Toast to Mr Pint

I don't really want to ask why, in covering a Mahajan ‘discord’, as opposed to a Mahajan death or an alleged Mahajan ‘drug ha...

I don’t really want to ask why, in covering a Mahajan ‘discord’, as opposed to a Mahajan death or an alleged Mahajan ‘drug habit’, TV news was relatively muted. I just want to be thankful.

At the end of the week, I am delighted to report I didn’t see hyperactive reporters posted outside the Mahajan residence trying to interpret curtain movements. Ditto for grave-looking news anchors talking to experts over scratchy phone lines. Ditto for studio panels on marriage. Even after Jet grounded Shweta Mahajan from pilot duty, passengers on her flight weren’t interviewed. I admit to being a little nervous when NDTV India brought to us artists’ impression of a “famous” marriage in alleged trouble. But it didn’t catch on. In my relief I almost sympathised with Zee News when it sort of wistfully observed that with the couple-in-question having issued a strong denial, the story was losing traction. There was a ‘Rahul’ in CNN-IBN’s special series on marriage but he wasn’t a Mahajan. That doubtless muted my reaction to CNN-IBN’s close look at pre-marital ‘health kundlis’.

I recognise, of course, that I am not always going to get a break like this. TV will inevitably over-react to what is euphemistically called ‘people news’. Would that when it does it would at least be soberly intelligent, as NDTV undoubtedly was with Brad Pitt after his and his wife’s protectors were supposed to have started a small but apparently crucial clash of civilisations.

Story continues below this ad

I am not sure whether, news priority wise, whatever happened in that Mumbai school called for a televised cross-examination of the actor. But let me record my pleasant surprise that the fairly long chat, despite Brad Pitt’s slightly jarring insistence on how everyone is equal and must love each other, was smartly handled. The interviewer gets the credit in my book from keeping the conversation focused and asking some pointed questions (why shoot the bulk of the film in India when the story is really about Pakistan). What I really liked most though was Irrfan Khan — he really did have a bit part in the interview — pointing out that a TV news channel, while covering the story, had taken a dim view of the role played by Brad ‘Pint’. Which channel was that?

And which channel did an in-depth, unapologetically serious and longish story on Sino-Indian relations? I am sorry but not surprised to answer, no one. I don’t turn to TV if I want to find out something new and interesting on a serious foreign policy issue. I will be, frankly, staggered if anyone does.