Opinion Speaking for themselves

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 of 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? Or,Veena Malik may share a few more delectable morsels of her life with Asif and her times with Dhiraj Dikshit (who has,by the way,suddenly disappeared for the scene of the crime). 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 on Sunday,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 it’s more than six inches you know this is a spot of ball fixing. This obsession was not restricted to Pakistan’s matches. On Monday,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. That’s a lot to answer for.

Much more profitable (sorry,that’s a bad word these days) to watch Khatron Ke Khiladi 3 (Colors),not least because there couldn’t be a better referee/umpire than Priyanka Chopra. She doesn’t 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 she’s comforting,nevertheless. There’s something about Priyanka which is reassuring. Perhaps it is her easy-going 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.

On Sunday,three delightful programmes when we weren’t fixing the ball with a watchful gaze: Total Recall (Times Now) on Shyam Benegal,a special on Rajnikanth on NDTV 24×7 and The Week That Wasn’t on CNN-IBN. If you have to watch TV on that day,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 Kumar to have presence,but Salman Khan was a gamble. Yet anyone who watched Dus Ka Dum knows he comes out trumps. No wonder he will be your new Bigg Boss — promos are on Colors. On Aap Ki Adalat (India TV),he was completely himself — he’s 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. I’m going to compile a list of anchors who do this and send them to the telly awards for a new category.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com