Indian Media and Bollywood

I start with a disclaimer: I am an admirer of certain sections of the Indian Media – both print and electronic – for the courageous work they do under the prevailing circumstances in our country by taking various administrative bodies and governmental systems head-on and holding them accountable.

Nevertheless, i have always been aware and amused by the close similarities displayed by the Indian Media with our esteemed Bollywood! ... Hold on for a few moments and you too will, perhaps, agree with me.

It was one of those evenings when i was generally chatting over coffee with a friend from the US and while talking we tread into the domain of democracy. Both of us expressed our individual pride that how fortunate we were to be born in the largest and the oldest democracy respectively. So in general terms we touched upon all the three arms of a functional democracy and then came to rest on the fourth – the Press, which in today’s parlance is popularly referred to as the Media.

‘You have so many news channels in different languages! While flipping channels yesterday evening i almost lost the count!’ my friend’s expressions were hilarious.

‘Yes, we are a big news country!’ i went along.

‘But tell me one thing. Do Indians argue a lot?’ i knew exactly where he was coming from.

‘I saw everybody debating loudly on almost all news channels; even the topic seemed to be the same!’ he had certainly not watched such television news programs before.

‘Well, have you watched any Bollywood movie? If no, then watch a few and you will understand the Indian television scenario,’ i offered my sincere advice.

‘Yeah, i have watched a couple of them. You have very beautiful actresses and even male leads look so much better than an average Indian. I love its colours! But honestly, they seem to be much Indianized,’ he was trying to be careful with his words.

‘Don’t sound diplomatic; you are echoing my sentiment.’

‘But i didn’t get the Bollywood connection in the Indian Media,’ he was genuinely perplexed.

‘Bollywood is just an analogy. If you watch carefully you will notice that the feel of both are very similar... Ok, let me explain,’ and we spent the next hour discussing the topic threadbare.

I beforehand explained to him that when i say Bollywood i do not necessarily mean Hindi movies exclusively but the Indian cinema per se. And when I say the Indian Media, it includes all and sundry in both print and television.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media industry is the largest in the world in terms of number of channels on air and the number of dailies published in various languages and their combined viewership and readership respectively.  However, the sheer numbers do not necessarily mean the top slot or the top standards, rather much below when compared with the established names globally. 

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is doing brisk business at home, in the local currency; however, when talked in terms of gross earnings, it seems not so significant in front of the global media giants’ revenues.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is hugely impactful within its national boundaries; however, its worldwide influence pales in front of the foreign press.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media has some immensely talented people with global appeal; however, because of the limited scope of their work, they have remained almost incognito in the international news circuit.

Life Bollywood, the Indian Media has done some path breaking journalism; however, a large percentage of its cumulative work has remained mediocre.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media has a good number of honest and courageous professionals; however, it needs to take a serious look at allegations and accusations maligning its integrity and its susceptibility to succumb in face of manipulations. 

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is largely defined – and driven – by one segment which is the English news channels; however, its identity is highly fragmented with the Hindi and the regional news channels having their own larger loyal viewers’ base.  

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is largely built upon larger-than-life elements drawn sometimes from imaginary ideas and its spectrum is wide enough to encompass lots of drama, tragedy, comedy, heroes and villains; however, its storyline sounds repetitive, howsoever hard they try to remain – or claim to be – contemporary, and its proximity to an average Indian’s life per se is primarily remote; one does not often witness real life imitating the ‘reel life’.

The perfect examples are the beautiful songs and dances being integral components of any Indian film whereas in reality no Indian has ever been sighted singing and dancing in public in their daily life – except in weddings or parties on movies’ music for enjoyment! In fact, a couple of my Chinese friends who were visiting India for the first time about seven years ago were really surprised to see their perception of an average ‘singing & dancing’ Indian shatter to pieces when they did not find any Indian singing and dancing in streets, which they had seen them do so often in Bollywood films!  

Today’s Indian Media landscape is largely dominated by the electronic media which has the power to swing people’s opinion. They also garner the largest pie in the overall ad-spend. Over the years, following the path towards true Indianness, they have evolved and gone even beyond news – they also provide entertainment. Newstainment! News with full entertainment! For them, and for the public as per their logic, pure news is plain and boring. The argument proffered is that they have to do so in order to remain viable in a cut-throat competitive environment. And they seem to be contented with their unique way of presenting news which borders on trivializing the concept and the profession of journalism in many instances.

Well, to clarify, if i have to watch television for news on India i view only the English news channels but i have flipped through various Hindi and regional news channels out of curiosity and have been dismayed at the standard of their telecast. Not that their English counterparts don’t require sincere introspection for improvement.

India, with its global aspirations, and the capabilities, cannot be seen as having a Media which is below the international standards. Exception, i reiterate, to a great degree is the English language Media in both the formats – print and electronic.

As the English language press defines the Indian Media, therefore, it needs to set benchmark for the rest of the fraternity. Simultaneously, India is waiting to see them claim their place on the global platform.

I start with the English newspapers. Times of India has the largest readership in the world; however, it is not even on the horizon when global dailies are discussed. The other newspapers also have to pull themselves up and modify their reportage so as to remain contemporary but first and foremost credible – and relevant - from the international perspective.

A foreign colleague had remarked a few years ago seeing the semi-porn texture of a newspaper supplement: ‘Are Indians so frustrated sexually?’... Each of the publications needs to read the legendary New York Times and Washington Post, to name a few, to understand what i am referring to.

Now coming to the English news channels, i credit Prannoy Roy with reshaping the Indian Media and giving us a credible alternative medium to get news and current affairs information other than the Doordarshan, seemingly government’s mouthpiece. I also thank him for giving India its beloved news anchors! Including Dr. Roy himself, whether it is Barkha Dutt or Rajdeep Sardesai or Arnab Goswami, we haven’t seen anybody better than them so far in the newer generation television journalists. In this case too, the situation is akin to Bollywood where we haven’t yet got the comparable replacements to the holy quartet of Mangeshkar Sisters Lata and Asha, Md. Rafi and Kishore Kumar in singing!

Not to forget, emphasis on producing international standard news programs got initiated with Karan Thapar coming back to India and soon he floored – literally, just ask his guests on his shows – the entire nation with his intelligent, incisive and interrogative interviews! Vir Sanghvi is another very good television journalist that we had till recently. However, today both have almost receded into the background comparatively but their contributions cannot ever be forgotten in improving the news coverage and analysis in India.

These anchors are par excellence and are comparable to any international repute newsperson of the world! Honestly, in certain aspects i find them better than anybody in the global news business. Each one of them has their individuality and tremendous qualities and contributions towards the evolution of the Indian Media.

Prannoy Roy is the pioneer in the field of the Indian television news channels! His stupendous success with NDTV 24x7 propelled the fast expansion of the industry. He retains his charm as a newsperson but his style is more suited currently for serious yet leisurely discussions with statesmen and leaders in various fields. His legacy is being carry forwarded properly by his prodigies.

Barkha Dutt is true blood international in her talent! Her command over language and style of delivery is better than even the internationally established anchors on the iconic channels like BBC and CNN. She looks original in her attitude and attire. Not easy for any new news anchor to copy her. ‘We The People’ has remained popular solely because of her. And she is the face of NDTV, besides Dr. Roy.

Rajdeep Sardesai is the original angry young man of the Indian Television Industry! When he announced his leaving the NDTV, every Indian viewer felt a void as to who would moderate the ‘Big Fight’ now. He has a perfect blend of aggression and poise and is many viewers’ choice for a television news anchor. His acumen and sensibilities made him establish his new channel CNN-IBN and soon overtook his professional alma-mater.

Arnab Goswami, the most famous and the most feared television personality in our nation! He has singlehandedly redefined the news scenario in India ever since he moved to and started Times Now. Seeing the channel’s terrific success overshadowing the media giants’ like NDTV and CNN-IBN in a short span of two years and sustaining it for five years now proves one thing: Prannoy Roy could not assess his true potential. Arnab invented a new style of news presentation: he mixed it with high voltage debates! And the unprecedented popularity of his ‘The Newshour’ forced the entire industry to follow suit. He made people realize that news was not only for viewing as-it-had-happened but for dissecting and analysing and making people concerned answerable, and the perpetrators punished. His sheer courage is infectious! And his impact is immeasurable! ‘The Nation demands an answer!’ has become his tagline. He has a large fan following among the English news viewers and even the non-viewers regard his value.

Newshour has one more distinction: its hugely popular debates now having become a standard format for news on all channels have nurtured the breeds of so-called spokespersons and activists! (How i resent these omnipresent ever-visible creatures! If i had little bit power, i would mute their voices and blurr their faces! And how their purely predictable line of arguments has forced me to curtail my news – and Newshour – viewing drastically...)

Among the other English news channels, Rahul Kunwal in Headlines Today is doing a good job and is getting better gradually. Rest are almost non-existent. And the rest of the non-English channels are pure imitators and most are pathetic.

What emerges out of this brief review is that a news channel mirrors the personality of its editor-in-chief and both become synonymous over a period of time. And, as the news industry is spearheaded by the English news channels, so is the latter performing as per the nation’s expectation? Well, yes and no.

YES, because the Indian Media has effectively discharged it role as the fourth estate and we have seen certain changes taking place in various field in our country: a few powerful but criminal politicians and others being sent to jail; a few scamsters being punished; a few victims getting the much denied justice; ...

And, NO, because the Indian Media hasn’t discharged its ‘fourth estate’ duties to the fullest as it hasn’t taken up its nationally critical international responsibilities seriously. Its vision has been narrow and it has failed to look beyond our geographical boundaries. Once in a while we do witness a few debates dedicated to Indo-Pak relationship but nothing more. Howsoever significant events could be happening anywhere in the world, our media limits its coverage to internal matters only, some of which could be genuinely important but mostly are the usual ones. 

One more sincere suggestion: they should allot debating time depending on gravity of news item; all news broadcasts cannot – and should not – be treated in the same manner.

The Indian Media has to break its self-created cocoon and spread its influence worldwide. When India gets discussed, its media should get mentioned in the same breath. And when the voice of one fifth of global population gets heard by the world, it should reverberate! Our media should be able to shape global opinions and chisel geopolitical changes. When India’s media commentators like Arnab or Rajdeep or Barkha or Prannoy speaks, the world should sit up and listen. When TOI or HT or Hindu writes or reports, the targeted subject should get shaken up. And through them India should be able to project itself more comprehensively on the global canvas.

We have many Indians now become household names globally; it’s time the Indian Media added a few names to the list.

Our English news network with its highly accomplished anchors has the potential to break into the big league of BBC and CNN. Al-Jazeera from the Arab world has achieved this feat in a small time with its quality international journalism. I have no doubt whatsoever about the success of the Indian Media – all languages, both electronic and print – in the global arena. After all, the fourth pillar of the world’s largest and the most populous democracy should have – and has – the power to stand firmly and reshape the global news sphere.

Frankly speaking, i certainly do not mean to say that the world media is perfect in all aspects. They too need to introspect and review their own style of functioning so as to make a greater impact on various governments and global happenings. One case in point: with the amount of air time spent on covering Africa by both BBC and CNN, the Continent could have come in the forefront of the world affairs by now, which sadly hasn’t happened. 

Honestly, the international media – including Indian Media – could amalgamate the best aspects of all the players and remodel its reportage on current affairs. ... Who knows soon the world will watch debates as a regular style of news presentation ... and Bollywood type songs and dances could become a routine in Hollywood ... ;)  

The Mahatma and The Yogi

As the luck would have it, i got the opportunity to attend the book launch event of the eminent Indian historian Ramchandra Guha's 'Gandhi Before India' and while listening to his ever-engaging talk on his book and Gandhiji, a thought crossed my mind. 

When Gandhiji was being hailed all across the world as the Mahatma - the Great Soul, there was another Indian being heralded globally for his Yoga teachings and was acknowledged as the Yogi - the saint - Paramahansa Yogananda! And both shared deep mutual admiration and reverence. Yoganandaji got to meet the Mahatma in 1936 during his trip to India when he was invited by Gandhiji to his Wardha Ashram. The divine meeting of the two God-blessed souls is historic; if one was admired as the Political Master then the younger one was acclaimed as the Spiritual Master! And these two have been clearly the best Indian gifts to the world! If Gandhiji gave the principles of Non-violence and Truth as tools towards any struggle, then Yoganandaji taught the ancient vedic Yoga to the humanity! How i wish i were born in their times ... :) 

Here i share a tribute to the Mahatma by the Yogi, which he wrote much before meeting his spiritually-political idol.

Mahatma Gandhi
by Swami Yogananda East-West, April, 1932

At Gethsemane, out of that perishable confinement of the body of Jesus, they let loose His spirit so that it could be free to roam in the hearts of many people, and kindle their ignorance, dispelling the night as they awakened.

Oh, Gandhi! The prison walls have become a temple by Thy Presence!! And Thou art more dangerously eloquent by Thy Silence!! Thy physical voice is muffled ‘neath the prison vaults, but Thy silent voice of Spirit is loosened, and is beating the drums of universal sympathy and attention, to rouse the races slumbering in hatred, in political selfishness, in greed for possession, in mutual deceptions, and in brother making war preparations against brother.

Gandhi! Politically crucified, Thou art not only the savior of a race, of India, but also of all the selfish, hatred-stricken races of the world. And now there comes Thy prison, like a Judas, to take Thee away from us, but Thy prison shall be Thy best message bearer, the greatest preacher of Thy truth for all times, and Thy supreme slave to build a mansion of love for Thy truth and Thee in the heart of each race.

Gandhi! Thy Bible, all the warriors of futurity will read and follow, and therein learn to combat, not their brothers, but the Satan of Ignorance and all his army.

Gandhi! Thy saintliness, and the fragrance of the unfading flower of Thy determination, will charm the menacing fire of cannon, until they sing instead the Freedom of India through Peace.

Gandhi! Thy flute of peace will tune the wild beasts of political misunderstandings in the race! Just as God did not choose to use His miraculous powers to discipline man, but chose love instead, so Thou has chosen the path of love, not force, that mightiest love to free India. For Thy love will awaken love, will melt gunpowder, selfishness, political strife, hatred, wars, fighting airplanes, bombs, machine guns, and armies into the consistency of All-Freeing Love.

Oh Gandhi! Thy Love will build the United States of the World, and Thy seal will be in every heart!

...........

*(1) “The Self shines forth like a sun in those who have banished ignorance by wisdom.”—Bhagavad Gita V

India's English Vinglish

Irony couldn’t have been starker. And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Watching the acclaimed Hindi movie titled English Vinglish within the comforts of my living room environ on India’s 67th Independence Day and witnessing the churning of my emotions and resurfacing of a niggling view about my country’s inherent language complexities, I thought of sparing a few moments for a deeper reflection. 

English Vinglish is not just Sridevi’s problem in the movie; it is India’s linguistic challenge equally. Though nowhere in the world the Indians are regarded essentially as English speakers but we – the so called English literates -  take immeasurable pride in our conversational skills in a language which is still ‘foreign’ to the majority of Indians!  

We Indians love to believe that our self-perceived so called economic status in the world is due to our ability to talk in English, a status which is in past tense now anyway. The fact of the matter is that none of the developed countries – economically – except the UK and the US whose mother tongue is English – have their business conducted in a language which is not their native one. Whether it is China or Germany or Japan or other European nations, the obsession with English is clearly missing from their psyche. And India, with all its self-boasting English language skills, is still to qualify as an English speaking nation; let’s forget about it being clubbed with the developed countries any time soon. One just has to open the facts books and see India’s performance on various parameters, education being one of the primary indicators and the data is self-revealing, rather shocking.  

A glimpse into the history books uncovers that India, the land of Sanskrit, the ancient primary and complete language of antiquity from which have proliferated various Indo-European languages including English and other European and Indian languages, could not conserve the Mother Language in its own country of origin.  

Funnily, in name of saving Sanskrit from getting lost into oblivion, we have smartly relegated it as one of the language subjects in schools – taken by students as an easy source of scores! Because, in scoring marks in Sanskrit – as per the Indian education system - the only requisite is one’s temporary memory power, to be spent for mugging the things up for exams and deleting everything stored thereafter for other more important things! The net result is that Indians cannot understand a word of Sanskrit in spite of having it as one of their major subjects in school. But being a Sanskrit-illiterate has never been an issue in India!  

However, Heavens fall when an Indian is seen – heard – to be English ignorant!  

It is easy to accept the argument that when ‘change’ is the mantra for moving forward in life including how people converse, Sanskrit had to undergo changes and develop into ‘local’ lingua-franca. Going by the same logic, was it not crucial for India to preserve its rich linguistic heritage ? 

The Indian Constitution lists 22 languages as scheduled languages and includes English as a ‘subsidiary’ language. However, India’s de facto functional language is English as it is the language of higher education and all administrative works. The roots of English have reached so deep into India’s structure that only a social revolution can change the scenario and accord due respect to the Indian languages  which are complete in all sense and are as rich in vocabulary and literature as India’s esteemed English! But we Indians delightfully kept English as a ‘souvenir’ from departing Britishers on our day of Independence almost seven decades ago which in effect ensured that we remained chained to our colonial masters’ tongue  for the rest of our future. The blame is solely ours; to accuse the Englishmen for India’s English obsession will not be fair at all.   

The pet Indian line of reasoning is that with numerous active languages it would be extremely difficult to function as a cohesive country. This logic is so far from the truth as the Earth is from the most distant star in the Universe! A reading of India’s modern history – post Independence – clears all purposefully created confusion and bares the root cause of India’s continuing linguistic woes.  

By default the official coronation of English as India’s official language can be credited to its first prime minister; and a segment of ignorant Indian souls may attribute it to his well known Anglophile character. However, the major contribution cam from the Indians residing in the southern parts who strongly opposed Hindi being declared the National Language of India in spite of it being spoken by a vast majority of free India. The Southern folks felt that by being made to speak Hindi they would be subjected to North Indians’ dominance. The most unfortunate part of the whole story is that these freshly free countrymen were willing to accept the supremacy of a foreign language in their everyday lives which had enslaved them for centuries but were severely opposed to Hindi, the major language of India. The continued agitations led to succumbing of the government to their demands by making amendments in the Official Languages Act of India and letting English continue as the official language of India.  

Anti-Hindi agitations had regional politics at its core; the ascent of southern regional political parties is directly connected with their anti-Hindi stance. There was certainly no great love for their own native tongues. In any other advanced country of the world opposition to country’s main language could be construed as anti-national, but not in India. India has been so accommodative in its postures that it has lost most of its treasures due to lack of courage under challenging situations.  

But why blame the South Indians solely for India’s English Vinglish? The so called superiority complex acquired with English speaking was equally engrained in Indians from the northern parts.         

These post Independence pro-English gestures could have rewritten Indian history – in English?! – but it never happened in the manner it was envisaged to be. Political calculations could only force the alterations in Official Languages Act of India and make English its official language but it could not make inroads into lives of majority of Indians. English remained an elite language, being taught in English medium schools both in South as well as North India. The percentage of people who could speak proper English remained same in both parts of the country; the widely held perception that every person in South India knew English was soon recognized as one of the biggest myths of the modern India. And we could never become a member of the elite English speaking nations! How sad :(  

The height of self-believing English speaking India’s woes is that the real English speaking world does not recognize we Indians as Englishmen or English women! The peculiar Indian accent – the syntax of which is so wide spectrum that even an Indian cannot understand the English of another Indian if the latter happens to be from a different part of the country – cannot be followed by majority of the world population.  

Foolishly Indians love to assign the ascent of the Indian IT sector to the language of English, however, they choose not to accept the fact that China, a non-English country, is far ahead in all fields of IT including in numbers of Chinese IT professionals employed in English speaking developed economies. This is besides the fact that they are the 2nd largest economy of the world with their businesses being conducted in their own language, which the so-called English speaking India choose to ignore for its own convenience. 

The linguistic landscape is a bit bizarre in India. As the so called quality education is imparted through English medium and as the entire higher education is also given in the same language, and as the entire business is in the hands of a small portion of people trained in English, we strongly prefer to believe that we are superior to the non-English speaking fellow Indians. And, of course, we also equally bizarrely believe that we are superior to the fellow non-English speaking humans in rest parts of the world. So what if the feeling is not reciprocated by them! 

What is absolutely nonsensical about India’s English Vinglish is that almost every English educated Indian loves to believe that a person’s capabilities are directly proportionate to his/her English speaking skills! And the rest of the population – ironically majority of Indians fall in this latter category – are fools and fit for nothing. And that is the reason why “communication skills” is given top ranking in evaluating a person for any job in India. It is a different matter altogether that majority of the Indians with English conversational capabilities lack the grey matter in the same proportion as seen in non-English literates!  

The major disadvantage with this skewed attitude of the English speaking minority India is that the capable people with less or no knowledge of English language get left out from the mainstream and all spheres of life and society become a loser.  

Another interesting point about the so-called English speaking India is that they are comfortable with English only in education and work, beyond that they are as alien to their preferred language as a goat is to a guitar! No body has any love for English movies or songs or even literature. The proof of it lies in the fact that we Indians have forced the English music channels on television to convert to Hindi music 24x7! And to justify this dichotomy in our character and hypocrisy in our attitude, we shamelessly take refuge in the arms of the so-called Indian tradition and culture! @#$%&*^! (Beep, Beep …) 

When one analyzes various factors which led to India - with its limitless capabilities and opportunities -  remaining at the bottom of the grid on the global scale, its failure to preserve its invaluable heritage comes at the top. Because when one tries to emulate others, one loses all what one has; you remain neither here nor there. Because, one’s national identity is one’s passport in this world … 

I pray for my country that we realize the value of all we have as a country and leverage those priceless treasures – including linguistic wealth – and come out with head held high on the world stage. We understand that English is just a language for communication like all other languages of the world and that education and businesses – and life - can be comfortably conducted in every Indian language as well – as successfully as demonstrated by all non-English speaking developed nations.  

Simply saying: We get rid of our English Vinglish complexities …