Countersquash : 1 : Satyamev Jayate

Countersquash - As the title says is the name of my series of notes. Each part will not be a sequel of the previous one. So you can read any of the countersquash notes at random. In this series, I intend to counter argue some articles, reviews, public opinions, statements and anything of that sort, which I feel has to be counter-argued.

So this note - titled Countersquash 1 is my answer to the article titled "Does Satyamev Jayate work?" written by Pritish Nandy on the ToI blog. The link of the said article has been given below the note as a comment. It is a decent-in-length article, so you can have a glance through it and come back. I'm pretty sure that will add some taste to the squash :)

So, here we go.

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Satyamev Jayate which is being screened on Star Plus in Hindi and a flock of other vernacular channels as a dubbed version every Sunday has for sure, gone on to become a sure shot success. The mere spry popularity of the show is itself a testimony of the positive impact it has created on the viewers and a validation for the fact that we have stretched out our either hands and welcomed the show wholeheartedly.

I too enjoyed the whole notion of the show and went on to become its veritable acolyte. I have had discussions about the real face the show has with some of my colleagues but nothing of this sort had come up from them. Pritish Nandy has taken an impregnable stance and criticized the show. Let me go through some of his disceptations here.

Mr. Pritish Nandy says:

'Aamir is a voyeur, not a reformist. He is not a voyeur like we journalists are. Journalists don’t just point out social ills. They campaign against them.'

'When someone points out what is wrong, you expect the person to set it right (which a leader can do, if he really wants to) or put so much pressure on the political system that it is forced to act (as a journalist tries to do, not always with much success). Satyamev Jayate attempts neither. Aamir sheds a few tears. So do we and then, next week, we move on to another problem'

'Journalists, on the other hand, often put their life on the line chasing stories. I know because like many others I have faced countless court cases, harassment, intimidation, death threats. But we take it in our stride because we see it as our job. A movie star does not see exposing the truth as his job. His job is creating illusions.'

'It fails because Aamir cannot and will not see the issues through to a solution. He is a great guy but not a change agent. This is, for him, a TV show. Not his life, nor the purpose of his existence.'

These are just some of the smashes of Pritish Nandy's squash game. His main problem seems to be this : (i) Aamir Khan is just running a profit making tv show. (ii) He might be discussing about life issues like Female foeticide, domestic violence, casteism, alcoholism etc but he is not doing anything to solve these issues. (iii) Aamir pretends to be a journalist but Nandy reckons he is not because as per his words 'Journalists don’t just point out social ills. They campaign against them.'  (iv) Satyamev Jayate is tv show for Aamir and not the purpose of his existence. 

First of all, let me make it very clear. Pritish Nandy is an honorable man. And, all who agree on his viewpoints, all - honorable men.

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He calls Aamir a voyeur.

For those of you who do not know what a 'voyeur' means, here's the proper definition of the word : 'A viewer who enjoys seeing the sex acts or sex organs of others'

A voyeur is a negative terminology for sure. A guy who peeps into filth. Is Aamir really 'peeping' into something? Even if he is 'peeping', is he peeping into something bad? To the best of the knowledge and my experience of watching the show, Aamir is dealing with social issues. He talks about issues which are the real vexations of today. Something positive indeed, isn't it? But Pritish Nandy calls him a 'voyeur' and indeed, Nandy is an honorable man.

Pause: One sec! Let us 'peep' into what the other super duper celebrities are doing ! Salman Khan ? Where's he? Busy making Ek Tha Tiger? Amitabh? Probably getting ready for another season of KBC. Abhishek is nowhere to be seen after 3G. Badshah? Oh he was busy counting the currency notes amounting to 45 lakhs thanks to the victory celebrations of Kolkota Night Riders !

Play :

(i) Satyamev Jayate is a tv show just for profits says Nandy.

Hey Aamir! Don't you agree with Mr.Nandy?! But wait, you could have started a stupid quiz show and made more money.  Don't you have enough to fetch Rajasthan Royals? You could have produced a couple of more biggie movies! But why didn't you all that and why you came up with something like SEJ?

Still Nandy says SEJ is a mere profit oriented show and of course, an honorable man he is.

(ii) Aamir Khan is not solving the issues !

Are wah!

This was the most sizzling construct ever chipped in by Nandy! Aamir is not solving the issues! I never knew that the entire concourse of India's demographic issues was an Aamir-tip away from getting solved!

Jokes apart, I still don't understand what Nandy meant. How on earth do you expect him to solve the issues?

In my observation, what Aamir does is this: He assumes himself to be a representative of the People of India (and not a journalist), brings forth issues of concern, goes a little deep into the issues by thorough research, interviews the 'right' men associated with each issue, and finally at the end of the show makes a plea to the people more than the government. I do not seriously think Aamir claims to be a change agent.

I believe a social issue = sum of individual issues.

Thus unless and until the individual part of an issue is solved, you cannot solve it on a larger scale. Unless you personally do not realize the evils of the caste system, the evils of female foeticide, nothing basically is going to be stirred socially.

Mental revolution, the great men have called it. In fact, F.W.Taylor terms it. Unless I stop throwing empty coke cans to footpaths, my locality is not going to be green. Unless I cease to be proud of my caste, I am going to be sub consciously frame myself superior to my lower caste and inferior to my upper caste. Unless I do something, I have no right basically to expect the society to do it. Aamir calls for just that. Just the mental revolution.

If one person out of a one billion watching the show has had a positive change as a result of its impact, then the show is a great success to me. And the plea to the government and the judiciary is a bonus, thus.

(iii) Pritish says journalists campaign against issues.

Thumbs down if you disagree! Sensationalism is their staple food! All the journalists campaign against them? Please ! The recent Anna Hazare thing came up and the media made a festival out of it. Open any news channel now. Where did Anna Hazare go? Where did anti-corruption go? Media got another wife and thus divorced the ex. This is a cycle ! Marriage is like drinking tea for the Indian media!

(iv) The reason.

How many of us read editorials daily? What percentage of India's public, especially the youth have a daily deep news digestion process? Very meager.

My biggest plus point for Aamir in SEJ is, people will watch the show just because it is Aamir. None would have watched it if it was a weekly news programme on Ndtv. Aamir has effectively used his star image for the betterment of the public. What more can you expect from a celebrity than this? I don't expect much. Aamir is not a jobless actor for sure! 

I read this recently:

-  Aamir ended the contracts with 6 brands worth Rs. 116 crore.

-  Aamir Paid 23 crore to the brands as a penalty of the breach of contract.  

-  In return he will get 46 crore (3.5 crore per episode)from Star plus,

   which also includes the pay of AKP team of around 500 members

I do not know how real this data is. Even if it is 20% real, my salutes to this man!

One more clarification !

SEJ makes profits?

Of course yes. It does. My question is why can't it?

It deserves to !