chennai Television

Harbhajan and Gill have five things in common. 1. Both are Sikhs.
2. Both are related to sports 3. Both got insults on the same 28th of April. 4. Both are victims of Punjab. The former lost 2.6 crores because of a complaint lodged by ‘AN Australian and film actress’ owned Punjab kings XI and the latter because of a stubborn stand by a Punjabi MS Gill. 5. Both are responsible for their present fate.

What a slap? worth 2.6 crores. Probably his name will come in Guinness book of records for scoring the most expensive slap in the world. May be Oxford dictionary 2009 edition will have a new definition for slap as ‘ what Harbajan gave sreesant for 2.6 crores’. Some newspapers and channels are still not satisfied. They want him banned for ever. Ridiculous. The Europeans know how to preserve their sportsmen. Inspite of a worldwide display of on play aggression by Zidane he is revered in France and all over. Their sports body dealt with the situation such. Here we punish him because of a fear of ridicule from abroad.

Now how does Harbhajan offset his loss? He should negotiate with Sony max. If the slap is worth 2.6 crores what must be the worth of the video which has it? Being the principle actor of this very expensive short film, he deserves a handsome amount which should be at least 2.6 crores. He can also apply for a copyright for the video and also for the word’slap’. If he wins anyone who slaps in the world wherever may have to pay him some pittance and the cumulative amount by this may become his profit. Now sonymax can sell this video to channels like Timesnow, ABC, BBC, RBC, WBC etc and selling multiple copies should fetch them atleast 10 crores. They can sell rights area wise. Timesnow can get back the money or even get a profit by displaying advertisements as ‘ This slap is sponsored by….’ They also can proudly claim that they were the first to slap the nation. They can put Breaking news caption for atleast two days with this video. Similarly this video should sell like hot cake in Australia. Dvd’s can be sold with title ‘The Century slap’ or ‘The return of the monkey’ or ‘The wise caption’s knock’

Now what does poor Harbhajan do this summer, jobless? May be a guilty sreesant will sponsor a soothing massage for him in the land of gods- Kerala. Or the guilty actress may present him with dvd’d of her films which he can see in recluse. Or may be a guilty prince [sorry not rahul] will present him with some slapstick film dvd’s. Now fame and money may follow him without playing.

I think Australia should give a honorary citizenship for shreesant for being instrumental in giving such a moral boost to Australian press. They also in typical Indian style name a street in name of Tom Moody and the Australian CEO of Kings XI for helping in the ban. They should declare Tax free for any film starring zinda and also allow her to shoot in any place in Australia free of cost.

Truly what a slap

Is Dhoni playing some mind game or is he becoming too big for his shoes or is he being just plain. Probably he did not like the idea of he being subjected to fitness test etc, or probably he is making his place certain for the test side because dropping him may stir the senior vs. junior issue once again. Or is his speech a prelude to his entry to active Indian politics?

What ever is the reason it is very undiplomatic and overtly aggressive. If he had bull dozed himself to get a team he wanted he can do it yet again and so there was no need to reveal his hidden agenda. Inspite of this, if he had chosen to reveal his bias it should be only because, there must be resistance to his moves now or simply he being drunk by success.

In fact he did not play well in the tests in Australia and suddenly discovered form while captioning the ODI’s. So did he underplay himself while in Kumble’s side? I wonder what atmosphere will prevail in the dressing room of Indian side when the South Africans are here.

Many veterans have critised him for his comments and more have sritized the timing. But BCCI has supported him and as Boria rightly pointed out hope they support him even when he is in rough patch.

Dhoni in October 2007 after India’s narrow win in Chandigarh ODI said this: “I think none said they are no longer needed. Frankly, you can’t replace the seniors, given the amount of talent they have. They have proved themselves in this match as well,”

Dhoni further said “Of course we need to groom the youngsters side by side. Because if one day the senior players decide to leave the arena, you would be at sea. So you have to keep the juniors ready,”.

And now he says:
“I was pretty clear about the players I wanted in the side. That`s what I said to the selectors as well. You can see the kind of team I got,”
“It`s very important because the process and the timing (of the selection) were criticised a lot. But sometimes it is very important to send the message across, because sometimes people neglect the answer,”

“What now? Why are people not asking the same questions now? Because if the result was not in our favour, what would have happened? Would the people have been really behind this side or behind individuals?”

“You (the critics) questioned this side but now that it`s performed you need to back it,”

“We all knew, and you all knew, what would have happened if this side didn`t do well in Australia. Now that it has done well, why don`t you appreciate the performance?”

Some years later Dhoni will be a senior and he should remember it.

Ilayathalapathy Vijay and Nayanthara have been signed up to be the brand ambassadors for the Indian Premier League’s Chennai team, Chennai Super Kings, run by India Cements Limited. The team has the logo of a roaring lion and their tagline goes: Fearless entertainers who will play to win.

Vijay and Nayanthara two of the most popular actors in Kollywood, will add glamour to IPL’s Twenty: 20 matches. Both of them will endorse Chennai Super Kings, appear on hoardings and in television ads, and will turn up at the matches (played in Chennai, Mohali, Kolkata and Mumbai) to cheer for Dhoni and his team.

Both the stars are riding a wave and are extremely popular in south India. India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, TNCA President and BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan, the franchisee owner of Chennai Super Kings has pulled off a coup by getting two of the hottest stars in south to endorse for them.

The market buzz is that Vijay and Nayanthara who have never endorsed before (though Vijay has featured in a Coke commercial before he became a superstar) have been paid a bomb to endorse for Chennai Super Kings. -Sify.

Television news channels in India are obsessed with celebrity culture which centres on Bollywood while the three Cs - cinema, crime and cricket encapsulate most of their content, according to new book.

News content on Indian television channels has become hostage to the global spectre of infotainment as reflected in the “Bollywoodization” of the news culture, says Daya K Thussu, professor at the University of Westminster.

In his book titled “News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment”, Thussu looks at the rise of infotainment - the merging of information and entertainment - across the globe.

“The three Cs - cinema, crime and cricket - encapsulate most of the content on Indian television news programmes. The three Cs are indicative of a television news culture that is increasingly becoming hostage to infotainment,” he writes.

Thussu adds that the growing tabloidization of television news reflected the influence of the Rupert Murdoch effect on news and current affairs television in India.

It can be argued, he writes, that the ideological imperatives of infotainment were debasing the quality of public deliberations in the world’s largest democracy.

In a separate chapter titled “Indian infotainment: the Bollywoodization of TV news,” Thussu traces the history of the growth of television in India, and notes that Indian television news now demonstrated a global trend towards infotainment.
- source: Financial Express.

The same is more than true for Chennai Television. What attracts TRP is Cinema, Crime and Cricket, so why blame the Channels. Makkal TV tries to be different but many don’t even know it exists.