Speaking for themselves

If we began to experience severe TV withdrawal pangs by evening,we would get our fix through a movie. But watch the news whats that? Even the news channels dont know: Sundays are devoted to food,films,interviews theres not even an 8 pm news.

Until a fortnight ago,that is. Then the News Of The World released its secret video recordings with Mazhar Majeed and Yasir Hameed and Sundays havent been the same. You had to watch from the morning as the entire sting operation played out and you couldnt stop watching it. It was rivetting: Hameed sitting back,languid but authoritative,as he says that all the matches played by the Pakistanis have been fixed.

How can you stop watching when the sting is followed by interviews with Hameed,who denies having made all the remarks you just heard him make? And,how can you not watch Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi then wash his hands off all this mess? Or when there is every possibility that the Pakistani High Commissioner may take to the air with accusations of a sinister Indian plot to get Pakistan banned from the forthcoming World Cup so that India have one team less to beat? Impossible. So there you are on a Sunday hooked to television news.

Watching cricket is no longer what it used to be. When Pakistan played England in a Twenty20 match recently,every time a bowler came into bowl,you were the umpire,eyes glued to the popping crease to see if his foot crossed the line and by how much if its more than six inches you know this is a spot of ball-fixing. This obsession was not restricted to Pakistans matches. Recently,DD Sports telecast a match between an Indian and a Bangladeshi team,while Neo Cricket had the Raj Singh Dungarpur tournament featuring Indian company teams. Watching them was a torture: every time a batsman played and missed,or hit it straight to the fielder,you wondered was that deliberate? Was he paid to not score? The fun has gone out of the game,at least for now. Thats a lot to answer for.

Much more profitable sorry,thats a bad word these days to watch Khatron Ke Khiladi 3 Colors,not least because there couldnt be a better referee/umpire than Priyanka Chopra. She doesnt wear a coat,or run around the field after the players like they do in soccer. She wears a lean fashion outfit even though it is a freezing Brazilian night,plants both feet firmly on the shore and blows a long whistle. She pouts,she oohs and aahs and generally does everything to make you believe that one of the contestants is in mortal danger. But theres something about Priyanka that is reassuring. Perhaps it is her easygoing personality. Akshay Kumar,the previous host,was big,brawny and bigger than the small screen. He was very encouraging,but he just seemed in another league. Whereas Priyanka seems very much one of us.

Last Sunday,there were three delightful programmes when we werent fixing the ball with a watchful gaze: Total Recall Times Now on Shyam Benegal,a special on Rajinikanth on NDTV 24215;7 and The Week That Wasnt on CNN-IBN. If you have to watch TV,watch these.

Salman Khan is another with natural TV appeal. The strange thing is that this is unexpected. You expect SRK,Aamir,Bachchan and even Akshay to have presence,but Salman Khan was a gamble. Yet anyone who watched 10 Ka Dum knows he comes out trumps. No wonder he will be your new Bigg Boss promos are there on Colors. On Aap Ki Adalat India TV,he was completely himself hes not playing a role and the suggestion of weaknesses makes him all the more attractive. He looked puffy,tired,but you felt he is for real. And the good thing is that Rajat Sharma allowed him to speak. Im going to compile a list of anchors who do this and send them to the telly awards for a new category.