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Good ol’ DD still has some life

The concept for Nehle Pe Dehla is entirely ripped off from Saeed Mirza’s unforgotten Nukkad, still Nehle Pe Dehla does well for itself

The discussion was on vulgar dances. And who better qualified to speak on that topic than Chiranjeevi?

We are all so satellite-fixated that we sometimes forget we’ve got a national television to look

at.

Remember apni pyari DD? We do share a raakhi-and-craggy relationship with her. But how can we ignore her. One Sunday I tuned in just to relive my childhood. And guess what? I caught Satish Shah with his pants down!

Playing a streetside dweller called Sarju in the countdown-cum-sitcom Nehle Pe Dehla he was stripped to his banyan and chaddhi, latter duly stripped of course. Everyone was preparing to leave for Dubai. And that included the street-gamine Rajjo who was played by one other than Supriya Pilgaonkar the too-toot in the Main Main on Star Plus.

The concept for Nehle Pe Dehla is entirely ripped off from Saeed Mirza’s unforgotten Nukkad, still Nehle Pe Dehla does well for itself. The performances by the whole jing-bang specially Shah and Pilgaonkar, are uniformly appealing.

That night I had no complaints against the level of performances. It’s the countdown rituals that had me counting from numbers 1 to 10 with gritted teeth and clenched fists.

Songs like Aao sune from Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya and Tu yaar yaar from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani which have either not come or are long gone, figured in the list of the week’s Top 10. And guess who was selected the ‘Top Heroine Of The Week’. Rani Mukherjee for Baadal!
Er, why not Juhi Chawla for Gang or Manisha Koirala for Baaghi? Do these music countdown shows really take themselves seriously? Or are we to view them for timepass? Who would want to hear Chunky Pandey’s favourite songs? Like it or not, we got it on Zee’s Super 7 Muqabala. Chunky grinned as usual. He spoke about his memorable role and song in Tezaab. As usual. And remembered to mention Pehlaj Nihalani. As usual.

I have no grouse with Chunky. I am sure he still has fans in some part of the world, though I’d be stumped if you asked me to name the area. But today’s generation of viewers need to be reminded of the also-rans from the ’80s before being put on a popular countdown show.
Achcha chalo, let’s presume for parcticality’s sake that Zee wanted to be kind to Chunky. What do we say about the academic, serious and no-nonsense critic Bhaskar Ghosh inviting director Manoj Aggarwal on The Bhaskar Ghosh Show? Not one channel or talk show thought of inviting the director of Hadd Kar Di Aapne, But Mr. Ghosh did! Wow!
The questions were meant to put the shy director at ease. Mr. Ghosh made sure that the director didn’t feel patronized. What Mr. Aggarwal said about every director grappling with the standard formulass, unsure of what clicks and what doesn’t was of generic value “They need everything in one film,” Mr Aggarwal despaired. Mr. Ghosh consoled his guest like an uncle sympathizing with poor marks in the terminals.

I was blown over when I saw Chiranjeevi talking directly into the camera on Doordarshan. When was the last time we saw this Southern superstar (or any southern star) on our television sets?

The discussion (April22) was on vulgar dances. And who better qualified to speak on that topic than Chiranjeevi? The actor admitted that he often had to do things he wasn’t comfortable with. “Sometimes I feel I’m the victim of my own image. I haven’t had the chance to expose myself as an actor.”

Oh dear, I hope Chiranjeevi didn’t mean it in Salman Khan’s way. Co-stars like Gautami and Khushboo spoke (a tad enviously?) on how effortlessly Chiranjeevi could carry off any dancestep. About the vulgarity that prevailed in today’s average dance number, Khushboo refused to blame any one person. That was very diplomactic of her. You never know when the next Chiranjeevi co-starrer is around the corner.

For all those who feel I am being too harsh on the newly launched Sahara TV there’s news. I have decided to go soft. So here goes, Ek Din Ki Vardi on Thursday night is about a cop played by Vineet Kumar who wants vagrant anti-social boys of his locality to play organized football. Though well-intended the cop seems to have nothing better to do except eavesdrop on the hoodlum’s conversations and pop into the scene with encouraging observations like, “A man from Bihar Jagat Chauhan had won at the Olympics”. May be there’s no real crime in his locality. May be all the outcastes watch Sahara TV in that part of the world.

Sahara’s Mafia and Zee’s Hukumat both had a gang member being taken into custody last week. In Mafia it was gang-lord Mangoosa (played by Brando Bakshi, son of producer Johnny Bakshi) flaring his nostrils against what he saw as a setback. In Hukumat the ganglord (Govind Namdeo) was also seething about the capture of his man by a rival gang. When his mentally challenged son (Ravi Gosain) assured his father that the henchman would never open his mouth, Namdeo put the gun to his son’s temple and threatened to blow his brains out if the boy didn’t tell him what he did for a living.

“Sell drugs and girls,” the boy urinated verbally. “When being my son you were scared into a confession, why should that henchman hold his tongue?” Namdeo argued, as his other gang members dressed in shabby Pathani outfits-scowled dispapprovingly. The demeaning sequence ended with Namdeo asking his three burqa-clad wives which of them had given birth to the imbecile who had asked the question. Is this the way mafiosos behave with ladies and kids? Then sorry, I am not voting for one in the next election.

I’d rather vote for someone as quiet, understanding, giving and forgiving as the protagonist Ranveer on Aur Phir Ek Din.

As a man suddenly saddled with the task of singlehandedly looking after his son, Kiran Kumar seems to fully comprehend the logistics of his character. The performance has little swagger but some solid substance.
Incidentally the kid who plays Kiran Kumar’s son is quite an item in all family programmes. On Zee’s newly started Yeh Hain Mere Apne (which is blatantly lifted from Gulzar’s film Parichay) the boy again plays an important role as the youngest of a brood of spank-worthy grandchildren inherited by Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Then thre are a butler, an ayah and a chauffeur to provide comic relief. And all the while, I thought Yeh Mere Mere Apne was comic relief!

In Sony’s new war epic the army men continue to romance the belle instead of the battle. The background music for Tujhpe Dil Qurban and Missing are nearly identical. May be they want to prepare us for the time when our brave flirts will be missing in action. We can hardly wait.

Subhash K Jha