Media Monday: India News Digest

Its Monday and time for our Media Monday News digest. It brings you the buzzing stories revolving around Indian Media.

Here is what are covering in today’s Media Monday News Digest:

• Like it or not- TV Channels have got us!
• Reliance Group and DreamWorks deal- Is there anything positive for Bollywood?
• Interesting Links to Indian Media Buzz

You like it or not- TV Channels have got us!

What we are observing lately is extremism of reality TV concept in India.

And you believe it or not we are slowly moving towards a point where everything will become meaningless and will still, sell!

When I used to watch original versions of shows such as “Survivor” or “Moment of Truth” few years back, I never thought they would be a possibility in India. But the shows which we see today are much more extreme (rather stupid) than their adapted counterparts.

Adaptation of reality music, dance and comedy shows always made sense and was fun too (until there were hundreds of them to recognize). But this ugly fight of getting good viewer ship ratings (to get ads at better rate) has landed us to a point where producers see nothing but new ways to make more of such shows.

I hate the concepts of “Rakhi Ka Swayamvar” and “Sach ka Saamna” and so do most of my friends. But important point is- they still watch these shows!

And sometimes even I can’t get my eyes off those stupid conversations in between the show. We very well know that what these shows portray over idiot box is very different from real life and may even hurt us emotionally but we still watch them (of hatred and not liking).

What I’m pointing to here is the trend. It started off slowly with shows like Roadies (good that I&B finally warned them for violating code of conduct) and has now got us with more ridiculous shows like “Rakhi..”, “Sach ka saamna” and “Is Jungle se Mujhe bachao”.

One interesting point here is “Is Jungle se mujhe bachao” hasn’t got that many eyeballs (TRP rating much lesser than other two) as it was supposed to.

The show is a khichdi of “Survivor”, “Khatron ke Khiladi” and “Big Boss” but without the quality of even one of them. Off course the show doesn’t raise as many negative emotions as other two and hence is not selling.

We are slowly getting more and more comfortable with shows having a negative connotation and hidden slang. Westernizing as they say, but is this good for us? We like it or not, TV Channels have got us.

I know that no one can stop them (I&B is too small in front of TRPs). In the end it’s up to us, should we support these shows by watching them or not? What do you think?

Reliance Group and Dreamworks deal- Is there anything positive for Bollywood?

Reliance group’s recent deal with Dreamworks for getting production and distribution rights of 6-7 Spielberg’s movies made headlines across newspapers.

Most of us were overjoyed with the news, as any Indian connection to Hollywood is seen as an achievement of sorts (Remember Slumdog Millionaire?). But as analysts dig deeper they found nothing valuable for Bollywood as was presumed. This is actually seen as more of a self ambitious deal for Mr. Ambani rather than for Bollywood or Indian film industry.

The deal is worth 4000 Crores (3 years) and keeping in mind that Hollywood movies generate just 3% of total Indian film Industry’s revenues (which is whopping 12000 Crores), this deal looks insignificant for Bollywood.

But still there are many positive sides of the deal. First and foremost is the exposure. BIG entertainment makes good number of Bollywood Moves and those movies can get a better exposure in Hollywood. They can also be shot at cheaper rates in Hollywood.

But clearly the winner is Mr. Ambani as getting attached to a name like Spielberg says a lot in itself. Specially, if one wants to get into Hollywood Movie production and distribution.

Whatever the case is, India is slowly becoming truly Global!

Some Interesting Media Buzz…

• Hungama & BSNL have jointly announce unlimited Bollywood Music Songs Download for Rs. 149/- 
  I had voiced my reservations about paid for music downloads more than a year back. Even if it is 149/- I dont think many of them would be interested!

Media Monday: India News Digest has been submitted by Rabi Gupta, a start up enthusiast and soon to launch his first product iDubba (Intelligent Box).

If you are interested in writing for us, please do mail at admin AT trak.in.