A Drinking Problem

Frankly, some of the ads are so darling you are tempted to wet your lips. There’s the Smirnoff one. Or the current Bacardi Rum ad which makes you want to sing, swing (and swig?) — c’mon Bacardi, let’s go party (due apologies to that doll of a song). Others are so appalling you’d rather die of thirst first. Why, after you’ve seen what Gilbey’s whisky does to Anu Kapoor, you’ll want to drink doodh by the glassful. Swear.

Many of these liquor commercials appear during live telecasts of cricket matches or match highlights. And other sports. Boys watch both. Ipso-facto: they’re gonnabe drinking by the bottle full. Especially since certain cricketers including Saurav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja are promoting products such as beer. By equating booze with fun, the ads suggest that without the first the second isn’t possible; by promoting alcohol through successful sportsmen, the ads suggest that the first leads to the second. At a subliminal level, naturally. The direct message is that if Ajay Jadeja can drink beer, so can you.

The counter-thrust is that worldwide, alcohol companies step in to support and be identified with sports on TV. It’s great for their image, it’s good for TV channels strapped for sponsors. Without their support, many of the events we now see, would not be telecast. Which is not to say it is right but to say there is a dilemma here and that we must understand the consequences of taming the brew. The Minister’s concern is commendable. High-minded. But is the medicine, in this case a ban on such advertising, really the cure? Look what happened to prohibition in AP andHaryana. Right spirit (!), wrong approach. So why stop at advertising? What about the Indian TV serials which have more whisky bottles in their bars, than characters in the cast? Men and women in serials on DD and satellite channels are drinking champagne, scotch, vodka, beer, why, you name it and they’re pouring it down their thirsty throats. Shall we, shouldn’t we, ban drinking in serials too?

And while we’re about it shouldn’t we think about banning violence, pre- or extra-marital scenes, brutal, abusive language, music videos…? In fact, we should ban serials altogether because most of them are unfit for human consumption, let alone our children’s edification.

But seriously. What is required is a holistic approach which looks at programming and commercials together, in their entirety and sets out certain broad principles which have to be followed by the serial as well as the soap maker. What both the Prasar Bharati Bill and the proposed Broadcast Bill ignore is programming. The content of television,which is what concerns everyone, is not on the agenda. Isn’t it time it was placed at the top of the list alongwith foreign equity and uplinking?

In the serial world, there is the unique new India’s Most Wanted (Zee) which if you read this page, you’ll know is not another film countdown show. Like Bhanwar (Sony), IMW is a reconstruction of real crimes. The difference is that these crimes have not yet been solved, that the programme is interactive as it seeks the viewers assistance in discovering the whereabouts of the criminals. Presenter Tondon leads you through the events and the CBI’s investigations; then she asks for your help as “India fights back”. The serial could be better produced but it is such a novel idea that you tend to overlook such deficiencies. What you cannot overlook or stop looking at are the men Tondon’s surrounded herself with who are sitting, staring at computers — why they’re there, is never precisely clear.

Meanwhile in Saans (STAR Plus) we have reachedthat critical moment when love and marriage no longer go together like a horse and carriage. Gautam, his passions reined in so far, is now prepared to separate the two. Lying next to the stiff body of his wife (Neena Gupta), he addresses the area that lies between her shoulders: “I love her,” he tells it. Freeze. See you next week.