Even for somebody like me, so forgiving of the garbage that is passed off as programming on Indian television, it is hard to swallow the arrogance with which well-established movie channels repeatedly telecast the same movies. Again and yet again. And intersperse it with repeat telecasts of dubbed Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi hits!
Take the case of that god-awful movie Nayak starring a screechy Anil Kapoor, every-day-is-a-bad-hair-day Amrish Puri and an insufferable Rani Mukherjee. If you have seen this movie last week on Set Max, be assured that you will catch it again the week after next. Adding salt to injury, the flick is likely to be re-telecast as part of a ‘dhamaka movie festival’ or some such grandiose ‘package’. Set Max in fact has a pet set of what it considers repeat-worthy movies — Nayak is their top favourite. In heated competition is the Amitabh Bachchan remake movie Suryavansham and yes, how can we forget, the Karan Johar marathon Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.
Set Max is not the lone offender. There is Sony’s church mouse cousin Sab TV that clutches at 80s Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Amol Palekar hits in the hope of nostalgia-induced TRPs. I have seen bits and pieces of Chupke Chupke almost every alternate Sunday and when I cannot take Bachchan’s Corolla and Karela fumbling anymore, I begin surfing and, with the unerring instinct of a luckless couch potato, land in Star Gold only to witness the tragic degradation of a channel that started out so promisingly.
When it began, Star Gold assured us of the telecast of golden oldies — I remember catching even Nau Do Gyarah on it in its early days. They also had a wonderful programme hosted by Javed Akthar, where the lyricist would succinctly sum up the pluses and minuses of classics such as Mughal-e-Azam and Pyaasa. Today, it has a strange affliction. At primetime 8 pm, it telecasts such gems as Meri Taqaat (aforementioned Telugu remake) and The Krull (Hollywood dud dubbed into Hindi). How can you hope for redemption?
But it seems there is hope after all for people like me who like to watch movies on television, zillion ad breaks, warts and all. There is something warm in settling down on a damp Sunday afternoon with chai and a good movie on the idiot box. UTV Movies, Zee Studio and UTV World Movies, give yourself a pat. Though World Movies sometimes gets too obscure and alien, there are several gems to be caught there. In fact, UTV World Movies has just begun a series of masterpieces that come with a recommendation by well known film personalities. It is titled ‘50 movies to see before you die’ and let’s hope it lives up to such a name. Zee Studio has its ‘Sultans of Cinema’ in the Sunday afternoon slot and UTV movies is netting blockbusters by the dozen, the most recent being 2008’s early hit Jodhaa Akbar.
Who knows, these newbies might just make the other channels sit up and make that Sunday afternoon worthwhile.
