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This is an archive article published on December 1, 2011
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Opinion When stars come down to earth

A couple of new TV shows focus on the encounter between famous people and their fans and critics

Shailaja Bajpai

December 1, 2011 01:36 AM IST First published on: Dec 1, 2011 at 01:36 AM IST

If you didn’t watch it,you’ll wish you had; if you did catch it,you’ll be glad. It’s not often these days that you find a serious piece of investigative journalism on TV. So,The Perfect Terrorist (shown on Times Now) was ideal viewing material. An absorbing,even chilling,account of David Coleman Headley,it tells the story of how an average,ordinary enough human being became a headline-occupying terrorist.

Of particular interest to Indian viewers was the detailed account of his involvement in the 26/11 attacks,three years ago. We revisit Mumbai and the scenes of the crimes — the Taj Hotel,Nariman House — and relive those terrifying hours in the company of ProPublica journalist Sebastian Rotella,who traces Headley back to when he was Daood Sayed Gilani. We hear from American officials,Mumbai police and even the former home secretary,G.K. Pillai,on how Headley was “useful” to the Americans as a double agent,even though they deny it.

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The Perfect Terrorist is a thoroughly professional piece of journalism and reminded us that television need not always be entertaining to be highly watchable.

If you surf carefully through channels you’ll find more such watchable,informative shows. But you have to go in search of them. Caught up with the extremely interesting Test Your Brain on National Geographic,for instance,which,through a series of very simple,everyday events,played and replayed,reveals how your attention works. In one incident,an attendant behind a counter bends and is replaced by another man without most of the customers (and viewers) noticing the switch because we were not paying attention to the attendant. Test Your Brain is not the kind of show you would normally watch but once you do,you couldn’t keep your eyes off it.

When you tuned into Airtel Superstars Awards (Star channels),your eyes may have begun to close — oh no,not another awards ceremony. Well,it was,but with the difference that these awards were entirely based on public opinion,yaani ki,the jury was we,the people. Hosted by a lively Sonakshi Sinha and Riteish Deshmukh,it had some unusual performances like Vidya Balan’s ‘Ooh la la’ from her forthcoming The Dirty Picture. There were some delightful spoofs involving Deshmukh,Sinha and the inimitable SRK. In fact,he is so good at being a stand-up comedian that if he is ever out of work in Bollywood,he knows where to look — comedy reality shows.

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Vidya Balan starred in Live My Life (UTV Stars) too,playing herself. The show follows young fans who will do almost anything to meet their idols. In Sunday’s episode,a teenager with a thing for Balan,met people associated with Balan and Dirty Picture,before he came face to face with his idol. Honestly? It’s a bit too starry-eyed to be worth more than a few minutes.

Love 2 Hate U (Star World) is a new reality show where young people also meet the stars.

The difference is that the stars do not twinkle in Bollywood alone,they could be between the pages of a book (Chetan Bhagat). The other unusual feature is that the stars do not meet their admirers but their detractors,people,who love to hate them. They exchange viewpoints,sometimes rather rudely,and at the end of 20 minutes,the “haters” are asked if their opinion of the celebrity has changed.

The first episode,last week,saw Arjun Rampal meet his match in an articulate young man.

Rampal is the host of the show but for all his good looks,he is rather wooden in the role,as though freshly hewn from a tree. He also plays favourites. In last Sunday’s episode,for instance,it was quite clear that his sympathies lay with Chetan Bhagat,who was fiercely attacked by a young female reader,Roshni. Love 2 Hate U is an oddball show because it has plenty of star attraction with the likes of Bhagat,Farah Khan,etc.,as targets,but we learn very little about them or their work. And to really enjoy the show,you must already be familiar with both. Needs to be rethought.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com