TV THOUGHT: The sterile mood of audiences in live and recorded shows; excellent 'Khwateen Time'

I want to begin with interviews of the Federal Railways Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed on the subject of the Samjhota Express tragedy. Which has also once again raised the issue of bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.
As always he spoke without mincing words, and insinuating that the Indians were deliberately not providing passenger lists to Pakistan. He said that this reflected the inefficiency and the management of Railways in India.
Shaikh Rashid was also critical, like most sections of public opinion in Pakistan about the point that passengers in the train were locked in their bogeys from the outside. Viewers found the hard hitting candour of the Minister very welcome, and scepticism about India's intentions on the peace and friendship theme, came alive.
4 Man show: There was a time in the country when there was absolutely no question of laughing at the expense of the Federal Information Minister. There was never a time when any Minister holding this sensitive and powerful portfolio could be ignored or downplayed. We are now in times, when evidently this is possible, or so it seems in some of the light hearted programmes that the TV channels in the country are presenting, occasionally.
Such comical programmes are thoroughly enjoyed and Geo's 'Hum Sab Umeed Sey Hain' is one of them. It has a higher degree of interest because it has a political dimension to it.
Another one, comparatively new, that comes from the Aaj TV is a parody called the 4 Man show. On Sunday evening I realised right away that the delightful parody was focusing on the Federal Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani, and those who are familiar with his personality and his appearances of TV and in the media must have found it very amusing.
That is not all. The producer Nadeem Baig and his team, then introduced, very intelligently, a person whose voice had an amazing impressive resemblance to that of the President who was talking (in an imagined context).
The conversation between the two was delightful, hilarious and demonstrative of the freedom of expression that has been generated under the umbrella of the present government. One watched this programme, and several others, in the political domain, and thoughts went out to the point that general elections are to be held by early next year? Of course the political conversations on some channels do reflect the doubt there is on this point too. The doubt that intertwines with the political rhetoric always needs to be kept in mind.
Returning to the 4 Man show last week, one wonders what the Federal Information Minister thought of it. I would like to believe that he too had a good laugh. There aren't many things to laugh about in our times, in this society.
Then the 4 Man show this week introduced a confused and harassed looking bespectacled character called Dr Zahid Masood of Gheo TV - and it was more than obvious who was being identified. I particularly liked the expression on the face of the interviewer. That often said it all. It was hilarious, as there was insistence on the money factor in the life and work of Dr ZM, who of course, made no effort to conceal his weakness and love of money or music also, evidently. Dr ZM tried his hand at singing, and had viewers in fits of laughter.
There were references to the "end of the world" forecasts (by 2050?) and that reference must have confirmed the resemblance and the man's identity? In this interview also there were references to the General, which made it all so memorable besides taking a step further the latitude the TV channels have today. Programmes like these also reflect the ferocity of the war amongst the channels. One hopes that there will be rules and cultures of courtesy will be upheld all the time.
More on this 4 Man show later.
PTV's basant hype: Being a state owned and state managed television channel it was understandable that the PTV was doing its bit towards the electronic media's efforts to create a mood and hype for Basant and the spring season that has arrived, particularly in Punjab. Hence Lahore passion for festivity in this time is understandable.
So when PTV chose to do a live telecast of Basant (projecting music and kite flying basically) from a Lahore rooftop it was obvious. But what was also obvious was that the invited audience wasn't responding to the music and the conversation, and had to be asked to clap. But because the overall programme was lacking in any meaningful mood or ambience apart from the rooftop breezy setting, and colourfully dressed young women, the psychological factor was absent.
This brings me to the point that I have often noticed that in the musical programmes, and other audience participation shows that our TV channels organise the mood is very tame, and timid. Sometimes it feels that the audience is hesitant to display their feelings and emotions - even when they hear the best of singers or sit through the most moving of performances, they maintain a very frigid profile.
This, certainly mars the efforts to produce strong programmes, and their aesthetics gets diluted, if not altogether. Keeping this recurring disadvantage that our live shows in particular have, the PTV Basant show, from Lahore on Sunday morning, at which the PTV top management was also present, was disappointing.
And the efforts of the comperes to be interesting appeared artificial and contrived, and a Karachi based male artiste who wore a three piece suit for the Basant roof top music show appeared quite stiff, and self conscious. He kept insisting about matters that his co-host, a colourfully dressed TV artiste found unnecessary. They didn't make a good team. That was certain.
What was also certain that the state managed PTV was making extra efforts to contribute to the efforts to push further the Basant mood all over the country - whereas there were many voices of some TV channels that this was basically a Lahore show. But the protagonists of Basant and kiteflying, who possibly ignored the loss of life and injury to people, often argued that other cities were also showing interest in this colourful, song and dance festival.
Saturday and Sunday last were the two days when the Punjab government had lifted the ban on kiteflying for the Basant festival and for these two days, TV channels that provide entertainment went the extra mile to possibly make that extra buck! After all there is also a lot of revenue that Basant brings - with commercials and sponsorships coming in from national and multinational companies. Is this done in the name of corporate social responsibility? One wonders.
But somewhere during this week I caught a glimpse of an expose of how the struggling, even impoverished artistes in various categories try and make ends meet in a place called 'Funkargali' in Karachi. This was in a programme that Khalid Farshori presented on Aryone World during the same weekend when the Basant celebrations were at their peak. It helped to bring out the contrast between the glamorous and successful artistes (stars) and those who are searching for ways and means to reach the top.
It is necessary to mention here that while Basant has expanded its presence on the TV channels, and the media, and there is more song and dance, and "partying" there is also a mounting pressure from society and the antagonists of kite flying and Basant celebrations, due to the innocent people who die or get injured. This is because the law enforcing agencies in Lahore and elsewhere have failed to not just eradicate, but punish those who have turned simple kite fling into a deadly pastime.
With this background the news channels during the Basant weekend were apparently keeping their eyes and ears open vis-a-vis the known hazards that kite flying brings each year. And so were the viewers wanting to in each news bulletin possible of how trouble free the day had been.
Excellent 'Khwateen Time': It is an excellent 60 minute programme called "Khawateen Time" that is telecast live at 9 pm every Sunday and it needs to be recommended to men as well. It is so informative that everybody needs to see it. And its compere Uzma Zaidi, does a wonderful job as she generates viewers interest, and enhances the contribution of the distinguished participants who have been invited.
It was my usual channel surfing that brought me into contact with this Islamic programme, which I have seen for several Sundays now. It is a live programme, and viewers make phone calls with their questions. Many TV channels have such question answer formats, reflecting the growing interest of viewers who are seeking to know and understand better the Islamic position on a variety of issues.
It continues to be a matter of interest that the practice of phone in to TV channels, or even Radio channels has risen over the years, and people evidently quite unmindful of the cost that they have to incur. And these phone calls are spread over a variety of subjects - sports, show business, social and economic issues, current affairs, foreign policy and the tone of these questions can be angry, intimidating. It also shows the doubts that men and women have on various issues, and the extent to which they are willing to share and bare their personal lives, and family conflicts. It provides an insight into Pakistani society.
Even this programme, 'Khawateen Time', which for example had the expert Maimoona Murtaza Malik answering questions, there were many questions on themes affecting husband-wife relations. A very pertinent issue that was explained was about the need for a husband to pay "Mehar" to his wife without her having to ask for it, and that the amount should be decided in keeping with the financial and social status of the husband.
Maimoona Murtaza Malik said categorically that it was improper to fix Rs 32.50 as the "Mehar" and she explained in detail the reasons why she was saying this. There was another very interesting issue wherein she explained that for a man, in his capacity as a son the mother had a higher status, that his wife, in his capacity as a husband.
In this Khawateen Time, which it seems is also telecast after midnight to meet the requirements of viewers overseas (presumably in Europe) there have been many noted participants like Professor Sadia Ansari and Muniba Shaikh, who have also been very popular with the viewers. But the most popular appears to be the exceptionally pleasant and eloquent Uzma Zaidi, who keeps receiving compliments from women about the personality, and her appearance, generally speaking.
I would like to confess here that I have learnt a great deal from many of the information based programmes and even opinionated ones, on various channels like QTV, Aaj TV, Geo, and Aryone world to mention a few. I would like to believe that these programmes have created and even enhanced viewers interest in reading and buying books. Or am I imagining too much? And with optimism.
Dhoom TV and Karachi: Karachi is a very strong theme on the TV channels. Infact it is a recurring and significant one in the country's media, be in printed or electronic. With an increase in the number of TV channels the focus on the Sindh capital is growing. One such instance appears to be the Dhoom TV channel that I have been watching of late ,at different times. Its news content is strong and has a sense of immediacy. There is an absorbing emphasis on the details in their news stories.
I realised this in the Samjhota Express stories that Dhoom TV went out of the way to present to viewers, underlining the human side to the horror and the suffering of the experience. Many TV channels were underlining the pain and the pathos of the Samjhota express passengers, which was one of the principal themes to emerge out of the blast that hit the train.
The news reports that this channel presents have another area of emphasis that is striking. This is the news about hydrebad and I wonder whether any other channel has news coverage of the second largest city of Sindh to such an extent. I find the coverage rather engaging. It is a channel like this one that makes it difficult for a Karachiite to watch any other channel - even though the competition is very tough between the channels.