The Theatre of the Absurd abounds aplently in India; the government is one of the most likely places to look for if you need some free (ridiculous) entertainment. Via India Uncut I get to hear of this absolute monstrosity:
Channel V, B4U Music, Balle Balle Music, MTV Music, iTV Music and MH1 were pulled up for broadcasting what were deemed as sleazy songs in violation of the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
Not only has the ministry banned the telecast of these music videos on the channels but they have also been asked to run a scroll on their TV channels round the clock for a period of three days saying they “have violated the Programme Code” and they “will be more careful in future”.
There you go, playing Big Brother Watching again. What’s next on the menu? The real sleaze lies not in the music videos but in the backyards, bedrooms, and government guesthouses.
Tags: Commentary, Indian Politics, Society & Culture, Weblogs
On 03.28.06 Parimal Gupta says:
Sandeep,
Don’t you think in general the India’s younger lot is being exposed to way too much of skin? And now i don’t want to sound like a nani-ma or even as moral/cultural policeman.
I too had my share of clandestine TV watching during college days and after , specially the late night “adult” movies shown on DD when other members of my house were asleep. But that is precisely my point. As a young man i was entitled to my temptations but at the same time i observed an unwritten moral conduct vis-a-vis my elders in the family.
I am sure my father knew i was staying up late NOT for studying. But he ensured that he did not keep up late so as to allow me the freedom of enjoying such stuff alone. There was what i could say a give-and-take system we had developed.
Today with advent of MTV culture, skin , boobs [for want of a better word] , booze is not limited to “late night editions”. It is there 24 X 7 with everyone around. What more the younger generation feels they are “cool” if they imitate their heroes on videos.
I have not visited India since last 3 years but my wife did last year. And what she told me of the various videos was shocking. Also not only college folks, but the far too young ones in age group of 6 to 10 years have been [adversely] influenced by these videos.
May be i am old fashioned or way to conservative. But i certainly feel that these videos are making our next generation all the more shallow. We are creating a pool of “cool dudes and gals” who feel being cool is all about loud music, rebelling against your principled father and wearing nose rings on lips.
But off course i agree to the point where you state that the real sleaze happens to be in backyards of politicos. And yes, i do not think this ministry is real serious about this issue. If it was it would have attacked the bedrooms of it’s own babus.
On 03.28.06 Alka says:
Sandeep, you might be interested in reading this
Text Transcript, if you have already not read it.
Sorry for sounding out of context.
On 03.29.06 Sandeep says:
Parimal,
Very thoughtful comment and I generally agree. If you read my post carefully, I’ve not commented on whether the videos are “good” or “bad” but only on the way the idiots in the government have acted on the issue.
On the issue of being “cool/hep/hip/hop/skip/jump/yell,” I kind of concur with you. The problem lies in our education system: there’s absolutely no values inculcated, and so children look for these values in their latest boob-butt-brawn exposing VJs and such other worthies.
On 03.30.06 Nitin says:
Reminds me of the ’soft’ ways they tried to punish me at school: “I will do my home work”, I had to write a 1000 times. The stupidity of it was that if I had the time to write that dumb stuff a 1000 times, I would actually have had time to do my homework in the first place.
(Just for the record - the soft ways were employed after the hard ones failed)