Opinion From MJ to Maniben

Michael Jackson created history and made the news. For more than 24 hours Indian English news channels devoted themselves to his life and death. English news gushed all of Friday,CNN and BBC tempered praise for his music with a reminder of his personal eccentricities; so it was left to Hindi news to treat MJ’s death as only Hindi news channels can: they found an Indian angle to it! The post-mortem,India TV and Star News said Friday night,was being performed by a doctor of Indian origin — as if this was the single most important aspect of the procedure. Then,they turned it into a juicy medical mystery peculiar to their crime shows: who is the Thriller’s Killer,Aaj Tak wanted to know. India TV suggested it was suicide,depression,cancer,drug overdose and even murder. The man and his magic became masala chai by Sunday when India TV said he wanted to be an Egyptian ‘mummy’.

There are new shows on the entertainment channels. The biggest is India’s Got Talent (Colors). Thanks to Susan Boyle’s beautiful singing on its British equivalent,we know what to expect. This is blockbuster TV. It travels across India looking for unusual and extraordinary talents. And they certainly found them. There was a visibly overweight Debojit from Jharkhand,dancing as lightly as MJ in a Bharat Natyam western fusion performance which brought a tear to judge Kirron Kher’s eye. So sweet. And,there was the troupe from Orissa who presented a Vishnu-Krishna avtar dance so perfectly synchronised in movement,it resembled a bronze scultpure. It certainly brought a fairly sleepy judge Shekhar Kapur to his feet and got three ‘fabulous’ cheers from Kher. Third judge Sonali Bendre (looking gorgeous) said she was speechless (get it?). Watch out for the performers — they are something.

Maniben.com (Sab) is about how Smriti Irani is trying to become a comedian after being the reigning tragedy queen. She plays the rich wife of a rich husband who tries to keep up with the Jains,her neighbours. At least she is trying to reinvent herself — albeit unsuccessfully,which is more than Sudha Shivpuri does. She’s Ba wherever she goes — even here.

There are actually people who have not seen Slumdog Millionare and for them Sony Pix telecast it over the weekend — twice. There’s the anti-smoking TV commercial which is enough to put out everyone’s cigarette provided they believe their lungs resemble the filthy grey sponge in the ad (which of course they won’t). But there’s no IIFA,although hour-long promo shows have been on for at least a fortnight. What’s up,Star Plus?

Seen Rakhi Sawant lately in the TV promos for the new reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar (began yesterday)? She’s got enough armoury in the guise of jewellery and make-up to prevent any red-blooded suitor getting too close and personal. Still,they’re gonna try and we’re gonna watch them and don’t believe those who sneer at such tabloid entertainment. It should be fun and she could be the making of NDTV Imagine. Imagine.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com