Mandira Extraaaa

Thus we have expert opinions from Manjrekar & Memon, interviews with Malcolm Speed (Chief, ICC), good luck from actors Suniel Shetty, Mahima Chaudhary, Pataudi’s assessment, pitch assessment, tarot cards, opinion polls, news updates, tourist guides…Mandira said the show was all about ‘‘entertainment and involvement’’. That’s why we like our Mandira: she calls cricket a tamasha, not a game.

Why does ESPN-Star Sports refuse to keep the scoreline on the screen throughout a tennis match? If you come in on Serena Williams and want to know if the point she lost lost her the Jennifer Capriati match, you can’t because the score’s missing.

And why does Aaj Tak make us see red in its new look? Because they like the colour, because it reflects their mood, because it’s the colour of the times? Think of how much violence you see on the news every day. However, not convinced the bleeding colour in the background is a good choice: resembles a sea of blood and the last thing we want to be reminded of after Russia’s ghastly terrorist attack is blood. The uncluttered screen is a relief, especially since Aaj Tak was the first to clutter it.

CNN has turned its Eye on India, and it’s worth a watch. Forget the routine interviews with politicians or Shah Rukh Khan saying what he says every time (why interview him?); instead, watch American commentator Thomas Friedman. The Indian Express had published articles by Friedman on his Indian experiences earlier this year, and last week’s programme was the audio-visual equivalent of those articles. Friedman admired the gains of the IT miracle but balanced it with a reminder of the poverty and ‘‘sub-Saharan’’ conditions around the corner from Infosys’s Bangalore office; thoughtful and balanced—yeh mind maange more.

That new is not always novel, that fresh is not always refreshing became quite clear after watching recent new shows. The serials have gone in for a facelift making them look much younger with a cast of youthful characters. As we observed last week, because of Jassi we are now subjected to Nikki (Dekho Magar Pyar Se, Star Plus), Kareena and Koel (the twins in Hum 2 Hain Na, Sony) and Ayushmaan (the teenage doctor in Sony’s Ayushmaan). Each one has a brand characteristic: Nikki is fat (with visible body padding), Kareena sports a wig that weighs her down, Koel sings (with a name like that?) and Ayushmaan wears a fringe to make the boy genius in him look like a fool.

Needless to say, none acts his/her age—they seem to share a collective IQ of 3. Okay…3. Nikki bats her eyelashes and flashes winsome smiles at her beloved Karan; Kareena and Koel seem unable to distinguish between themselves—how can they when they look alike—while Ayushmaan wanders through the serial with his mouth at half cock. Would you trust him with your body?

Nothing changes less than change. There are the same hateful parents and relatives, the same old villains (only younger) and the same tired plots: a virtuous protagonist, vengeful vamps, conspiracies, jealousies, adultery, property conflicts, thwarted love, why even murder…Moral of the story? You may be getting younger but not necessarily better.