The under-exposed Madrasis
As for as Television is concerned, two things are going horribly wrong for young ‘madrasis’ – the ones from/in Tamil Nadu. One, there is a real lack of quality news and programs in native language, and two, there seems to be a dearth of good channels.
Most of the programs in Sun TV (particularly after sunset) are geared - I guess - towards housewives or people in the 40+ age group. That explains all the long episodes where there is a 90% chance of someone crying any point of time. I’m shocked to see some cry-baby episode or other running all through from evening till midnight. There was a time when I used to wait for the 8.00 pm news, but not anymore. International and business news get mere seconds of air-time while local finger-pointing politics gets a huge amount of attention. Every incident, however trivial, is being reported as one filled with ‘Pathatram’ or ‘Peethi’. It’s kind of funny to see so many people complaining about the same thing – just do a blog search to know what I’m talking about.
As far as music is concerned, there was a time when I used to occasionally stumble upon and spend time on Sun Music. Not anymore. The song selections are crass and boring (to say the least), and what more, the people hosting the programs are, well, to put it mildly, less-sophisticated. Here’s an unbeatable incident that Kaps reports. Do read it... it's real fun.
The only break is in the form of SS Music. Albeit being a tad overly metro-oriented, the song selections are definitely good. The only hitch is in their juggling around 4 languages that upsets the viewer. In all, it looks like there is no proper ‘madrasi’ music channel at all. Needless to speak about news.
The situation is grave for ones who stay out for most of the state for most of the time – people like me. You are doomed if you want to get a feel of the native language. The only Tamil network that gets selected by cable-operators around the country is the Sun Network. There are possibly numerous other channels transmitting their programs, but what counts is what is being picked up by the local cable-wallas. So all we get to see in say Delhi or Indore is the Sun Network. And that is the end of all dreams of seeing something in the native tongue.
To sum it up, I guess it’s high time some other channel fills the gap – targeting the young, upwardly mobile city-based ‘madrasi’ crowd.
posted by Govar @ 3/28/2006 10:07:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
just consider the problems faced by natives staying outside the country - we get only sun network in US.. and it sucks big time to watch all those mega serials sans any sensibility and those now-so-ubiqutous melodramatic music to the ears :( . Even for a change - there's just no native program (Hindi speaking ppl have a bit of a relief - heavy desi infested regions like NJ,VA etc have some programs in Hindi for a couple of hours on local TV).
I don't think its any different once you move out of TN. The only networl that's available would be Sun. The situation maybe shade different in Bangalore and parts of Bombay etc where Tam population is more, but it's all the same everywhere else. I only what you are talking about - only too well!!
I guess if you wish you shell out more money ($10 -12 USD a month) and have a reliable unlimited broadband connxn, you can go for Jaya TV or Raj TV thru Num TV.
All Tamil channels / programs are like this. SUN is undoubtedly the better of the lot. So choice may not really matter in this case.
Yeah, thats the catch. Even after u spend something, I doubt if it will be worth watching.
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