Doordarshan wassup!

Does the title sound hep? The obvious answer is 'no'. However, MTV Wassup sounds cool and hep and in and what not. Ever wondered why DD does not click? Why are our very own DD1 and DD2 more like a thing of past though they very much exist. Surprising that not even one section of audience vouches for DD. No faithful followers, no 'brand loyalty'??...

A plethora of thoughts flood my mind when I try of think of probable reasons that led to pushing DD into mere oblivion. 

I can't buy it that they have lack of funds to make good and watchable programmes. After all, creativity needs brains, not money. Or so I thought for long until this myth of mine was busted. More on that later. But then why don't they have shows like Roadies, Fear Factor etc. Can't they even copy? Maybe they don't want to. I would have said good, if their alternatives were any better. Come to think of it, DD telecasts a lot of things that other channels feed you with. You name it and they have it - news, saas bahu serials, music channels, sports.. They are yet to catch up with Reality shows though.. But people prefer to listen to the same song on a Channel V or a 9XM over DD. Lets dive deeper and see if we can put one and one together to make two.

DD News: This still is the same as before minus the most adoring music that used to play earlier before the news started. The sets have changed to some extent. Maybe now they are same as the NDTV/CNN IBN etc. sets were in 2000. The news readers still suck with women adorning their big bindis and men 'sporting' their bushy moustache and stern faces. Now, the most important - content?! I will not think twice before admitting that their content is much better than any other 'new-age' news channel. Inspite of this, they read news to the walls. I wonder if DD does not want to thrive on people's insanity and curiosity even if it means losing viewership. What is happening in which star's life, which heroine ditched which hero, who has a hot bahu, who is sporting a tattoo, who slapped whom, which cricketer is crying and blah blah is what is 'sansani and breaking news' these days. It can't be the other way round  - i.e. People not having a choice but to watch only all this crap? 'cause they do have a choice in the form of DD !! So clealy, what matters to people today is not just content, but also form.. Isn't that why Priyanka Gandhi is a much sought-after politician - if she can be called one.

I can't and don't want to speak about Saas Bahu serials 'cause I have no clue of what is the difference between what is shown on DD and the other channels. Maybe DD doesn't buy Asian Paints to paint the faces of their saas and bahu. Whatever...

Coming to Sports. The first sick thing about DD is the 'experts' who come. Looks like DD wants to copy only disgusting ideas from other channels. Just because, Set Max decided to make sports more interesting by roping in Mandira Bedi (I don't want to use an adjective for her for obvious reasons), DD thought they should do the same. The result is this dumb girl you see these days in a particular cricket tournament who has vowed not to talk about cricket but everything else under the sun, like if a cricketer's parents are looking for a match (oops, don't confuse with a cricket match. That's not her business) for him. Sucks!! Why doesn't DD learn from ESPN which has experts like Harsha Bhogle talking. Listening to them is half like watching a good game of cricket. Of course, DD might say in its defence that they have Charu Sharma.. Need I say more?? Don't even want to mention the quality of commentators. 

DD does have music channels but sorry, I don't remember the exact name of their effort here. If other music channels try to make celebrities like Amitabh, Saif, Aishwarya etc. advertise for their channels, DD tries to call Vahida Rehman, Pallavi Joshi etc. I do not mean to take away the credit the latter have earned. Neither do I mean to say that the former are greater than the latter in any way. I just want to say that DD still lives in yester years. They don't want to 'grow up' and 'move on'.  Its like their life stopped in the 80s. All their music shows are the same and most of them have Annu Kappor as the host who doesn't even appeal to aunties in the kitchen. They do not want to have the pep-factor in their shows. They do not care to make sure that the host is presentable and enviously fit and has a strong command over language used these days. Again, they lose out on the most important thing here - content. If you hear a latest song being played in DD, surely the sun must have risen from the west that day. When other channels play the songs of Race, DD must be playing the songs of Guide. Ok, I'll not be so mean, they have advanced and are capable of playing DDLJ. when other hot VJs are wearing tunics, DDs fat 'VJs' (sounds odd to call them that) are clad in funny-looking old-fashioned forgotten-type spaghettis. A giant leap by their own standards.

So, no form, no good sets, no good 'crew members', not enough young people, not the right celebrities, no foray into reality shows, not adapting to changing trends etc. are just a tiiinnyy subset of a host of reasons that pushes DD to darkness. Having said that, I want to clarify that this post should not suggest to you in any way that I want to say that whatever non-DD channels are doing is the right and the best thing to do. This post was only to understand why DD has lost its charm and its viewers. DD guys, I hope you are hearing and you'll rise in such a way that there would be a day when I'll see college kiddos bunking classes just to tune into DD.. Is that a distant dream? Is that too much to ask for?? You have to tell us.. 'cause time will not.. (I always hear this thing about time having answers to everything.. but sorry DD, time will not help you this time!! ). Wake up and Rock On!!