Media and Entertainment - 5 absolutely arbit comments

1.      I’ve gone full circle as far as newspapers go – I have tried them all from the masala Times of India, the boring and bland Deccan Herald, the sober/ serious and left-leaning Hindu, the young and wannabe Mint and that sorry toilet paper (which poses as a newspaper) called Indian express but nothing gives me any degree of satisfaction. The best I can say is that TOI is good value for money considering I get 70% of my money back through the old newspaper route. Serious news be damned, atleast can’t we have something trashy and fun like The Sun J

2.      Sports Podcasts and blogs are fast losing my attention and mindshare. I am 2 weeks behind on my Sunday Supplement quota and 3 episodes on Football Weekly with AC Jimbo. It’s been ages since I read Sid, Rafa or Paolo.

3.      Sequels just don’t work….definitely not the shameless commercial rip-offs like the Race, Jism, Murder, Jannat series but not even the ones with great potential like Don or Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster. GOW2 is the only honorable exception I can remember in recent times but then it was a 2 part movie and not necessarily a sequel.

4.      If movies like Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya (omigawd) and Onbadhulu Guru (which I’ve not seen) which have absolutely no plot and are a string of gags put together become decent hits, why aren’t the likes of SV Shekar and  Crazy Mohan not producing new plays. The concept is the same and the cost of producing and staging plays has to be cheaper and more profitable in the long run. Hmmmmm.

5.      Recently, someone who I’ll not name told me that Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Haasan might be good actors but the finest actor he’s ever seen was Radhika.  As proof, he showcased Vani Rani, the mega serial currently running in Sun TV. I was speechless then and am still at a loss for words. Seriously.