The day is not very far when with the stringent laws against what is to be
viewed and what not, we will end up watching very little of television in our
lives. May be that’s not such a bad thing either, isn’t it? Imagine, kids will
start doing their homework on time, husbands will not become conveniently
immobile while watching their favourite sport and grandparents could spend more
time bonding with their grandkids rather than watch loud and disturbing news
channels, all day. What is worrisome is the reasons why TV is becoming more and
more unwatchable these days. Nah...don’t think I am going to rant about the
obnoxiousness of the saas-bahu soaps or the banality of song n dance reality
shows.
What gets my goat is the innumerable times that silly I&B statutory message appears on the screen while I am watching Two and a Half Men or the Family Guy. The very reasons we watch shows like these are for their seemingly adult jokes and sniggering on how foolish it all makes the so called adults in the shows look. With the ban on cuss words, slang, words like sex and even the harmless ‘shit’ can really be infuriating sometimes. I mean even in my college days, you would hardly find a teenager not using words like f*** every two seconds and most North Indians are known to exhaust the entire dictionary of Hindi swear words by the time they reach graduation, I am told, albeit proudly by my 15 year old neighbour. So what exactly are we trying to save the innocuous young generation from? Our wonderful intellectually overgrown lawmakers need to get themselves a reality check if they thought kids these days are still ‘donkeying-monkeying’ each other when they wish to unleash a verbal attack on their friends/enemies.
Same goes for watching Hollywood films. Even if we agree that nudity and lovemaking are to be banned on national TV, what about the generous doses of violence that come with its share of blatant blood, brutality and gore in most crime and revenge sagas? But you see, we are busy being protected from hearing actors say ‘ass’ or ‘bastard’ to be shielded from more trivial issues like those. So where will the Ministry draw the line? While Bollywood seems to be celebrating the breaking of a new dawn with the raw, risqué and bold portrayal of women in films like The Dirty Picture, Hate Story and so on, don’t you think this trend may take a U-turn soon with the way things are heading?
And if we were to argue that such kind of in-your-face boldness must be celebrated and is in keeping up with today’s time, what should be the limit to which it may go? This debate is double edged and is rather left to be fought on our glorious 9-10 pm slotted news talk where delightfully intelligent broadcast journalists chat up celebrities, Page 3 glitterati, politicians and mediapersons on how much is too much and where is our morality meter heading these days.
Speaking of intelligent men with their own chat shows, we will have to wait and watch to see if Aamir Khan manages to pull off his ‘social reformer’ role with aplomb. If anyone in Bollywood had calibre to take on something like this it is him but since we are on the issue of banning, can we ban the shots where the audience is shown getting shocked and teary eyed to create impact? Can we ban the usage of the word entertainment to define this kind of show? And can Aamir Khan not ‘act’ like he is concerned and look more natural in his concern and conversation? I guess future episodes will give better proof of what lies in store from this much touted ‘show with a purpose’.
Meanwhile, has the I&B skipped watching the double entendres and vulgar innuendos on shows like Comedy Circus all in the name of getting a few laughs out of us? Judge Archana Puran Singh must be getting paid a fortune considering how many lewd jokes are cracked at her expense on the show while she laughs her guts out. And can kids not use words like ‘phad denge’, ‘dhool chatayenge’ etc when taking on the dance stage on DID. Finally, I hope the Ministry doesn’t get all worked up with the little sense of humour that exists in shows like Movers & Shakers where the ‘old wine in a new bottle’ mantra revives the classic sarcasm and cheeky wordplay that got Shekhar Suman moving and shaking in the first place. Or did I just hear Mamata Banerjee cry foul over the didactic ruler she is being made out to be through his jokes, leading to all jokes related to our glorious parliamentarians being banned on TV? Who would we laugh at if not them and our beloved celebrities? Ourselves? Ah, now you must be joking! :)
What gets my goat is the innumerable times that silly I&B statutory message appears on the screen while I am watching Two and a Half Men or the Family Guy. The very reasons we watch shows like these are for their seemingly adult jokes and sniggering on how foolish it all makes the so called adults in the shows look. With the ban on cuss words, slang, words like sex and even the harmless ‘shit’ can really be infuriating sometimes. I mean even in my college days, you would hardly find a teenager not using words like f*** every two seconds and most North Indians are known to exhaust the entire dictionary of Hindi swear words by the time they reach graduation, I am told, albeit proudly by my 15 year old neighbour. So what exactly are we trying to save the innocuous young generation from? Our wonderful intellectually overgrown lawmakers need to get themselves a reality check if they thought kids these days are still ‘donkeying-monkeying’ each other when they wish to unleash a verbal attack on their friends/enemies.
Same goes for watching Hollywood films. Even if we agree that nudity and lovemaking are to be banned on national TV, what about the generous doses of violence that come with its share of blatant blood, brutality and gore in most crime and revenge sagas? But you see, we are busy being protected from hearing actors say ‘ass’ or ‘bastard’ to be shielded from more trivial issues like those. So where will the Ministry draw the line? While Bollywood seems to be celebrating the breaking of a new dawn with the raw, risqué and bold portrayal of women in films like The Dirty Picture, Hate Story and so on, don’t you think this trend may take a U-turn soon with the way things are heading?
And if we were to argue that such kind of in-your-face boldness must be celebrated and is in keeping up with today’s time, what should be the limit to which it may go? This debate is double edged and is rather left to be fought on our glorious 9-10 pm slotted news talk where delightfully intelligent broadcast journalists chat up celebrities, Page 3 glitterati, politicians and mediapersons on how much is too much and where is our morality meter heading these days.
Speaking of intelligent men with their own chat shows, we will have to wait and watch to see if Aamir Khan manages to pull off his ‘social reformer’ role with aplomb. If anyone in Bollywood had calibre to take on something like this it is him but since we are on the issue of banning, can we ban the shots where the audience is shown getting shocked and teary eyed to create impact? Can we ban the usage of the word entertainment to define this kind of show? And can Aamir Khan not ‘act’ like he is concerned and look more natural in his concern and conversation? I guess future episodes will give better proof of what lies in store from this much touted ‘show with a purpose’.
Meanwhile, has the I&B skipped watching the double entendres and vulgar innuendos on shows like Comedy Circus all in the name of getting a few laughs out of us? Judge Archana Puran Singh must be getting paid a fortune considering how many lewd jokes are cracked at her expense on the show while she laughs her guts out. And can kids not use words like ‘phad denge’, ‘dhool chatayenge’ etc when taking on the dance stage on DID. Finally, I hope the Ministry doesn’t get all worked up with the little sense of humour that exists in shows like Movers & Shakers where the ‘old wine in a new bottle’ mantra revives the classic sarcasm and cheeky wordplay that got Shekhar Suman moving and shaking in the first place. Or did I just hear Mamata Banerjee cry foul over the didactic ruler she is being made out to be through his jokes, leading to all jokes related to our glorious parliamentarians being banned on TV? Who would we laugh at if not them and our beloved celebrities? Ourselves? Ah, now you must be joking! :)
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