MxMIndia

Tag: Sachin Tendulkar

  • As the master blaster reaches his 100th international ton, MxMIndia presents 25 Amul ads that tell the Tendlya story.

    Utterly Butterly Tondulkarlicious: 25 Amul ads that tell the Tendlya story

    By A Correspondent

    While the news media reflects on current affairs and trends, one wouldn’t be incorrect in saying that the Amul Butter billboards are an excellent mirror of what’s top-of-mind in urban India. So even as headlines and captions in print do their jobs well, there’s nothing like the Amul ad, crafted by Rahul da Cunha and his team at da Cunha Communications for the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.

     

    From the time he started out in the late ’80s, Sachin Tendulkar has been at it… breaking virtually every record at the book and regaling us with his splendid performance and commitment on the field. And off it.

     

    Last week, MxMIndia brought you the Amul ads with Rahul Dravid… here are a silver bunch of Amul ads telling you the Tendlya story. For his feats on field, and some off the field too. Enjoy!

     

    Sau much pressure?

    India’s obsession with Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th hundred  (January 2012)

     

    Tab bhi phekta tha, ab bhi phekta hai

    Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s ouburst against Sachin Tendulkar in his autobiography (September 2011)

     

    Sachincredible appetite!

    Sachin Tendulkar, the first batsman to score 50 test centuries (December 2010)

     

    DOUBLE -E- BAAZ!

    Sachin Tendulkar scores a double century against South Africa in the second one-dayer (February 2010)

     

    Dost,toast na raha!

    Controversy surrounding the friendship of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli (July 2009)

     

    Gilly, don’t be silly!

    Controversy surrounding Adam Gilchrist accusing Sachin Tendulkar of not having a sporting attitude & being a liar, in his about to be released autobiography (October 2008)

     

    90% runs 100% fun

    Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar missing century in cricket one-dayers.(November 2007)

     

    Maska Blaster!

    Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar – the Master Blaster to appear as superhero in a new range of comic books, animation and games (March 2007)

     

    Twindulkar

    Celebrating the smashing Sachin-Sehwag partnership

     

    Sunny days for Sachin!

    On master blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s 35th Test Hundred making him the highest century maker in the history of Test Cricket (December 2005)

     

    Returndulkar

    Sachin Tendulkar marks his return to international cricket with a sparkling knock (October 2005)

     

    Elbowed out?

    On Indian star batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s tennis elbow aliment which has kept him out of cricket (October 2004)

     

    What’s his duty?

    On the waiver of import duty on the Ferrari gifted to Sachin Tendulkar (September 2002)

     

    Sau chin Tendulkar

    On Sachin Tendulkar playing his 100th Test Match (September 2002)

     

    Stunnedulkar!

    Sachin Tendulkar accused of ball tampering (November 2001)

     

    Madenness!

    Mike Denness finds Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball tampering (November 2001)

     

    Unfeet?

    On Sachin Tendulkar’s foot injury (July 2001)

     

    Standulkar

    On a stand in a cricket stadium being named after Tendulkar and signing a billion rupee contract – May 2001

     

    Sach kya hai?

    Questions being raised on the resignation of Sachin Tendulkar from the captaincy of the Indian Cricket Team.” (Feb 2000)

     

    Get off my back!

    Media speculations on Sachin Tendulkar’s back trouble affecting his future career (September 1999)

     

    Ten Du Ten Don’t

    On the lone success of Sachin Tendulkar, while his team-mates keep failing

     

    India’s Backbone

    Sachin Tendulkar’s back injury

     

    Dono Bradman?

    About the similarities between Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar

     

    Tendul Car!

    On Sachin Tendulkar winning a car for the cricket finals between India & Australia

     

    Neeche cricket ke kaptan — Upar Sachin

    Ajit Wadekar wants Wonderkid Sachin Tendulkar to be given a flat in Sportsfield – a highrise specially built by the Government for sportsmen – as a gesture of appreciation

     

  • On the sidelines of FICCI Frames 2012,Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, Group M spoke to MxMIndiaabout how the digital can be a game changer for marketers and how to make content engaging for people.

    @FF12: Integrated media best way fwd: Vikram Sakhuja

    Video and Text by Shruti Pushkarna

     

    On the fundamental powers of digital:

    In digital there are few things that are exciting. One is that digital has the potential to burst from a sampling kind of mindset into a census kind of a mindset. By that I mean that a lot of measurement we do in marketing today is very sample based and digital, whether it is through set-top boxes, or through online behaviour, it is possible now to get the data at a granular level. So that leads to targeting a million, one at a time kind of thing, which is exciting. The other inherent power of digital is interactivity. The third area is the ability to link multiple devices. Last is the real time query, whether it’s query or the consumption of content. Linked to that is the entire thing about being mobile. So these four or five inherent powers of digital are game changers for marketers.

     

    How to engage in an increasingly digital world?

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIj_VeYzlPo[/youtube]

    The engagement part comes from the kind of content you put up and the entire viral or social nature which comes up. The framework we talk about is paid, owned and earned media. An example of paid media is when Mindshare got Dhanush to sing an anthem for Sachin Tendulkar, post Kolaveri Di. Within four days we got ten million views, and the anthem, in turn, got a viral life of its own. So I think the way in which you can use content is how it becomes engaging.

     

    What is the way forward?

    I think integrated media is the best way forward. Today when people think of multimedia planning, they do a separate TV plan, print plan, radio plan, internet plan and so on. I believe that if you actually look at media agnostically and at common metrics of each cost per thousand impressions, these are the ways in which you can construct a media agnostic plan. What it does is, it suddenly gets more money into digital, and when more money can come into digital, that’s when focus is going to come in.

     

  • Each time Sachin reaches a milestone, the media (both, print and electronic) regurgitates the same old childhood pictures and the same old tired clichés about the man. Surely there’s an innovative way to celebrate the hero’s achievements. Surely there are untold incidents from the man’s life that can be dug out if one cares to do the hard work.

    Anil Thakraney: Sachin coverage sucks

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    As expected, the entire Indian media went orgasmic as soon as ‘God’ hit that very elusive 100th hundred. Quite understandable. This man is a national hero and he needs to be celebrated.

     

    However, there were two aspects of the mad coverage I found quite annoying. One, each time Sachin reaches a milestone, the media (both, print and electronic) regurgitates the same old childhood pictures and the same old tired cliches about the man. And the same old ex-cricketers sing the same old praises. even in a euphoric state of mind, it becomes difficult to handle all this recycled stuff. Surely there’s an innovative way to celebrate the hero’s achievements. Surely there are untold incidents from the man’s life that can be dug out if one cares to do the hard work. Something to ponder on for editors and programming heads. Because, unwilling to retire, Tendlya will reach even bigger landmarks, and we need some freshness going.

     

    Having said that, I must point out that cricket expert Ayaz Memon was the only one who told us something refreshing about the cricketer. This was in his column for the Hindustan Times. Memon mentioned how, as a young lad, he (Sachin) would jump over the wall of a cricket ground rather than use the main entry door. The master’s reason? Why wait for something you enjoy so much in life. Superb. It gave you a powerful insight into the passion the player feels for the game, the reason he’s reluctant to retire even after two decades. We need more such gems in the media.

     

    Secondly, I was rather upset by the behaviour of the young TV reporters who were ‘granted’ quick interviews by the great man, soon after the mega ton. They were grovelling at his feet, like crazed fans. Guys and girls, that’s NOT the way the media is expected to conduct itself. Sure, the man enjoys a godly status, but a couple of tricky questions badly needed to be put to him. Like, did his search for the Big 100 bring the scoring rate down, which ultimately cost the team the match with Bangladesh? Does he agree with that?  Like, he claims personal landmarks are never on his mind. So then how come he closes his shop while batting in the nineties? Not one reporter would ask him these things. They were busy fawning. Repeat: That’s not the job of the media.

     

    Net net: Sachin Tendulkar is our biggest contemporary hero. No doubt about that. Now let’s pay him tributes that befit his own stature.

     

    ***

     

    PS: You should never, never piss her off. It’s worse than hell when she’s scorned. Here’s an American lady who passed on a sweet message to her philandering hubby through a hoarding. Wish Indian ladies did ditto. Tired of watching all those ugly thopdas of our politicians. 🙂

     

  • Sachin Tendulkar is one of today's top celebrity endorsers. But Brand Sachin's biggest strength is his ability to change with the times, MxMIndia finds out.

    Brand Sachin still on strong wicket

    Sachin Tendulkar launches G-Hanz Mobile

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    India collectively heaved a sigh of relief when Sachin Tendulkar finally reached his 100th 100. The long-chased milestone had become practically a national issue, and had also brought flak on the master blaster, especially speculation about his retirement. Sachin in his illustrious career has not only reached many cricketing milestones but along with that has also become the face of many popular brands in India. He has been seen in the ads of Pepsi, Visa, Aviva Life Insurance, Boost, Adidas, MRF, Britannia, Toshiba and Castrol India among others. In fact, Future Group has co-created the Sach brand along with Tendulkar which has products including toothpaste and bathing bars. The Sach brand proves the icon’s sheer clout, that a brand can be created with a varied range of products, and is considered a viable commercial option.

     

    Talking about brand Sachin, Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia said, “Brand Sachin is not just about cricket but it’s the persona that comes with the brand which is appealing. Sachin is a non-controversial, family man with high value systems. He is the son, father, husband, friend that one would want to have and his recognition is beyond the nation. He is a total package if one may say in terms of advertising jargon. He is a successful cricketer but along with that he is an endearing personality and therein lies his brand appeal.”

     

    Mr Pandey pointed out that Sachin has been able to last so long in his career and done so well only because he has been able to reinvent himself and adapted to changing times. The truth, after all, is that he is no more an 18-year-old and his reflexes will change with age but he has managed fantastically to adapt himself to this change. “Sachin is special and I can’t really think of any other person from cricket who has created such an impression. Rahul Dravid probably could come a close second. But Sachin is Sachin and beyond comparison. The only other name that comes to my mind who has successfully adapted himself with time is Amitabh Bachchan.”

     

    Looks like the naysayers can keep on debating on Sachin but the masses will continue to hold him in high regard despite the man himself saying: “I am not God, I am Sachin.” Prahlad Kakkar, ad filmmaker and CEO, Genesis Films who has worked with Sachin on many ad films said, “Sachin’s track record is impeccable and his dedication to cricket and the team is firm. His brand value lies in his courage, honesty and sincerity with which he plays. In fact, he is the real gentleman in this gentleman’s game.”

     

    He added, “Sachin is humble to the point of being irritating. There was a time when we had shot an ad with him knocking a ball with a fly swatter. When Sachin saw the final cut he was not happy with the use of the fly swatter and requested us to re-do the shot. We didn’t find anything wrong with the shot but Sachin had a point of view and we respected and understood his view and re-did the sequence. He has no ego and he is clear that the game always remains bigger than him.”

     

    Kakkar said that the Pepsi films, especially the one with the Sachin mask, “Sachin Ala Re”, remains his pick of the best Sachin film.

     

    Hemant Kenkre, former first class cricketer and communications specialist who has had seen Sachin play from close quarters, says that two qualities that stand out in Sachin’s personality is his ability to reinvent and his commitment to the game. Kenkre said, “Sachin delivers and that’s the bottom line. The cynics will be cynics and there will be talks of his retirement but I really can’t think of anyone from the younger lot who can replace him.”

     

    He added, “While people have been talking of the 100th ton, one should remember the 99 100s that he has scored before. I think his not getting the 100 was a minor bump towards this milestone. He is a man who is obsessed with the game and one can easily bank on him. His retirement is a personal issue and it will come the day he stops enjoying the game. In fact, his current brand value can be understood from the fact that his 100th 100 got 5-page coverage in TOI whereas the retirement of Dravid must have got him a one-page dedication!”

     

    So there could be speculation on Sachin getting old for the game, but people in the business vouch for his brand value which still remains consistent. Mustafa Ghouse, Head of Sport, Globosport categorically states that Sachin is still the most sought after cricketer in the country when it comes to endorsements. However, he has a point when he says that the brands that he will attract now will differ and will be for products that appeal to older age group like insurance. For youth brands he might not be appropriate.

     

    Manish Porwal, Managing Director at Alchemist Talent Solutions has a different view on the cricketer’s brand value. He said, “I think this is the first time but in the last two months brand Sachin has taken a beating. There has been criticism all across and this has taken a personal note than remaining professional. So there would have been some loss in terms of potential and revenues that would have come in from endorsements.”

     

    He added, “This however will be temporary. Indians have a skewed sense of loyalty and one success will again put him back on the pedestal. His equity so to say has fallen on account of his performance but this 100th 100 will give him the jolt and become a personal milestone because of so much speculation around it. However, in terms of his long-term brand persona and brand associations one should look at characters for brands that will express long-term maturity and consistency rather than stamina or performance.”

     

    Brand Sachin still remains strong and will remain strong in this cricket-crazy country. However, there is a feeling that the brand may have taken a temporary dip because of all the speculation and pressure on attaining the long-elusive 100th 100. However, the consistent view is confidence in Sachin’s ability to reinvent, hence his moving away from brands appealing to the youth, towards advertisers who look for traits like commitment and consistency. Qualities where Sachin fits the bill perfectly.

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

     

  • Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22

    Mindshare’s YouTube record with ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, India’s leading media services agency has recently created a unique milestone for itself on the back of a powerful digital media strategy. A record breaking 1 million hits were clocked for the ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’ in just under 2 days, making it the fastest video on Youtube to have reached a million views.

     

    Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22.

     

    The challenge for Mindshare was to create buzz around the brand and noteworthy 23 year long association with Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador. Therefore, there could not have been a better proposition than creating a dedicated anthem in the honour of the little master.

     

    The task was twofold – first, bringing the idea to life. This involved creating a powerful piece of content with carefully thought out celebrity recommendation, to scripting and final production, all of it mandated to the in-house content experts within Mindshare ESP.

     

    Two, tactfully seeding the content, where “people” would make it viral. To accelerate this, the Search and Social Media Experts at Mindshare went onto ingeniously seeding the content through contextual search and social media platforms of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

     

    Alok Sinha

    “The purpose of strategy at Mindshare is very simply to try and turn our brands into currencies of popular culture. Cultural currencies that fuel consumer conversations are far more valuable in today’s wired world than passive opportunities to see. The Sachin anthem is a great example of this belief. The team spotted an existing cultural meme in Dhanush and then went on to leverage it via executional excellence across content production, brand integration and social seeding. The Boost case also highlights the necessity of jugalbandis between strategy and the content & digital technology teams to create meaningful brand led cultural currencies,” said Alok Sinha, Leader Strategy – South Asia at Mindshare.

     

    Leading the mantle, the Mindshare strategy team required not just meticulous, but dynamic planning on a real time basis. By putting the brand’s content in the hands of the consumers it was a calculated risk and a bold strategic stance by the team. But today, Mindshare stands tall as GSK’s proud partners, while history is being written.

     

    Jayant K Singh

    “As a part of our marketing efforts on Boost, this time around, we wanted to celebrate Sachin’s long standing ‘Stamina’ association with the brand. A Sachin anthem, that people would resonate and rise with, was our instinctive choice. While we were certain that Dhanush’s popularity would help accelerate talk ability around Boost, our partner agency Mindshare’s contribution, through a well thought out strategy and execution in making it a “first” on many accounts for GSK, has successfully brought our intent to life,” said Jayant K Singh, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Health Care.

     

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.

     

  • During a cricket match if the player is found performing really badly, or is woefully out of form, the advertiser can switch to the commercial that doesn’t feature him.

    Anil Thakraney: Dual ad play during cricket matches?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I have always wondered what goes through the minds of viewers when they are subjected to commercials that feature cricketers during a live match coverage, when those boys are doing miserably on the field. For instance, ads featuring Sachin Tendulkar are constantly on air, even as there’s hectic talk of his immediate retirement from one day cricket.

     

    I don’t have research material to prove this, and maybe the time has come for a study on this subject, but I strongly suspect television viewers get mighty irritated, even repulsed, more so in the Indian context, where the average cricket fan is likely to be deliriously passionate about the game. As he gets busy swearing at the player, one can imagine the vocabulary when the commercial featuring the same player projecting him as a hero comes on the air. Clearly, this isn’t healthy for the brand in question, as the player negativity is sure to rub off on the former. And even if that sounds a bit extreme, annoyed viewers are highly likely to zap or mute such adverts. Which means not just money down the tube for the advertiser, there’s also danger of damage to brand imagery.

     

    And this is a risk advertisers knowing take when they hire sportspersons. As against movie stars, where the only risk is if the actor gets involved in an adverse publicity situation, like Saif Ali Khan did very recently. But that’s a rare occurrence, with cricketers it’s a constant gamble.

     

    Which then makes me think: Should marketers have a dual ad campaign on the ready during cricket tournaments? One campaign featuring the cricketer and the other based on a different creative route. So that during a cricket match if the player is found performing really badly, or is woefully out of form, the advertiser can switch to the commercial that doesn’t feature him.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xa7cYMD-Dc[/youtube]

    I wonder if broadcasters can technically make this happen without too many logistical issues. I actually think it shouldn’t be a problem.

     

    The only question which then remains is this: Does this justify additional spend on creative work? I think it does. Better to spend a bit more on cost of production than have the brand being sweared at during each commercial break.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: Fallon has re-created Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ for Cosmopolitan, a Las Vegas luxury resort and casino. Mostly in spoken words. Simple idea and very cool!

     

     

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers

    Media gets it wrong on Republic Day

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Republic Day is not about freedom from colonial rule, it’s about the Constitution and the way we rule ourselves. How did the media respond? After 63 years, maybe they feel that there’s little left to say, even though we have, in 2011, suffered a number of crises that examine or question our schedule of rights, responsibilities, freedoms and systems.

     

    Even the advertisers got it wrong. Bank of America, for instance, talked about some medieval version of the Panchatantra that they had helped restore. Wonderful news though that is, it has nothing whatsoever to do with India becoming a Republic. The Google doodle was some very cute cavorting elephants – but cute does not quite cover what Republic Day means.

     

    Anna Hazare used the opportunity to declare that “gram sabhas” are more important than the Lok Sabha. Luckily Mumbai is newspaper-free on January 27 or Hazare’s urban supporters would have been really confused. He was not, you see, talking about a sprouted moong salad or any other health food. What he means is that village assemblies are more important and should be more powerful than the elected representatives chosen by systems laid down in our very carefully constructed Constitution. As The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition put it, “Struggling to stay relevant amid signs of growing public indifference, Anna Hazare…” The Deccan Chronicle’s Hyderabad edition, it must be pointed out, did not bother to front-page Hazare archaic notions.

     

    But what the DC does have is an interesting story about how Nitin Gadkari, BJP party president, has changed his tune a bit about Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for prime minister. Now he says Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley are in the race too. Perhaps the BJP, which is so enamoured of the US presidential system, now wants to internally implement the US political party system for choosing presidential candidates. It will be great fun if they do it – Modi, Swaraj and Jaitley locked in public fights with each other for the privilege of running for prime minister. Can you imagine the amount of fodder for our TV anchors?

     

    * * *

     

    Talking of TV (as I ran through the channels on Republic Day), the terrible story of a battered baby at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences dominated the headlines, together with the Indian cricket teams continuing travails in Australia. Virat Kohli’s century in Adelaide got some accolades but it was mainly doom and gloom. The battered baby got front page lead in the Delhi edition of the Hindustan Times, so can I forecast a more “people-friendly” 2012 in the media?

     

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    For the first time in several years, the Republic Day awards did not cause media hysteria. If Sachin Tendulkar had got his 100th 100th, the fact that he did not get a Bharat Ratna may have been a matter of huge melodrama. As it happens, no one got a Bharat Ratna.

     

    My only observation here is possibly a very visible parochialism where newspapers were happiest about awards given to local people. Now not only do you have to be jingoistic about India as a media person, you also have to fall prey to all the foibles of regional identity politics. I hope that’s not a prediction!

     

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and the papers, the morning after

    Print exposes Anna’s ‘barren’ truth

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    “Mumbai slow to Anna’s fast” said a front page headline in Mid-Day and that puts it succinctly. Hindustan Times, in its Mumbai edition, went with “Team Anna finds Mumbai cold, too” on page 2, nodding to both the fact that Tuesday was Mumbai’s coldest December day in 19 years as well as the reason for shifting the agitation from Delhi to Mumbai.

     

    But that wasn’t the news of the day, as it happened. First it seemed it might be Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th 100, but then he got out at 73. After that, it was all about the debate in the Lok Sabha over the passing of the Lokpal Bill. Of course, bolstered by the knowledge that the whole country was with the India Against Corruption agitation at the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai, the Ramlila grounds inDelhiand all over the country, TV channels promised us non-stop coverage.

     

    Unfortunately for all the time and money spent, not enough people showed up, either in Mumbai orDelhi. Unlike earlier times where TV cameras would concentrate on a small group and reporters would tell us that thousands had come, this time cameras ruthlessly panned empty grounds.

     

    So how many people showed up? The Times of India gave it a generous 10,000 to 15,000. Times Now and Newsx said about 10,000 at its peak, 4,000 through the day and 1,000 by the evening. The Hindustan Times quoted the police figures of about 5,000 as well as India Against Corruption figures of 30,000. The last is possibly wishful thinking and by the evening on TV, crestfallen youth were telling us that this agitation isn’t about numbers at all. This is somewhat at odds with Arvind Kejriwal’s earlier statement that the whole country was with them and if Aruna Roy could gather a group of 50,000, then she could push the government for her bill.

     

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    Of course, it is left to newspaper commentators to call Anna Hazare’s core team for their somewhat offensive language, since the cacophony on TV makes criticism very difficult. Hindustan Times has to be commended, for calling out Anna Hazare himself on his remark that “barren women cannot know the pain of childbirth”. The word “banjh” is a derogatory in most Indian languages and characterises the sort of insensitive language that is common usage in societies where sensitivity for the less unfortunate is unheard of.

     

    In an aside, it was amusing to observe the absolute silence of the Mumbaikars present when Hazare held forth on the importance of village politics in his speech. One can imagine the youth scratching their heads wondering what on earth he could mean.

     

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    The Lok Sabha debates and the confusion of whether the Constitutional amendment had been passed kept our TV anchors and studio guests busy till midnight. Luckily the Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Wednesday morning so the further passage of the bill is now delayed till tomorrow. The shortage of Constitutional experts available for TV consumption was felt very strongly on Tuesday.

     

    * * *

     

    Cricket was back in the spotlight and there is now also space for the apparent reconciliation between the two Ambani brothers.

     

    * * *

     

    For a change, the Rendezvous interviews conducted by Zainab Badawi on BBC News are quite refreshing. Guests range from Annie Lennox to Richard Dawkins to Michelle Yeoh, so the conversation is varied.

     

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers the morning after

    Freaking News: Enough of Team Anna’s high-handed ways

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There is no greater joy for the newsperson than when you can successfully create a controversy out of very little. So first you have a demand for India’s highest civilian award to be given to India’s great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. This continues for some years and every time the awards are about to announced, we have breathless speculation on TV about whether Tendulkar is going to get it this year or not. Where TV goes, can the rest of the media be far behind? Experts and fans all have their say. I have no idea what Tendulkar himself thinks; I don’t even know if anyone bothered to ask him or if he deigned to answer. Tendulkar’s views are insignificant here. It’s all about we the people.

     

    Now it turns out that sportspersons were never eligible anyway. So the law is changed to allow sportspersons and entertainers. And immediately, we are in the middle of another controversy. Whether sportspersons and entertainers are deserving or not, whether Sachin is deserving or not, should Dhyanchand get it before Sachin… here we go again.

     

    **

     

    MxmIndia is going into yearender mode, the results of which will be up soon. I am surprised to see that newspapers and magazines are waiting so long though – I would have expected precursors by now. The world has become so fast that usually we celebrate Diwali at Ganpati and Christmas at Diwali! Newsx is doing a countdown of the biggest news stories of the year, so look like someone somewhere has been looking at the calendar.

     

    **

     

    The situation in Egypt seems to be getting worse, as protestors continue expressing their outrage against the military establishment. Indian news however does not see the conflict in the Middle East as more than a story on the international pages and TV is hard-pressed to fit it in between Anna Hazare and Katrina Kaif’s childhood diet. I heard all about it this morning, I kid you not!

     

    **

     

    The fight over a version of the Gita being banned in Siberia gave TV a wonderful opportunity to pull out its ultra-nationalistic flag. But all interested parties have been foiled in fascinating ways. The Russian ambassador promptly damned the banning. The Yadav-run parties created a bigger ruckus over the issue than the Hindutva-based parties. And the Government of India stated that it had been on the case from Day One. Talk about destroying one more round of nation-wide hysteria.

     

    **

     

    We will know later today the latest on the Lokpal-Anna Hazare soap opera, so I’m leaving that till tomorrow. But here’s from an Indian Express edit on the anti-corruption campaign, “The point is, given what we know of them, Team Anna must not be allowed to set the terms any more. They do not own the cause of the Lokpal or that of integrity in public life. The upcoming debate must consider the bill on its own terms, without heeding the chants from Hazare’s crowds.”

     

    I have a request to add to that sentiment: can the TVwallahs please not exaggerate the crowds and pretend that a gathering of 50,000 people is the same as 50 million?