SIGHT & SOUND
A blend of words and music
Amita Malik

I must confess I was not too impressed with the first edition of Vir Sanghvi’s new interview programme where he has music combined with interviews. I did, however like the opening item of instrumental music in the first programme and preferred it to the mix with vocals in the second programme. I wish he keeps that opening item as his theme music, it is very charming.

The reason I did not like the spoken part of the first programme was because it was a very mixed bag of participants where someone like the young MP, Sachin Pilot, sat in the wings after an interesting opening interview and then time was wasted by a giggly singer Vasundhara Das, who sang better than she spoke and had us bored.

In the second programme, on the other hand, we had an interesting mix of articulate and interesting people who also jelled with each other. Mehbooba Mufti is always spirited and to the point, Navjot Singh Sidhu can mix fun with good observations and Rahul Bose is always articulate and witty. I missed Shivani Kashyap as the lights went off for two hours; the programme was not repeated twice on Sunday as promised, so that was that.

I sometimes wonder how our top interviewers appear on several channels with interview programmes and keep their identities separate. I like Vir Sanghvi’s style of interviewing. He can ask tough questions with a smiling face. The nearest he gets to bullying is when he interviews women solo, but then, this is a common male chauvinist failing.

He went a little too far with Tabu, for instance. But in the case of Mehbooba, her honesty and no-nonsense manner make interviewers respect her. She was also assured and to the point in Prannoy Roy’s Thursday programme, which had dialogues across the border between Indians and Pakistanis, mostly politicians, journalists and human rights activists. I shall look forward to more in the series Face the Music, which faces the challenge of keeping the words and music in the right proportions.

Cricket dominated the screen last week and for me, as for many viewers, it was a depressing moment when Sachin Tendulkar was booed by the people of the same city where he grew up and where he has been an idol.

And there was this very anxious moment when Dhoni was hit by a ball while batting. It looked very serious to begin with as one remembered Indian batsman Raman Lamba who actually died in Dhaka after being hit on the head while batting. Dhoni, however, recovered by hitting several fours immediately after. Brave lad.

It strikes me that the new English channels are getting so urbanised and so tied to politics, films and sport (mainly cricket) that they seem to be more interested in engaging in a rat race with rival channels rather than thinking of the needs of the community. It is always refreshing to watch programmes like India Matters on NDTV or programmes on the environment like Born Wild by Swathi Thyagarajan.

Frantic efforts to build up a star system with anchors new to the media are not exactly impressing viewers. Anchors seem to have no training in TV and not the remotest idea of anchoring the news but there’s no end to their ego. One cannot overlook the basics of broadcasting to get ahead in the rat race.

Tailpiece: We are doomed to live with ads, which keep on interrupting serials, films, sport and interviews. But there can be advertisements which please. I certainly enjoy the one by Kingfisher Airlines, which is artistic, understated and genuinely makes me want to fly with them.

The one which perhaps repulses me most is the one where an elderly couple not only gets romantic (which is fine) but the husband also picks ice-cream off the floor and feeds it into her greedy mouth while she keeps her eyes shut. I think ice-cream should never be eaten off the floor, especially as the husband seems to be wearing shoes.