Mann Ki Baat: Behind the radio show — scripting, translating and sleepless nights

People watch live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 100th episode of ‘ Mann Ki Baat ‘ address at a house in Bareja village in the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Sunday.
(Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

In fact, the programme is usually recorded on the last Friday of every month, to be beamed across the AIR and Doordarshan networks at the designated time two days later.

“This also gives them time to check if the entire recording is free of glitches or errors, and can be translated in other languages for simultaneous broadcast,” an AIR official, who has worked on the show for several years, told The Indian Express.

(Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

A small team from AIR – it comprises seven members such as technical support, programming officers and programming heads – goes to the studio built inside the Prime Minister’s residence at a scheduled time slot given to them on Fridays, according to an official source.

On Saturday, the government released a video showing how the radio show is recorded by the Prime Minister. In the video, the Prime Minister can be seen interacting with a group of technicians before moving to the recording studio. He later addresses the nation without any written script.

“The PM just walks in with a small diary with just some pointers. He speaks fluently and spontaneously, without any fumble or gaps,” the source said.

The contents of the address are decided by the Prime Minister’s Office, and AIR doesn’t have a direct role in it, the source said. By the 20th of every month, they compile the feedback received from listeners on the previous episode and pass these to the ‘Mann Ki Baat Cell’ at the PMO.

Many times, radio listeners also write to the PM on what subjects and topics they want him to talk about in the upcoming episodes; that is also passed on further on a regular, weekly basis, the source said.

While thanking the AIR team before concluding the Sunday morning show, the PM also thanked the translators, who translate Mann Ki Baat episodes to different regional languages in a very short time. As soon as the address ends, it is broadcast on AIR and DD channels in respective regional languages.

Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais with actors Madhuri Dixit and Shahid Kapoor, and others in Mumbai. PTI

Earlier, it would be aired on regional DD channels at 8 pm on Sundays, but after the first few years of Mann Ki Baat, there was a realisation that they were losing out on regional listeners of AIR and viewers of DD — more so in southern India, who don’t connect with Hindi. “So, a word came in to air the regional telecast as soon as the main Hindi telecast was over at 11:30 am,” the source said.

In fact, the real race against time begins for the AIR team once the recording with the PM is over. “The footage is divided for transcription and scripting, which usually takes a lot of time, often going on till 2.30-3 am,” the source said.

BJP president J P Nadda in Honnali, Karnataka. PTI

They then collate the script, proof-read for errors or mistakes, make sure nothing has been missed out or is being repeated, and send it to regional centres for translation.

The final script is also sent to Doordarshan on Saturday morning to merge visuals to be aired alongside the programme, for instance, of changemakers who have been mentioned on the show by the PM.

Meanwhile, the final recording is also sent back to the PMO for clearance. If something needs to be finetuned, it is done at this stage. In fact, once or twice, the PM was requested to speak a sentence or two again for better clarity, and he was happy to do it.