Gill finds a role in swadeshi starrer; will take on Murdoch

Sharma adds that he sent in his proposal to Gill in December and was cleared by February, much before the BJP was a gleam in the electorate’s eye. Gill says he zeroed in on Sharma after reading two articles he wrote (they, in fact, appeared in this paper). Besides, he says Sharma is a “first-ratedocumentary film-maker”.

But the first-rate documentary film-maker says he was the one who pitched the idea to Gill in December. “I got the idea when I wrote the articles. I wanted to make a documentary film, but there was no one to fund me,” says Sharma. “I have tried to be fair,” he says, but insists no Star TV official has responded to his requests for interviews.

So Sharma, who himself has supped with Star when he covered the Thiruvananthapuram International Film Festival in 1997 for Star Movies (“a decision I’ll always regret”), has had to make do with print journalists. No politician, not even S Jaipal Reddy, the architect of the Direct-To-Home (DTH) ban, agreed to appear on his show.

Even Zee TV officials who have been vocal in their views on their 50 per cent partner have not said anything on record. Sharma has also spoken to N Bhaskara Rao of the Centre for Media Studies and Iqbal Malhotra, formerly Murdoch’s India point man. Both are outspoken critics of Murdoch’s `co-option’ strategy.Clearly, Murdoch will have few to speak up for him, a problem which Sharma has no solution for. “It is easier to get people to speak against him,” he says.

Sharma sees no contradiction in Doordarshan, a player in the television business, airing a programme on a rival network. “Didn’t Star Plus air an episode on the Prasar Bharati in A Question of Answers?” It is the public service broadcaster’s duty to educate the public about Rupert Murdoch’s agenda in India, he says. He says he would ideally have liked to travel abroad for the show but now will have to make do with footage from CNN and ABC. Gill believes Murdoch is an “international buccaneer” who is more than a media don. It is a belief Sharma says he shares and he has made it quite an enterprise. There is no date yet on the telecast of the hour-long show.