SIGHT & SOUND
VIPs can add to tragedies
Amita Malik

The horror of the railway blasts and the death of more than 66 innocent people dominated the media so much last week that it seems almost wrong to discuss any other programmes. The family tragedies overwhelmed all other so-called dramatic fare on the screen and while watching the horror, one could not help but notice how VVIPs added to the tragedy, all the more moving since it came across loud and clear on the screen. The worst burn cases had been brought to Safdarjang Hospital and anxious relatives rushed there to find that a loved one had survived while others had the terrible job of identifying bodies burnt beyond recognition. One’s heart bled for them. And into this sad crowd of anxious relatives enter the VVIPs. Ministers, diplomats, sundry netas, the lot. And suddenly security barriers sprang up, tough policemen tried pushing away distraught elderly ladies and weeping but angry relatives.

Surely our netas, if they must visit hospitals and other trouble spots, should make their presence as innocuous as possible. Let the anxious relatives have right of way. It should be made clear to their security men that the waiting relatives should be treated with courtesy and compassion. One cannot help but compare how both in New York and London the police and the public both responded with good sense.

A child whose grandmother was missing wails outside the mortuary of the Civil Hospital, Panipat. — Photo by Pradeep Tiwari

If our security behaved better, with strict instructions from the netas seeking political mileage, the crowds would probably respond. Meanwhile, I suggest that the ministers and others who add to the chaos should see the footage of the reactions of the very people they were allegedly there to help. It should open their eyes. Television would then perform the kind of social service it needs to.

Perhaps as an escape from unending horror, I turned to some time-tested soothing programmes and people. I am not ashamed to confess that every time Baghbaan is shown on the small screen, I sit back and watch it for not only a very good theme but the tremendous performances by Hema Malini and Amitabh Bachchan. It has something called style, which is under-stated and so often missing in the film-to-film nuances of the younger generation of actors and actresses.

It was in a similar mood of nostalgia that I sat through Silsila, that tour de force in acting by Amitabh, Jaya, Rekha and Sanjeev Kumar. That the theme was close to the bone made the whole plot all the more fascinating. The only jarring note was at the end, when Amitabh and Jaya burst into a song. Even if those were the days of happy endings by song, it really shattered one’s mood. I hastily switched off.

Revivals also bring nostalgia. It is early days yet and I shall make comparisons of then and now when I have watched more than one episode. But if Karamchand was missing, and we did miss him, at least there was Office, Office, old and new, always there to remind us of one of the finest actors, Pankaj Kapur, on the small screen. So I will comment on the return of Karamchand after a few episodes, but although the carrot is there—I am possibly being biased—but I am missing Sushmita Mukherji. As for Renuka Shahane, the last with the beautiful smile, she has returned two little sons later, but the smile is still intact. I still have to make up my mind about the role in which an uncomplicated actress like her has been cast, but be sure I will share my reactions with you sooner than later.

I had always thought that no one could be as insensitive and greedy as Doordarshan when it comes to holding up sports events with advertisements, which actually cut into the game. But NEO Sports has outdone even DD. Nothing could be more horrific than reducing the players while playing to a narrow square in the middle of the screen and then showing advertisements on the bigger square surrounding it, so that one reads the captions of the ads in large letters, but the score and other details are reduced to being unreadable. The Government is interfering in everything except putting a curb on advertisers who play havoc with sports and other programmes. Time it did.

Tailpiece: It has never been the policy of this column to claim exclusives, or first or high TRPs, or whatever. But I must confess I was amused when a national daily claimed that it was the first and only paper to point out the "racism" in the ads about West Indians being refused a glass of water at a dhaba which I called un-Indian as well as insulting to our visitors, as also the quip about Sri Lankans (cricketers in both cases) running away from tigers. We pointed this out two columns ago.