Hail to the Republic, but also to Richard Gere

Republic Day usually sees the same patriotic films telecast every year, perhaps on different channels. For years we saw Haqeeqat, more recently, Border, LoC. This year, for a change, Sahara Manoranjan premiered Dev, a film about the Gujarat riots and a poignant reminder that much is not well with the Republic.

January 26 also welcomed the first 7-hour telethon (Sony).The idea is to watch the generosity of others and be inspired to pledge money for a worthwhile cause – in this case, CRY. Many wonderful children visited the show; as did a galaxy of singers ranging from Gary Lawyer to Pankaj Udhas; videotaped film/TV stars recalled their childhoods. Do we really want to know about Shaan’s childish antics – or even Shah Rukh Khan’s? No but never mind.

Spare a thought for the mouths of anchors Alyy (?) Khan and Mini Mathur in motion throughout the telethon. They exhorted us, they ordered us to donate ‘‘right now’’, they shamed us into donating sharm ki baat hai’’ Mini said if the telethon didn’t raise Rs.1 crore. Hmmn. Not sure this is the best tactic to get slothful couch potatoes to part with their money: making us feel important rather than guilty may work better?

Mini Mathur is quite the best anchor on TV. She is so utterly pleasant – to look at and in her speech you want to donate just for her. It is her effervescence that makes Indian Idol bubble. In comparison, co-host Aman Verma is an overnight open bottle of soda. Here’s to Mini.

Richard Gere answered India Questions (NDTV 24×7) with equal ebullience. He was utterly charming and far more lighthearted than most of his film characters.

For some reason, close associates of the Ambani brothers seek out NDTV but the brothers hide from everyone. These media ‘leaks’ are perplexing: if Mukesh and Anil Ambani want to meet, as we were informed last week – brother to brother – then why don’t they just go ahead and do so instead of talking about it through ‘‘sources close’’ to the media?

Justice Nanavati has developed a soft spot for NDTV ever since Justice Bannerjee’s interim Godhra report. First, the judge probing into the Godhra riots told NDTV that the train bogey fire could have been ‘‘ a terrorist act’’; a few days later, highlights of his inquiry into the 1984 Sikh riots were making NDTV headlines.

The world of serials welcomes a new entrant: Kkavyanjali (Star Plus). The song, ‘‘Woh mile thhe’’ is catchy, the Shimla snow scenes a refreshing change from the oppressiveness of opulent homes in most K serials. The lead actress is beautiful (but silent), the lead male boyish, his family entertaining, however, the star of the show, so far, has been Amrita Singh as the boy’s mother. She looks and acts the part. Maybe it helps that we have no screen memory of her in 14??? years. Hema Malini made a recent TV double role debut in Kamini-Damini (Sahara): the problem for her is that the plot of this Seeta-Aur Geeta TV serial istoo convoluted, the politics of her screen family so complex we don’t want to unravel either. As Kamini, Hema ji appears worn out (as well she might with such a tiresome family); as Damini she’s a black shadow who is still to take a human form. Will she give Hema a screen presence? Waiting and watching.