Opinion Sweeping it clean

We’ve witnessed a lot of sweeping recently. Pamela Anderson was sweeping outside the Bigg Boss home even as the loud and foul-mouthed Dolly Bindra was swept out of the show; Preeja Sreedharan swept past the competition to win the 10,000 metres at the Asian Games; India swept away New Zealand in the final Test (with a few fine sweep shots from Rahul Dravid),not to mention Somdev Devvarman’s sweeping victory in the tennis finals; and then,on Wednesday morning,English news channels announced,a ‘Nitish wave sweeps Bihar’ (CNN-IBN).

That’s a lot of sweeping for one week. While the JD(U)-BJP performance was very nearly a clean sweep (leading to immediate discussions on the Narendra Modi model versus the Nitish one),Pamela’s efforts were less effective: she waved the broom like a magic wand in languid motions that showed off her figure to good account but were woefully inadequate for cleaning a footpath. The Baywatch star’s much-publicised visit to the sets of the reality show (Colors),was as limited as her command of Hindi. Day one,she swept in and disappeared into her bedroom after a cheery “goodnight”; day two,she was barely visible underneath a wrap-around,partly because argumentative Indians — Dolly,Samir,Shweta in particular — were not going to be upstaged by an outsider,no matter who she was. She then wielded the broom,swept Ashmit and Hrishant off their feet,and learned how to dance a filmi number; day three she cooked Indian food,mixed in a few Hindi phrases acquired from contestant Manoj Tiwari for taste,and watched how it went down with her housemates. Quite well,judging by their satisfied expressions. And then she left only to reappear on the Salman Khan show which is what Bigg Boss becomes on the weekend. She danced to “Munni badnam hui”,told everyone at BB that she loved them,loved India. “Have you anything to say to your millions of fans?” Salman asked. “Yes,” she replied,“Shakira!” Before a visibly nonplussed Salman could react,she added,“No,no,shukriya!” What was Manoj Tiwari teaching her? Plenty of silliness followed but for Rs 2.5 crore you will say anything,even if it’s “Main tumhare bachche ki ma banne wali hoon” without knowing what you’re spouting.

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Do such gambits help a show? Well,they might help distract attention from the I&B ministry’s attempts to shift Bigg Boss(and Rakhi Ka Insaaf,Imagine) from 9 pm to 11 pm in the name of decency,but otherwise it was as ineffectual as Pamela’s sweeping. Viewers who know her for her Babe-watch ways don’t want to watch her trying to learn Hindi or roll out a chapati; those who don’t know her,couldn’t care less either way,so why bother?

Far more rewarding to have watched Rahat Taslim win a crore (Kaun Banega Crorepati,Sony). Such a pleasure: she answered the questions without amateur dramatics,quick and precise; she was lively when talking about herself; as she approached the big moment,she hedged her bets with such composure you’d think she was on her first question. She’s the first woman to win Rs 1 crore,she comes from a small town in Jharkhand and as she explained,she’s always been good at GK. Great role model.

Apropos,the attempts of the I&B ministry to clean up television entertainment,while Rakhi and Bigg B did offend “good taste and decency,” there’s lots around which defy both.

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On Laagi Tujhse Lagan (Colors),for example, husband Dutta is astonished to discover that his wife Nakusha has been two-timing him: he married an ugly duckling but turns out she is a real beauty. He slaps her and last seen was playing with a loaded revolver. Big Switch2 (Bindass) had a young man smashing everything in sight.

Such scenes are frequent on entertainment channels. If the I&B Ministry is trying to protect children,should such violence be on the air during the evening?

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com