Penblunt & Hogwash

Neo and not so new

PENBLUNT

Had I not had anything specific to write on, I’d have love to dwell this week on the Kashmir Food and Culture Festival being held at the Press Club of Indian premises here in the lingering winter of Delhi. The chef (since I am an avid cook – so what if foodies go livid with my experiments) brought in from Srinagar knows everything about delicacy of aroma and favour.

But then, there is more hard meat to chew on this week.

Mr P (for Pontiff) Bhattacharya, whose blog gives shelter to my vagabond column, protested last week that not just Hindi channels are crude, but even Indian English TV channels are out of touch with reality. But to that, I shall come later.

My ire this week is focussed primarily on the great Mr Thawani and his Neo Sports (Nimbus) channel, for two counts. Neo… rich… new player, arrogant, unseasoned and a person who treads where angels fear to tread.

Well, it is not enough to call him clumsy, which in my opinion he is. The guy just thought he could dare the government. I am not at all supportive of coercive action by the government, for I have seen the days of Emergency and rejoiced the fall of the late Indira Gandhi.

Yet, when the government issues an Ordinance, which fool would go ahead and ignore it? Neo did. Despite the Ordinance and despite the officially declared punishment of Rs 1 crore per match not shared live with Doordarshan. They refused to do so. Now they are genuflecting in compromise.

Let pass even that indiscretion, impolitic impulsiveness. Did someone advise that the matter was in the court and hence Neo could take the plea of a sub judice proviso? Yet, the Delhi High Court, in the best interest of justice, agreed to hear the matter in full, but never stayed the operation of the Ordinance. So why this stupidity of the neo riche?

It is for them to bear the consequence of that, you say? Well, agreed. But then, what about the advertisements that have enraged sane sections of the media and spectators and got some NGOs up in arms?

“It is hard to be a West Indian in India!” Or for that matter, anyone… including Sri Lankans….

India is in a do-or-die competitive tourney and must win at all costs and there can be no compromise on the field. But we still happen to be the hosts, and these ads are sheer intimidation.

Remember, the ad does not say it is hard for the Lankans or Windies to play a tough India, but the food that hits the Windies’ bowels, the blubbering Sri Lankans who get off at a jungle to take pictures of the Indian tiger….

First of all, the ads themselves are as puerile as the channel. There is no causal link between the visuals and the statements.

Secondly, they do not talk of on-field troubles for the rivals.

Third, as the broadcaster hosting the games on their channel, it is simply not cricket to show the guests as blubbering fools, and certainly not show the reviving Indian team as prospective winners because the guests could not digest our food or get chewed up by tigers!

This is inane and gruesomely ill mannered. Plain nasty.

Say Harish, if the Brits floated such ads during an Indian tour there, would Mr Dasmunsi keep quiet, as he has not in the case of Ms Shetty?

I am amazed that so far the playing countries have not officially protested with the BCCI, but it puts all of us to shame.

I cannot get over this with ease, so let me take recourse to friend Pinaki’s miff with me for being anti-Hindi.

The divide is real, and it is greatly saddening, and I shall share with you my pains at a later date.

But how could NDTV, the much praised English news channel do this?

During the day of the Punjab polls, it kept predicting the outcome throughout? It is so sad really. The tall talks about objectivity and what not, and now this? Did everyone there forget that this could amount to influencing the voter?

Why, I thought, even interviewing the two rivals, Prakash Singh Badal and Amrinder Singh after they cast their votes, and asking for forecasts amounted to giving them time for last-minute campaigning.

How can this be seen? The Election Commission has asked the police to file cases against the channel, and the Commission knows its writ best.

We are only talking about the Code of Conduct bill that the government is likely to bring in for the broadcast industry. But when TRP dominates everything in a market where the revenue is getting more and more fragmented, what we need first is a consensual ethical code to surface from within the media itself.