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IT’S CRIME TIME ON PRIME TIME

There are programmes purporting to recreate real-life crimes submerging the small screen in delusions of grand gore. Now take the latest in these socially conscious dream busters on Doordarshan entitled Insaaf. Since Sony had one - Bhanwar - which still remains the best of the hot lot, and Zee started one last year - Agnichakra) I suppose Doordarshan had to purchase one of ‘those ones’ for itself.

Manish Goswami’s Insaaf every Thursday night recreates in vivid detail wounds that never healed, stabbing out vignettes of blood and gore that draw a distinction from their equivalent in the sleazy horror shows by never losing sight of the human aspect of the real life crime.

In a recent episode, the serial recreated a rustic joint family in Amravati where the younger son axed his elder brother and his wife because the father gave him a larger share in the property. The faces looked authentic and a couple of performances were certainly above average.

Last week, it took us to Bhatinda where the infamous Manpreet bride burning case was reconstructed in graphic detail, down to the dying woman’s charred body writhing on the hospital bed as she declared her in-laws and husband guilty of the crime. The episode ended with the girl’s distraught father confronting his daughter’s killer in front of the courthouse. “What shall I send for you now? A scooter? A refrigerator.”

The political thriller seems to be another catchy TRP baiter. Though Sony’s Mahayagya was given the chopper in spite of doing well, two new political thrillers are adamant on bringing a gameplan into the lives of the khadi clan.

Programmes about social exploitation are welcome as long as they do not become exploitative in their intentions. The problem is, the depiction of crime must perforce resort to shock tactics. This, on a medium watched by millions, needs to be handled with utmost caution

So netas give them a chance, shall we?

Sahara TV’s Kshitij is about an idealistic politician (S.M.Zaheer) surrounded by bloodsucking opportunists making a lunge for his gaddi. Last week the CM’s daughter went out with her fiance and of course the ubiquitous security guard. When he bought an ice cream for her the man quickly scooped a spoonful to taste it, just for safety.

Boyfriend is uncontrollably exasperated. “Is there going to be one of those (pointing to the pokerfaced securityman) on our honeymoon as well?”. The girl giggled pacifyingly. “As a matter of fact there will be two. One for me and one for you.”

I thought that was a beautifully worded comment on the cult of commando-driven politicians. The sequence that followed between the chief minister and his daughter (where she asked her father, “Are all politicians the same?”) was very similar to the one between idealistic politician Dalip Tahil and his screen daughter in Star Plus’ Rajdhani, the same night.

Both of course seemed to take their cue from Gulzar’s Hu-tu-tu which was screened on Star Plus on the same Saturday night as the second segment of Lataji’s concert Shraddhanjali.
But was anyone watching Hu-tu-tu, or for that matter Hum Aapke Hain Koun which Zee decided to screen in all its wisdom as competition to what was undeniably the live event of the millennium? Even though an hour of the second part was a carryover from the first part, telecast the previous week, nobody minded the repetition. Every minute of the concert was magical, monumental, memorable and of course melodious. Not just Lataji, the entire Mangeshkar clan put their soul into making it the most memorable concert.

Last week, Sahara’s Friday night suspense thriller Kagaar featured three extremely talented artistes trapped in a titillating triangle. Chekhov met Gulshan Nanda as two sisters played by Mita Vashisht and Achint Kaur lusted after a doctor (Raj Zutshi) hired to take care of their ailing father. The entire story was an dissertation on horniness. If one of the sisters was in bed with the doctor(evidently taking his social responsibilities a little too far) the other sis moaned lustfully from the shadows for her turn.

What was a talented girl like Ms. Vashisht doing in such astonishingly sleazy territory? Or for that matter in DD’s thriller Kaun where Mita narrows her eyes and pretends to concentrate on the body on the floor when all she’s probably thinking about is her next Mani Kaul flick. I guess there’s many a slip between Mani and money.

The irrepressible Archana Puransingh is back on the tube with “all new” episodes of Sony’s Archana Talkies. I wonder what’s so new about Mahesh Bhatt and Tanuja Chandra gabbing about originality/non-originality in art, their alleged relationship and and so on so bored.

Speaking of unoriginal art, Anand Raj Anand came on the same episode of Archana Talkies to mime lines from his hit songs. While the music played in the background a phoney “orchestra” comprising a girl on the drums, a dude on the guitar and so on “accompanied” Anand. Even by Mahesh Bhatt’s definitions of art, this was a little too unoriginal for consumption on a Sunday morning.

Call me a masochist, but I quite like watching Mani Shankar Aiyar on television.

On BBC’s Question Time India he called two prominent Congress men a ‘has been’ and a ‘never been’, respectively. Then when he accused a former prime minister of playing ‘toey-toey’ with the opposition, a senior member of the audience couldn’t take it any longer. “Please don’t talk derogatorily about our prime minister. You may not have respect for him. But we do.”

For once Mr. Aiyar was stumped. That’s what happens when you put your leg before the ‘wicked’


Subhash K Jha