Archives: Television

So the morally upright Indian government has once again banned FTV, albeit for 10 days. But banned nonetheless. The information and broadcasting ministry, for its part, has been extremely thoughtful in announcing the reason to the public as well. An official statement tells us that it was noticed by the ministry that "A programme on FTV channel was telecast on September 4, 2009 at 15:37:34 hours and 19:01:48 hours showing women with nude upper body which was offending against good taste and decency." The Indian government had banned FTV a few years back on the same grounds. Well,...

The Greek version of the show was banned in June. Now its desi spinoff, called Sach Ka Saamna, might meet the same fate if politicians have their say. Some snippets: Samajwadi Party MP Kamal Akthar raised the matter in Rajya Sabha today, alleging that “obscene questions” were being asked about contestants’ personal life in front of their family members. He said the show was against the “Indian culture”. [Link] ...

It becomes slightly trying for a blog that stands for freedom of expression to defend religion in any way or on any count. Given the backdrop that most attacks on freedom of expression both in India (primarily from the Hindu right) and cross the world (primarily from the Islamic right) come from those steeped in religion. And, of course, it is ironical that an unrepentant atheist has to write all about it. The other day there was a report in the Hindustan Times about the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) advocating the restriction of religious and spiritual...

Harbhajan Singh has apologised over the Colors channel dance reality show, and vowed “never to do anything that could hurt religious sentiments of any community”. "I apologise if my actions have hurt anybody. It was not my intention to hurt sentiments of anyone which includes members of my own community," the off-spinner told reporters in Chandigarh. "It will be my sincere endeavour not to repeat such things in future," said Singh, currently playing in the first Test match against Australia at Mohali. Well, taking on hardliners from two communities is not exactly like spinning...

The Maharashtra Youth Congress knows how to tackle Raj Thackeray — it is going on an anti-indecency overdrive. After filing a complaint against Harbhajan Singh for hurting sentiments of its members for playing Ravana in a dance reality show, the youth brigade of the Congress has filed an FIR against three participants of the preposterous reality show Big Boss. The show “bred vulgarity, indecency and indecent representation of women," they told the Andheri police, according to the Indian Express. [Link] The sordid details: ...

More people are seething over Harbhajan Singh's Ravana dance on Colors channel. All for different reasons. The Sikh clergy in Amritsar are fuming since both Harbhajan and Mona are Sikhs, says IANS: [Link] Gurbachan Singh, the acting head of the Akal Takht, has taken strong exception to the depiction of Hindu gods by the two celebrities, who incidentally, are both Sikhs. “Though I have not received a complaint in this regard, I think it is unreasonable to mock at religious deities like this. Ravana is known as evil. How can Ravana and Sita dance together? That the dance was done by...

The youth wing of the Congress in Maharashtra has registered a case against entertainment channel Colors and production house Endemol for "hurting religious sentiments" in their dance show 'Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena'. [Link] In an episode of the reality dance show, cricketer Harbhajan Singh dressed up as Lord Ravana and danced with TV actress Mona Singh, who was dressed as Sita. The Mumbai Youth Congress have claimed that this dance has hurt the religious sentiments of the viewers, Deputy Commissioner of Police, K M M Prasanna said. Quite a touchy lot, that. ...

The NDTV office in Ahmedabad has been ransacked by Hindu rightwingers for running a poll on whether MF Husain should be awarded the Bahart Ratna. Activists of the virtually unknown Hindu Samrajya Sena group on January 19 barged into NDTV's office, broke furniture, destroyed studio equipment and even smashed the air-conditioners and other electrical fittings. The channel's website reported: [Link] One of the staff member, who was in the office at the time, was attacked and beaten up with hockey sticks. The attackers plastered NDTV's office with poster and banners describing the...

Very soon we might see stuff on TV that's fit only for babies. At least, that's what might happen if the information and broadcasting minister heeds the advice of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). [Link] Sandhya Bajaj, an NCPCR member, wrote to the I&B minister in July, "To protect children from programming with excessive violence and obscenity, I would like to request you to prohibit depicting violence as glamourous or using it to shock or stimulate the audience." The commission has said the proposed content code for TV channels should ensure that...

The Supreme Court has exempted former Star India CEO Rathikant Basu from personal appearance before a trial court looking into criminal proceedings initiated against him for allegedly showing obscene movies on its channel more than a decade ago. A bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, however, has refused to stay the proceedings. The criminal complaint was filed under Sections 239 and 294 of the Indian Penal code and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 for aiding and abetting exhibition of obscene and vulgar films in December 1996. [Link] ...