Not so real.. Not so fake

How much do we relate to TV and cinema, the major entertainer in our country? I have been observing some shows on TV for sometime and have come to the conclusion that most of the shows don’t represent the general public.

The so-called music channels which attract the teens have the most irrelevant shows.

Though I happen to see Splitvilla, dadagiri, Dare 2 Date and some similar show, I really feel as if I am watching people from different planet. I can’t imagine my cousins or friends, flirting or bath mouthing some “XYZ” person.

The major attraction to the general public is the tele-serials which is so obscure. Do we in really life see members of the family plotting against each other, worse hiring a killer? Most of the sitcoms boost a hero or a heroine who is the most stupid person overall.

But though these shows are irrelevant or impossible in real life, this is what attracts us. The best example is the cinema. Some of the blockbuster hit movies esp. bollywood movies really miss the most important thing “The story”.

This is what we want I guess, running away from reality. But sometimes not so real also doesn’t work. Sanjay Leela Bhansasli’s Sawariya is the best example. The movie was shot in fairy tale like nothing seemed real. So by theory, it must have been a super hit but turned out otherwise.  

So I feel people don’t want to see the reality neither do they wanna run into fairy land. It’s the between place that attract. Roadies for the teens and KyunKi for the aged works perfectly well. 

Envisage of the decade

It was merely the end of the previous decade I was struggling hard to understand what was Y2K problem. Today I am at my cubicle, nonchalantly checking out google maps to find out a couple of good restaurants in the Cunningham street. This decade which molded me from school kid to a college brat, college brat to a devoted employee, minor to a major and nonetheless, major to a married, had been a whirlpool yet holding a special place in my heart in sorts of events, places and people. As I look around , I am overwhelmed by the evolution that has happened swiftly and silently.

Some of the remarkable evolutions and initiations of the decade:

I remember my uncle having a cell phone, which resembled a TV remote control with an antenna. I have bragged about it in school, as it was seldom seen that time. But now from youngster to oldster, from house wives to business men, from cobbler to president, everyone has a mobile. Numerous service providers, numerous handsets, CDMA, GSM, Blackberry, O2, Dual Sim, flip, slid, twist, GPRS, 3G and more.

The audio tapes have become an antique. First CD and DVD players took over, then came the iPod.

Workstations are replaced by laptops. These small notebooks is our world now. Its a style statement more than a necessity.

Anything and Everything is online now. I have to make a special mention of “google”,without which our life (esp. mine)would be like living in darkness. Zillion web sites orkut, facebook, gmail, ebay, bookmyshow, dictionary, blogger, wikipedia, matrimony, twitter etc etc.. leading to depletion of IPv4 address. Browsing, Checking mails, updates, tweets, scraps and chatting has become part of our routine.

Media Should I call it a Satan or an Angel? We are engulfed by the television. The number of TV Channels has increased 3 folds compared to the start of the decade. We devote higher priorities to the outrageous “Mega-Serials” than for our loved ones. We prefer to be a jackass in the reality shows than being a dignified human being. We have also identified the dancer, singer, entertainer, bride and even solved family problems on air.

Furthermore is the News Channels, one hand they marched for jessica lal on the other exaggerated a tweet by Shashi Taroor.



Shopping meant haggling with the shopkeeper for a mere 5 rupees in the past decade. Now its a walk in to the mall, choose a brand, customize the design, swipe the card and worry about the bill later.

100's of actors, 1000's of movies, Million's spent on it, and watch it in a clean, small, expensive Multiplex akka the “adda”.

I have never heard the word “Resort” before. It was either lodge or the hotel. Whether its honeymoon, party, wedding, or outing, we all end up in a resort.

All the Spa I knew as a kid was an oil bath. As I assume these spas are gimmicky of the age old oil bath.

Thanks to the Low cost flights which has helped me travel to and forth office and home and making me feel at home.

How can evil stay behind. Millions of bombs had been blasted. Immense wounded and dead. The ease of life has eased terrorism.

I am not sure how I should conclude. Just hoping that end of the next decade, I would write a blog about end of terrorism and end of social evils.

Wish You all a Happy New Year and a New decade.

Poker Face

I was surfing TV for something interesting, I came across a show hosted by Sharman Joshi, one of the guys from RDB. I like his comic roles so I started watching the channel. It was on the new channel “real”. He was hosting a game show called Poker face. Initially I presumed it must be some gambling related show. To my surprise it was talent game show.

“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is my favorite game shows ever. It was aired when I was in my 10th std. My brother, mom and I watched every episode. During exams, we planned our breaks according to the show timings. There had been my other game shows like “Deal Ya No deal”, “10 Ka Dum” and “Paanchvi Pass”. But nothing was comparable to “Crorepati”.

“Poker face” is really good. The concept is very simple. There are 6 contestants every episode. Sharman reads out multiple- choice questions. The contestant are supposed to answer the questions by pressing the appropriate choice button. Every question is for everyone and they earn whenever they answer the question correct. The answers are spelled out after every question is answered. The contestants know just their earnings and they don't have any idea how much the others have earned. Then they are given few minutes to make poker face i.e. show others that they are not the one who have got the least earnings. Then the contestants are called to a podium where there are buzzers in front of each of them and a countdown starts for 10 seconds. Any contestant who pressed the buzzer meanwhile, packs up from the show with his earnings so far in the game. If no one pressed the buzzer, the least earner leaves the game by losing everything he has earned so far. If more than 1 person pressed the buzzer, the earliest one leaves the show with the amount he has earned. This continues till 1 person is left with. The winner earns 10 lacs in every episode and on Sunday all the winners of the week contest for 1 crore.

Best part of the show is Sharman Joshi. He is good composed host. He doesn't speak nonsense, no stupid jokes or discouraging comments. He lets the contestant speak. Next, I liked the questions. It covers many fields, chemistry to math, mythology to cinema, geography to history. And the difficulty level also increases as the game moves on. Next, is the graphics/widgets in the show, the questions/answers are displayed very clearly. After ever question, a small box with a photo of the contestant pops out with a tick/cross symbol below their snap to show if they have addressed it correct/wrong respectively.

I remember the episode of the first Crorepati won by “Harshavardhan”. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails as if I was seated before Amitabh and as if I was answering the question. The moment he won 1 crore was hilarious. But I doubt if that excitement would ever be brought back.

8 years back, 1 crore was a huge amount. Years have passed so fast that the value of 1 crore sounds cheap for a game shows. Whatsoever, for a common man 1 crore is always 1 crore.

Music, Band and Ooh lalala

Music is essence of life. As in a comedy scene, Music is everywhere. It’s in the child’s cry and in the furious thunder. I am not a singer/instrumentalist. Frankly, I can say I am a bad bathroom singer. I don’t have the understanding of raagas/pitches. My singing is cacophonous, monotonous and literally like a speech. But I have always been a sincere and great audience. I have enjoyed music and lyrics at all times.

Recently I was having a discussion with my friend about the Airtel Super Singer show that was coming in Vijay TV (A Tamil Channel). He told me about his favourite music show Ooh Lalala that was broadcasted in SUN TV in 2007 July. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the program. So, he took the pain of googling and finding me the online episodes of the show.

I was dying to watch it coz it was judged by the legend AR Rehman himself. Once I watched the first episode, I was shocked, coz I never knew there were so many bands in TN and so many youngsters with such excellent talents.  And also I was able to identify many faces. Some of them were people from college and few from various other musical shows. Few faces from my college:

In Episode 3/4 – Band “Oxygen’s” Lead singer Vijay Krishnan was in our college troop

In Episode 3/4 – Band “Innovacious’s” Lead singer Pavithra was also in our college troop

In Episode 5 – Band “Tech Music” It’s our college troop

Here is the links for the episodes:  People who missed the show can enjoy. 

http://www.tamilpeek.com/search.php?find=ooh+lalala&B1=Find