Different strokes but all on the same wavelength

Sony Entertainment presents a far more scary picture: dark corners with horrifying happenings, ghosts, insects crawling all over you and MURDER dripping ketchup as the channel sells itself on Fear Factor, Khauffnaak, CID. While Indian Idol was around, of course, that was used as its brand manager.

Or take Sahara Manoranjan. It used to be heavily embroidered with the likes of Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam and fashioned in the grand style of opulent sagas like Karisma8230; The Miracles of Dreams. Although both shows did badly and have long since retired, the channel wasn8217;t able to rid itself of the mothballs. Now, however, it has this cute promo which pits nubile, single, young women against the daughters and mothers-in-law 8212; and guess who8217;s winning? The former, as the channel pins its hopes on nubile, single, young women, typified by Kittu Hai Sab Janti Hai.

Consider last week8217;s coverage of the Assembly election results. The results were the same on each channel although the numbers often differed but everyone wore a different hat. NDTV decided to be ultra sober so it wore its traditional blue and red suit and eschewed all frills such as opinion polls, exit polls. Just the facts with smart graphics.

CNN-IBN exuded energy as it not only provided polls of every variety with accurate predictions but challenged all its reporters to speak faster than Sreesanth can bowl. The clear winners? Those reporting from Kolkata and Chennai by a huge speed margin!

Given this dynamism it was difficult to understand why Rajdeep Sardesai, the chief anchor, chose to be conservative in a dark blue suit and seat himself in a studio resembling the setting for a candlelit dinner.

Times Now preferred the busybee look: so much was happening with figures, maps, graphics, interviews, reports that anchor Arnab Goswami8217;s head must have been swimming 360 degrees. Ours were.

Aaj Tak decided to go the gutka way: chew on it and it gets juicy. Appropriately, it sported a yellow, green, black and red emblem, reminiscent of paan masala packaging with a matching green and yellow ticker. For the juice it got Mr Chawla and Mr Vajpeyi to squeeze politicians: in the first instance, Congressman Rajeev Shukla on the distribution of ladoos as opposed to votes or seats by Congressmen for Mrs Sonia Gandhi8217;s Lok Sabha victory, although they had nothing to do with it.

Later on in the show, CPI-M8217;s Brinda Karat squeezed right back, school-marm scolding Mr Chawla for alleged 8216;8216;sexist8217;8217; remarks which he almost defended. That8217;s just the kind of interplay Aaj Tak hopes to grab eyeballs with.

Star News presented an altogether different appearance: while everyone else was calling West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it went off to Mukesh Ambani live at the BSE. Next seen, it was visiting a mobile Bollywood game, cricket and everything but the state of state assembly poll results. We visited with Kirti, Richa and Anu who didn8217;t waste their time on the assembly results, either; they preferred the 8216;8216;jeb mein Bollywood8217;8217; so that they could pull it out whenever the Shah Rukh Khan urge seized them and play games with him on their mobile phone. 8216;8216;Very interesting,8217;8217; Kirti declared. Not for us, Kirti, not for us.

The channels were not alone in looking different. The politicians matched them, especially those to our left. Brinda Karat had done something to her hair, which kept it firmly off her face; Jyoti Basu was in a bush shirt and a fashionable crew cut. In comparison, Arun Jaitley looked tired. That8217;s the difference between victory and defeat.

8211;shailaja.bajpaiexpressindia.com