MUMBAI, November 2: This is what is known as character assassination: in Hasratein (Zee) Savi is still Savi (although powdered grey), but she's not Seema Kapoor. Kapoor left in a puff of a huff and was replaced by Shefali Chhaya who is both, Harsh `KT' Chhaya's paramour in the serial and his wife in real life.Unfortunately, Harsh and Shefali are no Richard (Burton) and Elizabeth (Taylor): there's about as much spark between them, on screen, as there's light in a fused bulb. Shefali, good actress though she might be, is not Savi. At least not the Savi we had come to know and love or hate. She's tepid like hot water gone cold, while Kapoor was simmering, like hot water coming to a boil.Partly, this is the producer's fault who robbed the serial of its romance by fast-forwarding the story. Consequently, the youngish lovers are now middle-aged parents running out of passion and steam as they chase after their errant progeny. The good thing about Kapoor/Savi and KT/Chhaya was their badness (at least in the eyes of their former partners); now, they're trying to be virtuous but only end up being boring. Hasratein is falling apart - can anyone put it together again?Aaj Tak faces a similar dilemma. SP Singh, who anchored it and was its heart and soul, had given the news show a chatty, relaxed character. Now Rahul Dev, the new anchor, is trying valiantly to loosen his shirt collar. With time he might yet succeed; at the moment however, he's sort of choked up. This robs him of any facial or vocal expression. He stares doggedly into the camera, delivering his lines, deadpan, irrespective of the nature of the news he is imparting. Dev's facial muscles appear numbed, his voice box frozen. Somehow, he has to learn to let go; otherwise, Aaj Tak is in danger of ending up as stiff as a starched Lucknowi kurta.STAR News, meanwhile, might like to consider going with two anchors. Especially, when Prannoy Roy is confronted with the awesome task of interviewing Mayawati - in Hindi. When that happened recently, Mayawati rattled on more rapidly than a machine gun and her words rained down upon a hapless Roy. He took cover with a thank-you and hurried onto the next item instead of firing a few salvos of his own. Now, if only he'd had a co-anchor, equally at home in English and Hindi. And younger.When Roy interviewed pop singer Jon Bon Jovi, prior to the Channel V Awards, he appeared out of synch. A twenty or thirty something presenter would have been much more in tune.On his new show, India Question Time (BBC), Roy did what he does best: orchestrate the proceedings. He began by looking jittery but as soon as his nerves settled, he nettled the panel: especially the politicians Bardhan, Yashwant Sinha and Pilot. The focus of the show was of course, topically, the UP assembly goings-on and related matters. The politicians spent most of the time flinging mud and figures at each other. The only figure they agreed upon was 1998 for a general election. There was a handpicked audience with prepared questions and an independent `expert' - Mahesh Rangarajan - whose presence on the panel was somewhat puzzling, given that Roy was already there to counter and provoke. Hope the show will move out of Delhi too, otherwise there'll be much of a muchness.Speaking of the BBC, a new generation of Indians are not impressed by its credentials. At a gathering of college kids, organised by the Media Advocacy Group, many said that the BBC is biased against India. They wanted news for India by Indians. This sounded like a bit of unnecessary jingoism (isn't there something known as impartiality?) but on Diwali morning, the BBC did something many would see as anti-Indian. It talked about Hindus all over the world celebrating Diwali; it went onto say that for many in eastern India it was a day to worship the goddess Kali. Then the correspondent took us from Calcutta to Deorala, Rajasthan in a matter of a few sentences and instead of Diwali festivities, we were invited to study the evils of sati.There are two ways of looking at this: would the BBC have used the occasion of Christmas to remind the world of Christian failings? Or, maybe, it was appropriate that this festival of diyas should shed light on our shortcomings?
