Moment of Truth

As anyone who has seen "American" game show moment of truth would have guessed if ever there will be an Indian version, pretty soon the guardian of "Indian" culture would feel threatened. Star Plus is airing Indian version as "Sach Ka Samana" for less than a week now and Parliament has discussed it, I&B ministry has issued a notice to the producers' of show and honorable Delhi High Court is going to decide whether the is is "obscene and against Indian culture and ethos."
As a matter of fact, the same Indian audience is all watching it and talking about it; isn't the population wise enough to choose what it wants to see? Do the people who watch inherit different culture? I wonder why and how this show about virtually nobodies gets so much of popularity? You can find enough people who have had weak moments and have failed somewhere. The show in a way sensationalizes those specific events. It surely makes or breaks relationships. But, people who are willing to come out open about it, take risk and make money out of it, go there. Also, nobody forces anyone to watch it, if TRPs for the show are down, surely the show would be wrapped up even if King of Bollywood sells it.
I really don't know how to define Indian culture whose population is amalgamation of all the major religions in the world with widely different practices and languages. But, I surely can say, even hundred shows like "Sach ka samana" are not going to make any crack in the Indian culture(whatever it means).

Root for India in T20 Semis

Well I am not out of my mind or day-dreaming but the fact is there is ICC Women's T20 World Cup being organized alongside the one we all know and the good news is India-Women's team has got into semis. They are set to play today in Nottingham. The live broadcast of match will happen on Star Cricket in India at 5 PM. Well I am no fan of Woman's cricket but I wish they win. Way to go eves, make us proud. :-)

MTV Roadies

Ever since MTV Roadies has debuted, I liked its concept very youthful, goal oriented and supposed to be total no non-sense business. For me, this show represents the idea of reality show otherwise I have been hugely disappointed by MTV Splitsvilla and other talent-hunt plus reality shows. Coming back to Roadies, another nice thing is, it puts out clearly that it is a tough world out there and at times may not be not so nice.

This show has made quite a few faces very popular not only the creators but also the participants. Biggest beneficiary being Raghu who has terrorized and caught imagination of whole of burger eating population. Many a times I found him showing lot more than required amount of attitude. But, with his interviews it is aptly clear that we have enough dhakkan young population.

Currently in its 5th season, these guys have taken a giant leap going all the way to Australia and man this time it has actually been bigger than ever. I don't know of any other show that could possibly compete with Roadies in terms of production quality. I think fear factor hosted by Akshay Kumar was on par with this but still Roadies has definitely raised the bar for Indian television programming. Though there are accusations that things are scripted in it but there is no proof of it and the fact remains it is one of the most popular TV shows. In my view they are doing a commendable job. The admirable part for me has been every episode they have come up with innovative competitions. Crocodile stunt and open air walk between the air-balloons have been really daring stuff. Of-course vote outs have been very dramatic and interesting. One of the best episodes this season for me was when the gang of Bobby, Pradeep and Sandeep were shown door in a single episode. That was really the turning moment of this leg.

In my view either of Sufi and Natasha deserved to win this season but unfortunately both of them are out and all we have is Nauman and Palak. Nauman has come out really good in last few episodes may be he is the best amongst girls. :P

Anyways I am looking forward to the two part grand finale, hoping it to live the "Hell Down Under" brag.

Top three ads this season

I watch lot of TV thus end up watching lot of repeatable stuff that happens to be advertisements. Most of the ads are useless, they definitely don't serve their purpose and waste our time.
But, few ads are cut above the rest, they make me watch them again and again. At times I even wait for them to show up. :-)
Here I am listing three such ads that have aired in past six months, all three of them have wonderful tune to support them, excellently shot and very creative.
Third on my most favorite ads is Visa travel happy campaign. Nice tune, intelligently shot, core theme of product is maintained in tact and soothing in the wild world of loud ads. Here is the you tube link and you can download it from here.
Second ad is from Vodafone campaign of 10p sms, "sabko pata chalega" theme. Vodafone folks always come out with suit of ads and they are always decent. Remember the "Happy to Help" campaign. One issue with these guys is, they just don't know when to shut up. They keep playing the ad again and again so however good the ad may be, after a while you want to turn it off. My favorite ad from their suit is of a middle aged (bald) man buying a ring, passing through all the looks he never got and approaching his girlfriend in a restaurant. Nicely shot, very good tune in background and again sticking to the idea. Here it is on you tube and download link is here.
My most favorite ad this season and many more seasons to come is of Limca "Fresh Ho Jao" featuring Sushma Reddy, the ad is wonderfully shot with a very good song playing in the background. If you have not watched it, you can get it here. The young couple trapped in traffic jam get refreshed with Limca and playing pranks on each other. Very nicely created ad with the focus right on their product.