Opinion Crashing the Modi bash

So just when the media had elevated Modi to prime ministerial status,in walks Kumar. Bihar’s CM all but declares that Gujarat’s CM cannot be the NDA’s PM. And what does TV news do? Why,it laps it up like a cat does milk. It turns the camera away from Modi — if only momentarily — and focuses on the JD(U) national executive meeting,held in New Delhi perhaps deliberately to engage TV news full time. Thus,the weekend,normally somnolent for news,was shaken up and stirred by Kumar’s pronouncements. Had it not been for The Indian Express exclusive on Law Minister Ashwani Kumar scanning the CBI’s coal scam report that sent news channels into a tizzy,Kumar would have owned the weekend completely.

It was a good media plan: he set the agenda for the week ahead with the BJP reacting to his remarks. Thus,even as the Boston Marathon and a devastating earthquake took over the breaking news space during the day on Tuesday,by the evening we were back to Kumar and his remarks on who should be held responsible for the Godhra riots — except on some Hindi news channels,which preferred to predict that doomsday was near as the earth would end with a bang following a calamitous earthquake.

Although Kumar stole his thunder briefly,Modi will be back in the media’s main focus because everyone reacts to him. Ironic,when there’s a UPA government at the Centre that should be dictating the media agenda with just months to go for the next general elections.

One of the reasons we are utterly fascinated and bemused by the Modi drama is that entertainment TV offers such poor competition — let’s not get us started on Hindi soaps. Prime time on English entertainment is bereft of gripping shows other than Mad Men and Modern Family (Star World). There’s a tearful Packed to the Rafters,there are different versions of CSI and a host of re-runs: please welcome back X Files alongside JAG and One Tree Hill.

Even more disappointing are the film channels: last week,on a particular evening (think it was Tuesday),the line up had X-Men (Star Movies),Lethal Weapon 3 (HBO),The Karate Kid II (Zee Studio),Star Wars (Movies Now),Primeval (Fox) and It Runs In The Family (MGM),the only one without violent outbursts every two seconds. Don’t ask how often you’ve already watched them and how often you will be forced to do so in the future. This lack of variety in genres is alarming. What is it about the Indian audience that it likes to watch films with so much blood during dinner?

That there is no space for diversity forces many of us to seek refuge in news channels or IPL. What a sad commentary on all three.

By the way,speaking of IPL,there’s this Micromax ad running during the commercial breaks. It has a group of gentlemen who line up to face a firing squad,the firing squad fires (well,that’s why it’s there,right?) and the men collapse,pretending to be dead. Has the death sentence become a pop culture icon?

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com