Talk..... shows??
Was part of a TV show audience recently. Hosted by one of India's most popular media faces, the show was supposed to ask incisive questions of the people who mattered.
The crowd settled in well, comprised mainly of upper middle class 'thinking' mumbai whose voices are the loudest when any crisis occurs, but whose actions are usually the feeblest. The preamble to the shoot saw frantic calls being made by participants to all and sundry informing them about an impending appearance on television. Your truly was gulity too, preferring the SMS route to self promotion. There were loud conversations about "the city's infrastructure sucks" "am meeting governor Krishna tomorrow" and the like. Citizens had come, vanity, credentials and creased trousers.
The panel comprised a film director who had created a teeny bopperish movie, a script writer whose only link with Mumbai seemed that she had scripted a movie with the city's name in it, a lawyer who regularly appears for 1993 blast accused, an MP who's teething and an industralist who had a loud voice but hardly any thoughts. The only panelist who had something to do with the blast investigation, hopefully, was a cop who refused to look at the audience. He seemed to be looking at a far away horizon.
The cameras rolled, the panelists stiffened and the audience stared into all possible cameras.
The talk show host began with a debate on what we mean by 'terrorism'. The jumble of semantics that ensued ensured that we were lost in a sea of definitions, with no definitive relation to the topic.
The first commercial break was an eye opener. The host went from a stoic, serious, concerned look to being a control freak who was more concerned about her appearance on camera. Her concern that was went on air was made up.Her make up was real.
In all fairness, there were traces of relevance which were quickly washed off, by a frantic inane audience, a desperate to make a different point panelist or by the self imposing host.
The talk show was more show and less talk At the end of it, nobody really had a finger on what had emerged . I for one, was glad that it was over.
The crowd settled in well, comprised mainly of upper middle class 'thinking' mumbai whose voices are the loudest when any crisis occurs, but whose actions are usually the feeblest. The preamble to the shoot saw frantic calls being made by participants to all and sundry informing them about an impending appearance on television. Your truly was gulity too, preferring the SMS route to self promotion. There were loud conversations about "the city's infrastructure sucks" "am meeting governor Krishna tomorrow" and the like. Citizens had come, vanity, credentials and creased trousers.
The panel comprised a film director who had created a teeny bopperish movie, a script writer whose only link with Mumbai seemed that she had scripted a movie with the city's name in it, a lawyer who regularly appears for 1993 blast accused, an MP who's teething and an industralist who had a loud voice but hardly any thoughts. The only panelist who had something to do with the blast investigation, hopefully, was a cop who refused to look at the audience. He seemed to be looking at a far away horizon.
The cameras rolled, the panelists stiffened and the audience stared into all possible cameras.
The talk show host began with a debate on what we mean by 'terrorism'. The jumble of semantics that ensued ensured that we were lost in a sea of definitions, with no definitive relation to the topic.
The first commercial break was an eye opener. The host went from a stoic, serious, concerned look to being a control freak who was more concerned about her appearance on camera. Her concern that was went on air was made up.Her make up was real.
In all fairness, there were traces of relevance which were quickly washed off, by a frantic inane audience, a desperate to make a different point panelist or by the self imposing host.
The talk show was more show and less talk At the end of it, nobody really had a finger on what had emerged . I for one, was glad that it was over.
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