Prime-time exclusivity

‘‘Out with it,’’ I yelled, losing my patience. ‘‘What do you know that I don’t?’’ ‘‘I have exclusive information which TV channels would do anything to get,’’ claimed Mukul. ‘‘Like?’’ I asked.

‘‘Firstly I know from first hand what Ganguly was telling Dravid animatedly while Chappell was watching them with a fixed stare for five minutes.’’ Mukul was describing the first day of the Test match when TV channels were speculating about an animated Saurav Ganguly talking to Rahul Dravid while Greg Chappell looked on.

‘‘According to insiders Ganguly was abusing Dravid in the choicest Bengali, Dravid was abusing him in Kannada and Chappell who knew neither language was wondering when they would switch back to English,’’ claimed Mukul…

‘‘Interesting,’’ I said, ‘‘but that’s not the only reason you are grinning.’’ ‘‘Well,’’ said Mukul, now sounding like an enthusiastic cub reporter, ‘‘I also have access to Amar Singh’s tapes.’’

I fell out of the chair. Rumour had it that no one had access to 20 hours of the taped conversation except a few TV channels which had not decided which parts to finally air, the Delhi police too was not sure whether it had itself authorised the tap.

‘‘How did you manage to get these tapes?’’ I said. ‘‘Tell me the juicy parts.’’

Mukul said he was sworn to secrecy. He could be arrested under the Freedom of Information Act because while it authorised overhearing of conversation it was strictly against unauthorised tapping of phones. ‘‘C’mon, Mukul,’’ I told him, ‘‘I would not tell a soul.’’

With great reluctance Mukul told me the details. Of the 20 hours of tapes a good 10 hours were devoted to a conversation between Amar Singh and his brother Amitabh Bachchan where Bachchan was telling him about all the movies that he had acted in and how the world was against him.

‘‘That’s all?’’ I asked, sounding disappointed.

‘‘Two hours of that tape had been destroyed,’’ claimed Mukul, ‘‘and the rest were Amar Singh’s breathing exercises to lose weight explained by Baba Ramdev.’’

‘‘So there is nothing incriminating?’’ I asked. ‘‘Of course not,’’ retorted Mukul, ‘‘but it is exclusive.’’ I thought Amar Singh looked worried, I argued, which is the reason he conducts his daily briefings on the tapes.

‘‘He is not worried,’’ retorted Mukul. ‘‘The only issue bothering him is that the tapes should be played as it is and not distorted.’’

This was not all. Mukul claimed that he had interviewed several women who had claimed that they were not in the Sanjay Joshi video.

‘‘I just sent an SMS hunt for any woman who knew Sanjay Joshi and immediately hundreds of women claimed that even if they knew him they were not in the video,’’ explained Mukul.

‘‘Why this confusion?’’ I asked. ‘‘Because the alleged Sanjay Joshi video has a woman whose face is masked,’’ was Mukul’s retort.

‘‘Are we sure she is a woman?’’ I asked. ‘‘No one really knows because the quality of the recording is bad,’’ quipped Mukul. ‘‘But TV channels say that as long as it is exclusive I can be hired!’’