NDTV (Reimagine)

Like many people I have gradually been edged out of TV viewing by a combination of inane content and crass packaging...But once in a while I do end up watching some TV.

So last evening I was watching "Oye, it's Friday" on NDTV Imagine. Honestly, the show needs to be rebranded - "Oye, it's Everyday" as I suspect it auto-repeats itself after every 18 hours or so.

In the hybrid genre of chat-shows, this show is everything you want/don't what it to be. A chat-show meets cheap skits meets bad jokes meets celebrity guests meets Q&A sessions replete with the now ceremonial band and canned audience participation.

Anyways, this post is not about the intrinsic quality of the show. I don't see too many of these to be able to compare or benchmark. Neither do I have the inclination nor do they deserve an analytical appraisal!

What hit me in the gut was the sight of "cheerleading girls" before every break. How I wished my 36inch LCD would shrink so that the gyrating pelvic thrusts wouldn't fill half my bedroom. And when young Neo sauntered into the room with the well-honed sense of ill-timing of a growing kid, I had to holler him out.

Have we become so void of quality content that the only recourse to boosting TRPs is to thrust heaving bosom and gyrating bottoms into national TV??

To what level would the TV channels stoop to shore up their TRPs!! What is worse, just one channel needs to introduce such irresponsible stuff before they become the norm.

Next we can expect, cheergirls in News Channels and maybe even in mythological soaps...And by year end maybe, it might even win the 'Media Innovation of the Year Award"!!

Please log onto www.makemyTVwatcheableagain.com to post your comments...I am afraid such a site doesn't exist at the moment but very soon we might have to reimagine!!!

Walk the Talk with Salim Khan

Last Sunday after a long time was taking a morning walk on the Bandstand promenade. Halfway through the walk, my wife spotted the celebrity script-writer of yester years Salim Khan(Salman's father) walking towards us.

I gathered myself to speak to the legendary Salim Khan of the Salim-Javed fame. Over the next 10 odd minutes, I could mentally jot the following nuggets which am sure to weave someplace into my brands and Bollywood book.

1. He was particularly peeved at the media-grabbing attention seeking lifestyles of the newer writers and directors...Said he - "Ab Ashutosh ko hi le lijiye. Achchi film banayi, par aajkal jyada waqt ribbon kaatne mein ya TV pe discussion karne mein nikaal deta hai". "Main maanata hoon ki Art is nurtured in isolation and exhibited in public".

2. Salim saheb had watched Chandni Chowk to China the previous evening with his friends and was still reeling under it's effect:-) He blasted the writer..."Ab Bollywood story likhna koi atom bomb banane jaisa nahin hai, phir bhi aaj kal ke writer mein woh sensibility nahin hai aam zindagi ko capture karne ki".

3. Writer ko patience chahiye. Bolye kam, suniye jyada...

By this time we had walked off to one end of the premenade. He then started reminiscing about his younger days, his love for fast cars and a fast life. How Salman recently gifted him a Triumph 500. What made "mere pass ma hai" work the magic and get into popular culture.

He was sweet enough to give me his ghar ka number. So maybe a chai with Salim Khan may soon happen...As I pen this post, the vortex of a thought seizes me - "Maybe one should never meet the legends and the greats once they are past their prime. Because reality may end up diluting the myth in the mind!"

How many ARTISTS are there in the room?

Just started reading Daniel Pink's best-seller : A Whole New Mind. There is a wonderful anecdote in one of the chapters on 'Design'.

Gordon MacKenzie, a longtime creative force at hallmark Cards, often visited schools to give talks about his profession. He'd open each talk by telling students he was an artist. he'd then look around the classroom, notice the artwork on the walls, and wonder aloud who created the masterpieces.

"How many artists are there in the room?" MacKenzie would ask. 'Would you please raise your hands?"

The responses always followed the same pattern. In kindergarten and first-grade classes, every kid thrust a hand in the air. In second-grade classes, about three-fourths of the kids raised their hands though less eagerly. In third grade, only a few children held up their hands.

And by the sixth grade, not a single hand went up. The kids just looked around to see if anybody in the class would admit to what they'd now learned was deviant behaviour!!

Perhaps, it's even more true in our culture. There is a touch of sarcasm in most people when they say - "Yeh toh thoda artist types hai", "Artist hai bhai, isko duniyadaari kya aayegi", "Chhor do yaar, yeh artist log aisen hi hote hain"... Emphasising that the creative, the artist is a deviant.

Society still collectively conspires to pull down the many raised hands in kindergarten grade one and later...

Therefore, I was thrilled when my wife asked Neo(my 5 year old son) the other day while he was painting- "Aur tum kaun ho?". And he smugly said - "Main artist hoon"...I hope he always raises his hand...

Adultdost.com?!!

Just saw this simple web creative for a DTH brand in line with the main TV ad...

Very simple. Very effective:-) Just log onto www.adultdost.com