Opinion Telescope: Why so serious?

They’ve been following in her footsteps and thereby allowed her to project herself in the way that she wants to — the legitimate inheritor of MGR’s and Jayalalithaa’s legacy. Wanted: A sense of proportion, please?

Of course, Tamil Nadu is important. So is Uttar Pradesh, where voting took place yesterday but we’ve seen little of that political story. There have been major campaign speeches from leading politicians — from PM Modi to CM candidate Mayawati who was in Rae Bareli Wednesday morning and delivered a stinging speech. She deserved some live coverage, don’t you think?

Coverage of the poll campaigns on English news channels has been inadequate. You’re well advised to watch Hindi news channels instead — those like ABP, NDTV India, Aaj Tak, Zee and India TV or the region-specific ones like APN, Samachar UK/UP, National Voice, etc.

“Chinnamma in chains” (CNN News 18) vs OPS in revolt would have lent itself to some delightful political lampooning. That is, if there was any on television. Meanwhile, American TV celebrates political parody with shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Star World HD Premiere, Mon-Fri), Last Week Tonight hosted by John Oliver and the outstanding Saturday Night Live — neither is available on Indian TV channels but can be watched online. All of them — and others too— are piercing gaping holes into the Trump presidency with their rapier sharp wit and irreverence.

To watch Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump and more recently, Melissa McCarthy as White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Saturday Night Live), or Oliver on “Trump and Truth”, is to revel in the art of political satire and its ability to seriously expose and counter the follies and foibles of politicians (in particular) with a few laughs.

Don’t you long to laugh at our political class?

Well you can’t, leastways, not with television. While social media pokes plenty of fun at politicians and celebrity, television either yells at them or argues with them. It never makes fun of them. A grave pity: There is such a wealth of material available. Imagine what a show like SNL would have made of Sasikala and Panneerselvam. Our very own The Week That Wasn’t with Cyrus Broacha (CNN News 18), the only piece of political satire we currently have on English channels, did give it a shot but most of the bullets were dummy ones or missed the mark.

Or think demonetisation queues at ATMs; Rahul Gandhi’s torn kurta, the Yadav family “now-you’re-with-me-now you’re not” hide n seek, Baba Ramdev’s TV commercials, a host of political characters from Lalu Yadav to Mamata Banerjee, perhaps even the PM’s “mitron” — oooh, what fun!

Alas, it is not to be. The All India Bakchod did try its luck on TV with On Air with AIB in 2015 but it was a disappointment while stand-up (and sit down) comic shows like the Kapil Sharma Show (Sony) are more cinema than current affairs.

Are we too scared to spoof and spook our politicians or is it that we just don’t possess a talent for mockery and raising a laugh or two?