Ali we believe you. And last but not the least the latest entrant 7 feet 3 inches Khalli. Firstly, how is he fitting in that house, and secondly how is this otherwise down to earth, shy wrestler going to stay in that house? Well, at least we know his reason for entering – he hurt his foot and can’t wrestle so let’s make some money instead.

With a line up like this, you don’t need to be Einstein to figure out why the show hasn’t been able to generate enough fireworks to sustain viewership. Then if you didn’t have Shiv Sena causing a black out of the show for a week, you had Amitabh Bachchan coming back with KBC, and for the weekends Akshay Kumar with Master Chef, and if that’s not all soon Rakhi Sawant will be giving them competition with Rakhi ka insaaf (this has just got to be the heights of stupidity on Indian television). Even a unisex bedroom hasn’t been able to add any masala, which separate ones could in the last 3 seasons. Well, the only saving grace is the weekends with the aakhri salaam with Salman Khan. His antics and jokes, which sometimes border on being crass managed to raise the TRP’s and also keep the viewers interested. Till now three weeks have been quite boring and sitting through one entire episode is a drab, and there are still 70 more days to go. Sigh.