Punjabi Antenna
A riveting reality show
Randeep Wadehra

Mukesh Gautam is making Surkhaab for Zee Punjabi

To paraphrase an adage, reality can be more riveting than fiction. This came true before the recent election din died down and still returned to the small screen. The idiot box churned out suspense (whether Sidhu would get the ticket for the Amritsar Parliamentary bye-election), oodles of drama (jilted ticket aspirants raising banners of revolt) and plenty of action (kidnappings, pitched battles et al). Over the past fortnight Punjabi small screen has been sizzling with hyperventilating politicians of all hues. The reality shows like the Sidhu-Singla on-stage spectacle in Amritsar, the Dimpa controversy and the usual trading of charges between the Congress and SAD (Badal) leaders kept eyeballs fixed on the small screen. But the sad part was the showdown in Barnala between the local farmers – both men and women – and the police over the Trident land deal. However, it was the Punjab Today correspondent’s comment on the police action that left one bemused. Roughly translated his words were, ‘if the government can do this to the farmers you can well imagine the plight of the common man’. Now, if a farmer is not a common man, who is?

On the credit side, sanity returned to news reporting. Punjab Today gave seat wise analysis of strengths and weaknesses of contending parties based on past performances as well as current public sentiment. Rallies of different political parties were duly covered. The earlier bias seemed to have been rectified to a great extent. The ETC channel has been advertising the telecast of Musical Awards Nite for quite some time now but has shied away from announcing the date – looks like it is the election effect. Hopefully the telecast date will be announced by the time this piece is published. Another promo on this channel that caught one’s eye is Shemaroo’s Meri Vohti Da Vyah heralding the onset of release/launch announcements of Punjabi movies – both in DVD and big screen formats. As if to confirm this Zee Punjabi is running promos of Surkhaab a movie in its nascent stage yet – it is being scripted and directed by Mukesh Gautam.

It appears that comedies on Punjabi TV are going the serials’ way. Sitcoms had vanished long ago, and now it is the turn of whatever humour remains on the small screen. With Bhagwant Mann and Gurpreet Ghuggi virtually migrating to Mumbai small-screen humour has become almost extinct with only Sudesh Lehri holding the fort. But even Lehri, along with Rana Ranbir, is making serious forays into the world of big screen flicks. With no replacements in sight viewers may have to make do with whatever passes for music.