The missing block...

Somewhere in 1990’s when I was hardly 11 years old, I was strongly impressed with the spirit of a village girl named Kalyani. Every time, I saw her, I believed more in dreams, in hard work and determination and in power of the fairer sex. Her courage of taking the road ‘not taken’ and her conviction to sustain against all odds was just too inspiring.

Well she was not a movie celeb or any social leader but a TV actress of the soap – 'Udaan'. For those who faintly remember, Udaan was a story of a girl from a remote area, on how inspite of difficulties and societal barriers manages to make a mark or herself in the police force. With her hard work and sheer determination she becomes an ‘ASP’. Kavita Choudhary (Kalyani) was not only the lead role in the serial but was the writer of the same inspired by her older sister Kanchan Choudhary who went on to be appointed as Director General of Police of Uttaranchal, becoming the first Indian woman to head a state police force. It was one the first serial to showcase “women empowerment”.

The current age television is jammed with 100 odd channels, with 1000 odd programs, but I seriously miss the “idiot” box that existed before the arrival of “cable” network. Even with the interrupting white screen – ‘Rukawat Ke Liye Khed Hai’, the entertainment quality of Doordarshan those days was not ‘dooor’ (far) from the interests of all age brackets. Think of the first detective serial ‘Karamchand’ (the carrot, Pankaj Kapoor and Kitty) or the mind boggling series of ‘Vyom Kesh Bakshi’ (smart and superb actor Rajat Kapoor adding iciing on the cake); the comedy rippers like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’ and ‘Zaban Samhal Ke’, meaningful, ‘close to real life’ dramas like ‘Humlog’, ‘Buniyaad’, ‘Nukkad’, ‘Yeh Zo Zindagi Hai’, ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfaam’, ‘Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne’; kids favourite shows like ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Vikram aur Betal’, youngsters pet ‘Fauji’, ‘Circus’ and ‘Indradhanus’…the mythologies – ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’; witty ones like ‘Chanakya’; knowledge busters like ‘Surabhi’. And of course my all time favourites – Mogli of ‘Jungle Book’ and Swami in ‘Malgudi Days’ (based on the short stories of RK Narayan).

Don’t you feel nostalgic even when you accidentally hear the fillers: ‘Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya’? And who can forget the famous – ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’? Why? Well all these are associated with our sweet carefree childhood days; yes of course; but also because they contain something called ‘SUBSTANCE’ in them. They are so close to our heart, because of the ‘Value’; ‘the message’ they give in their own unique ways!

Where is today’s Television industry heading to? Not only Ekta Kapoors K-tastrophies, almost every channel is 50% flooded with the weeping bahus and the wicked sasu maas and nanands even sleeping with 1 kg make-up and 10kgs of jwellery. Again aren’t we over obsessed with the reality show concept? Yes they do give opportunities to fresh talents, but why each channel needs to copy the other and make our world so cliché? Is that all this 500000 year old rich diverse unique civilization portrays about? With this cut throat competition of increasing TRP’s what the channels are forgetting is some thing called ‘value’. When we can be so creative in our ads, why can’t we show meaningful stuffs catering to the majority of middle or lower class, the youngsters and more importantly kids - the budding stars of tomorrow. It’s high time that we start thinking out of the box and unwrap the true rising ‘Kalyani’s’ of today, the beautiful Himalayas and Gangas. Shows that instigate creativity and knowledge among kids, that which deals with the current age success stories and problems the country is facing. That which encourages youngsters towards entrepreneurship and also their societal responsibilities. I am sure we can never be deficient of refreshing novels or real life success stories to base the serials.

Again coming to media, I find the missing block with one and all. Don’t you think there is excess political reportage and too much space is devoted to the antics of the country's Bollywood and social elites, ignoring stories about an India in transition? Along with a bomb blast in a city, ‘Dhonis new hairstyle’ too becomes ‘breaking news’. Majority of the channels in the verge of competition are ‘sensationalizing’ the issues. What’s lagging is again some ‘substance’ and ‘responsible reporting’. Mr Abdul Kalam states in his website:

“Why is the media in India so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production…number one in Remote sensing satellites..second largest producer of wheat and rice.

Look at Dr. H Sudarshan, he has transferred a tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news, failures, politics, murder, caste war, why why?”

I am not saying media has not done anything constructive. We have all witnessed its role in cases like Jessica Lal’s case. TOI with lead India and India Poised episodes has taken a lot of initiatives. Current age reporter Rajdeep Sardesai in recent media meet asks broadcasters to sharply distinguish between "what is in public interest and what is of public interest".

Well this is just the beginning. We have to go a long long way to catalyze the shrinking ‘meaningful journalism’.

Can we have at least one success story every day? Can we have a dedicated space for children – to encourage them write and think out of box, to encourage them read meaningful scientific and motivating stuff? Can we talk more about the unexplored mesmerizing tourist destinations, about the fading artifacts? Dedicated episodes and pages that makes each India proud and at same time more responsible towards things like cleanliness, energy saving and social activities. Can we have at least one tip each day to the rural voting mass on how to improvise their crops or improve the healthcare?

Apart from healthy politics, something radical which can move us from the ‘third world’ definition to a ‘power’ is ‘KNOWLEDGE CONNECTIVITY’ and ‘channelizing of the 'VALUE SYSTEM' to the lengths and breadth of the society’. The entertainment and media has a gigantic role to play in this movement.

India believes in its media; strongly associates even with the entertainment industry. With uniqueness and substance, it can make enormous impact in our lives and to the nation.
As per PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates, the country's media and entertainment market is expected to grow 18.5 per cent a year to reach $36 billion by 2012. It’s already one of the most lucrative industry vis-à-vis the world in terms of variety and size. Let’s pledge and pray to make it the BEST in the world by adding the fading block called ‘SUBSTANCE’.

Jai Hind!