Is Bollywood bigger than politics, health and any other significant news? Are the byte hungry television crews and daily tabloids overdoing it?
“There was something utterly pathetic about how a hundred television cameras went scrambling for a nanosecond of footage each time the gates at Jalsa opened to let a car inside. Is this peek-a-boo-voyeurism now the future of Indian journalism?,” questioned Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor, NDTV 24 * 7 in her weekly column in The Hindustan Times on 21st April. Richard Gere's innocuous kiss on Shilpa Shetty's rouge-friendly cheeks was another bit of 'saleable' news last week that attained gallons of news space on national channels and news papers. So, is the media (especially the byte hungry television crews) overdoing it?
The answer is a BIG YES. Let's recount the events of the past week. A few of them were as big (at least they were made out to be) as the ghastly shootout in Virginia University where two Indians were unfortunate victims of madness. The first one is Abhi-Ash wedding tamasha that continues to doggedly pursue attention. And somehow Bachchans are as much responsible for this mayhem as the media. Media tents were dug outside their two bungalows Prateeksha and Jalsa in Juhu. Neighbours were constantly inconvenienced, security (Amar Singh's guards are causing a big embarrassment to Bachchans) measures made sure that the traffic snailed through.
The Sangeet, the Mehndi, the marriage, the bidai and that periodic visit to ailing matriarch Teji Bachchan in hospital (Remember they decided not to have ostentatious celebrations because of her ill health and hence the guest list was mindlessly pruned) was covered with an efficacious zeal. Every glimpse of any-n-every celebrity was Breaking News. Prem Chopra would never have felt so important in life until he saw his bald pate getting zoomed-in-encircled-haloed effect on every channel worth its salt. A prominent English news channel traced the 'Halwai' who was supposed to make sweets for the wedding and showed his interview on prime time. It couldn't have been more absurd than that.
On the D-Day another big drama unfolded. And it seemed the news channels had landed up with the biggest, most coveted secret since Hitler's mysterious sex life. A starlet Jahnvi Kapoor in a script written by 70s Bollywood scriptwriter gave a suicide angle to Abhi-Ash dream wedding by claiming that she is the first wife of Junior B and that they had been in love since Dus Bahane
More was still to follow. A few overzealous photographers in their true filmy daring style got a wee bit too close to Abhi-Ash car as they were being driven by Babul Bachchan back home. The security guards belonging to Amar Singh cavalcade roughed them a bit too hard. Next day Big B apologized to the media. On being asked why media was kept away from all the proceedings, he stated that it was a personal occasion and that the family wanted it to be a private affair. The rumours of television rights of the marriage being sold to a foreign channel for a whopping Rs 40 crores are doing the rounds. Even the still photograph rights have reportedly been sold to a high profile magazine. Truly, Bachchans seem to be taking the trade prediction on Bachchan Brand very seriously. It's showbiz after all! The cameras followed the Bachchans to religious ablutions in Tirupati and obviously the conjectures on the Abhi-Ash honeymoon shall surely occupy prime time serious discussions very soon.
Shilpa Shetty was a victim at Big Brother house. But the moral police now feels she is bringing the western culture into our homes by allowing Hollywood's delight Richard Gere to kiss-n-dance her in full media glare at an AIDS awareness programme in Delhi for the truck drivers (a segment that is most affected by the killer disease). Her effigies were being burnt and shooting of her next film Metro was forcibly stopped in Mumbai. Obviously SMS campaigns were launched by the dutiful news channels to get the country's opinion on whether what Shilpa did was right or wrong. Shilpa blasted the media and held them responsible for blowing a 'trivial' thing into something bigger than what it should have been. Incidentally, Sunny Deol who was also present at that event was completely upstaged by Gere's getting-fresh act with Shilpa.
The latest on that 'scoop' is that a court has restrained Shilpa Shetty from going out of the country for the time being. And if proven guilty she can be punished for six years imprisonment for obscenity. “There are more important issues like AIDS, bride burning etc than Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty on cheeks. Things were misreported. There is a section of media which is highly irresponsible. It is highly presumptuous of media to say that I was aware of what was going to happen,” said a furious Shilpa on Barkha Dutt's show 'We The People' yesterday.
So, what do you say, is the Indian media overdoing it? Is Bollywood bigger than politics, health and any other significant news? It seems it is. What's your opinion on the tabloidisation of Indian Media. Do let us know your opinion.
days. She slit her wrist, gave bytes to the smallest and the biggest of news channels. Some created special programmes trying to show every aspect of this 'scoop' forcing the nation to think if Aby Baby really had a quickie, fling-on-the-sides. The very same evening they were back at Bachchan doorsteps desperately hungry for anything-n-everything. The Kapoor starlet by then had been thrown out of her Andheri one room pad, her mother disowned her and her first husband's family disclosed the loose character details.
Indiafm
The answer is a BIG YES. Let's recount the events of the past week. A few of them were as big (at least they were made out to be) as the ghastly shootout in Virginia University where two Indians were unfortunate victims of madness. The first one is Abhi-Ash wedding tamasha that continues to doggedly pursue attention. And somehow Bachchans are as much responsible for this mayhem as the media. Media tents were dug outside their two bungalows Prateeksha and Jalsa in Juhu. Neighbours were constantly inconvenienced, security (Amar Singh's guards are causing a big embarrassment to Bachchans) measures made sure that the traffic snailed through.
The Sangeet, the Mehndi, the marriage, the bidai and that periodic visit to ailing matriarch Teji Bachchan in hospital (Remember they decided not to have ostentatious celebrations because of her ill health and hence the guest list was mindlessly pruned) was covered with an efficacious zeal. Every glimpse of any-n-every celebrity was Breaking News. Prem Chopra would never have felt so important in life until he saw his bald pate getting zoomed-in-encircled-haloed effect on every channel worth its salt. A prominent English news channel traced the 'Halwai' who was supposed to make sweets for the wedding and showed his interview on prime time. It couldn't have been more absurd than that.
On the D-Day another big drama unfolded. And it seemed the news channels had landed up with the biggest, most coveted secret since Hitler's mysterious sex life. A starlet Jahnvi Kapoor in a script written by 70s Bollywood scriptwriter gave a suicide angle to Abhi-Ash dream wedding by claiming that she is the first wife of Junior B and that they had been in love since Dus Bahane
More was still to follow. A few overzealous photographers in their true filmy daring style got a wee bit too close to Abhi-Ash car as they were being driven by Babul Bachchan back home. The security guards belonging to Amar Singh cavalcade roughed them a bit too hard. Next day Big B apologized to the media. On being asked why media was kept away from all the proceedings, he stated that it was a personal occasion and that the family wanted it to be a private affair. The rumours of television rights of the marriage being sold to a foreign channel for a whopping Rs 40 crores are doing the rounds. Even the still photograph rights have reportedly been sold to a high profile magazine. Truly, Bachchans seem to be taking the trade prediction on Bachchan Brand very seriously. It's showbiz after all! The cameras followed the Bachchans to religious ablutions in Tirupati and obviously the conjectures on the Abhi-Ash honeymoon shall surely occupy prime time serious discussions very soon.
Shilpa Shetty was a victim at Big Brother house. But the moral police now feels she is bringing the western culture into our homes by allowing Hollywood's delight Richard Gere to kiss-n-dance her in full media glare at an AIDS awareness programme in Delhi for the truck drivers (a segment that is most affected by the killer disease). Her effigies were being burnt and shooting of her next film Metro was forcibly stopped in Mumbai. Obviously SMS campaigns were launched by the dutiful news channels to get the country's opinion on whether what Shilpa did was right or wrong. Shilpa blasted the media and held them responsible for blowing a 'trivial' thing into something bigger than what it should have been. Incidentally, Sunny Deol who was also present at that event was completely upstaged by Gere's getting-fresh act with Shilpa.
The latest on that 'scoop' is that a court has restrained Shilpa Shetty from going out of the country for the time being. And if proven guilty she can be punished for six years imprisonment for obscenity. “There are more important issues like AIDS, bride burning etc than Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty on cheeks. Things were misreported. There is a section of media which is highly irresponsible. It is highly presumptuous of media to say that I was aware of what was going to happen,” said a furious Shilpa on Barkha Dutt's show 'We The People' yesterday.
So, what do you say, is the Indian media overdoing it? Is Bollywood bigger than politics, health and any other significant news? It seems it is. What's your opinion on the tabloidisation of Indian Media. Do let us know your opinion.
days. She slit her wrist, gave bytes to the smallest and the biggest of news channels. Some created special programmes trying to show every aspect of this 'scoop' forcing the nation to think if Aby Baby really had a quickie, fling-on-the-sides. The very same evening they were back at Bachchan doorsteps desperately hungry for anything-n-everything. The Kapoor starlet by then had been thrown out of her Andheri one room pad, her mother disowned her and her first husband's family disclosed the loose character details.
Indiafm
No comments:
Post a Comment