The Hindu Business Line : A `soapy' mish-mash

THE midpoint of last week happened to fall on a particularly auspicious day for Keralites. August 17 was the first day of the Malayalam-month of Chingam, Kerala's harvest season and, traditionally, the harbinger of good fortune and plenitude for a State that was once primarily agrarian.

Any thoughts of agricultural dominance are now largely confined to tableau shows during the Onam festivities, and yet, Malayalees all over the world still consider the first day of Chingam a propitious occasion to launch new ventures.

And if such a new endeavour is associated with blitzkrieg lights, studio makeup, teleprompters and Betacams, all the merrier, for most Keralites love a good show, anything that involves grand visual spectacles and performance arts - and what better a medium to pull off that combination than television.

That must have precisely been the thinking behind the decision by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to launch their new television channel, named, rather predictably, `People'.

`People' joins the ranks of a clutch of television channels that promises - or threatens, say critics - to give Kerala the distinction of being home to more TV channels than any other State in India.

That may not be an entirely glorious distinction. When the 52nd National Film Awards were announced recently, cinema buffs and critics in Kerala were up in arms, alleging a large-scale neglect of the State by the awards committee.

Many of them pointed an accusing finger at the power of prime-time television that kept the hordes glued to their sets indoors, and not queuing up at cinema halls outside.

Perhaps there is some truth in that charge, after all. Going by the sort of programmes that is dished out at prime time by close to a dozen Malayalam channels, it is not too difficult to see why some sane people dismiss the television set as an "idiot box".

Even serious, news-based channels are forced to introduce song-and-dance sequences to attract viewers, just as Amrita TV, another relatively new channel, has been forced to compromise somewhat with the tone and tenor of its programmes.

Media planners in advertising agencies may well gloat in the assumption that there are 40 lakh viewers for Malayalam TV programmes, and nearly half of them viewing cable TV.

But as long as their staple diet remains non-stop entertainment, one wonders whether all this investment by media - and, in the case of Kerala, special-interest socio-cultural and communal interests - is socially responsible.

Perhaps one clue to this trend can be found in what Mr Kalanithi Maran, Chairman and Managing Director of the Sun Network, told this paper in an interview in late March: "When Asianet alone was there, it was more of a news and current affairs-based channel. I remember when I started Surya, they said nobody (in Kerala) watches soaps and movies. They left the whole movie market for me. We went and picked up all the movies. We changed the market to soaps and movies."

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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