Category: Media

It is currently one of the most comprehensive studies in media. It has an annual sample size of 255,888 households and reports data from 75  towns. It needs to improve zonal reporting, and district level reporting. The RSCI has to do it. IRS in 2013 expects to do data fusion, say two people in their mid-20s have similar tastes in music, clothes and media consumption. One is the donor, and the other receiver. There will be variables to match the two of them. They also expect to generate the listenership data on radio. Currently, they are using radio data released by TAM Media Research. This is going to be supplemented. MRUC conducted Indian Outdoor Survey ( IDS ) for Mumbai and Pune in 2009. There was another attempt in 2011. This can be further extended to cover the top 10-12 cities of India. The changing trends will be tracked by longitudinal studies. Media consumption habits of an individual will be traced from the time he wakes up till the time he goes to bed.

Sandesh Bhandare has written a coffee table book on Tamasha-Ek Rangadi Gammat giving photographic account of Tamasha — the folk-art of Maharashtra. Every region has its own version of Tamasha  — Tamasha from Konkan, Tamasha under the tree, Tamasha on stage etc. The presentation and the season of the different tamashas is different. Tamasha entertains the peasants of the rural areas. A tamasha troupe has artistes, instrumentalists, cooks ,stage designers, porters. They travel in a vehicle. On reaching the destination, they start unloading. They start searching drinking water. Some attend the call of nature. They start bathing, washing clothes, drying them. They apply for police permission. Some start erecting a pandal. The stage is made of wooden planks. Electricians, workers, tailors all contribute to the management. They finish the lunch by 4.00/4.30 p.m. Artists then take rest. Others give finishing touches to the work. Artistes wake up by seven in the evening. They start putting rogue on the face. Instrumentalists set the instruments. Female artistes check up with make up, jewellery and hair-style. All this continues up to 9 o’clock. When the crowd assembles, the curtain is raised. The show starts with dholki tappings. It creates the ambience. They are usually dressed in gold-bordered nine-yard saris with their hair tied up into flower-adorned buns. Even spectators get the zing. The dholki player’s fingers get bruised. The tamasha continues till 4 in the morning.In the small hours of the morning, they take the dinner. The vehicle drivers who were asleep during the progress of the tamasha get up. The planks are adjusted in the vehicle to make room for sleeping. They start loading the luggage. The troupe moves out, and heads for another destination.

In smaller troupes, an individual has to do multiple tasks. There are problems in getting permission. They have to face the rowdy crowd. They have to ensure traffic. They are not given respect in the society. Tamasha is cosmopolitan. But the troupe is treated as if they are untouchables. The women are thought of as individuals with easy virtue. They are given water by pouring it from above to avoid touching them. The tamasha artistes are a distressed lot, though they entertain the rural society. Many generations have remained devoted to tamasha.What about the future of their progeny? The book has been published by Lokvangmaya Griha, Mumbai.

Recently, Dr. Kishor Shantabai Kale succumbed to brain injuries on account of a road accident. His biography Kolhatyache Por ( 1994 ) brought to light the lives of the Kolhati community of Tamasha dancers from Western Maharashtra . Most of the artistes are landless labourers, usually from lower castes from villages in Maharashtra. They are indebted to village money-lenders. The commission for a single performance is anywhere between Rs. 8,000-Rs. 10,000 for the entire group, but goes up at times to Rs. 40,000-Rs. 1 lakh, depending upon the popularity of the troupe. The artistes do not perform throughout the year but only on festive occasions or auspicious days at village fairs or private functions. The Hindu month Chaitra is good for business. The Maharashtra State government holds a tamasha festival now, and proposes to elevate tamasha to the status of folk art. The government proposes an economic package for the artistes. In Maharashtra there are 15 big companies and 150 smaller companies. Tamasha is their livelihood. Tamasha is recognised by Dholkicha phad and sangeet bari. It travels across the length and breadh of Maharashtra for seven months — October to May.Each company has 50-60 artistes — 15 female dancers and singers and 35 male artistes and accompanists. There are around 130 travelling Tamasha troupes that perform seasonally and approximately 15 full-time troupes that perform all throughout the year.

The recent Marathi movie Natrang starring Atul Kulkarni captures Tamasha on the silver screen. To begin with, Marathi cinema thrived on lavani. Between 1960 and1975, Sulochna Chawan has sung some unforgettable lavnis.As Cinema embraced modern themes, lavni was pushed aside. Yamunabai Warkar could cast a spell on the audience in her live performances in he 1950s.Tamasha includes play, song and aaradhana, apart from lavni. Lavni is a dance that combines nritya, adakari and sangeet.Etymologically, lavni comes from the Sanskrit lavanya meaning beauty. It has been left to survive on erotic strain now —  the erotic lyrics have several layers and the dance movements are seductive. It was used to entertain the Mughal armies.It explains the influence of Kathak on lavni. The Peshwas in the 18th century patronised it. It catalysed the fall of the Maratha empire in 1818. Lavni for the classes was erotic and seductive. It was sangeet bari. Lavni for the masses continued with the travelling Tamasha troupes.

After the fall of the Maratha empire, lavni moved to private kothas in Marathwada and Pune and lavni lost its respectability.Cinema also tarnished its image further. Artists were portrayed as women of easy virtue who corrupted the feudal power centres or village Patils. Lavni which was a folk art degenerated into plain titillation to senses.Even otherwise, the other genres of entertainment provide tough competition to lavni.

Shahirs are the ballad poets who compose some of the most versatile lavnis full of everyday humour and wit.Some well-known shahirs are Honaji Bala, Parshuram and Pattthe Baburao.

Vijay Chavan, son of Sulochna Chawan plays dholki in Natrang. Dancers are now drawn from all communities and are not restricted to the nomadic Kolhati and Dombari tribes.

The readers can also go through the book Dancing Maidens : The Seduction Called Lavni.

Srishtigyan, a monthly magazine decided to popular science, was started by Prof. Gopal Ramchandra Paranjpe on 1st Jan, 1928. In July 2011, the magazine will published its 1000th issue. The magazine had an uninterrupted 84 years run in the market. The magazine was adopted by Vamanrao Patwardhan of Aryabhushan Mudranalaya in 1933. In 1974,  Aryabhushan closed down, and then Srishtigyan was taken over Mahatma Fule Vastusangrahalaya in 1975. In the last 85 years, the magazine has published 40000 pages of science-related material.

The NRS and IRS have merged into a new identity called Readership Studies Council of India in 2011. RSCI is now now conducting the biggest reaership survey in the world. Before 2006 both IRS and NRS released their reports. After 2006, NRS stopped the exercise. IRS was the only research body left. NRS was managed by INS, AAAI, and ABC. IRS was conducted by MRUC. The two have come together and a new committee has been formed. The most important issues the RSCI needs to resolve include the size of the sample, the kind of qualitative research to be done, the investment and the periodicity of the research report. Right now the sample size is 2,62,000. The report is called  IRS. Lynn de Souza is the first elected chairperson of the RSCI. Her job is to transform the study so that it becomes more relevant to a changing media world.

The Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC) has been entrusted with the task of bringing a new rating mechanism for broadcasting industry.

The current TV Audience Measurement  (TAM) system is flawed. To correct the matters, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting set up Amit Mitra Commitee. Its key suggestion was to set up BARC. Anually, about RS 16000 crore of advertising money rides on broadcasting industry. It is, therefore, necessary to know the rating of a particular TV programme to help media planners to decide about brand advertising on it. Even channel allocations depend upon the viewership of the channel.

In BARC, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) have come together with a shareholding of 60:20:20.

BARC will not conduct research but will sponsor independent vendors. The four legs of this exercise are : survey, meters, technology and analysis.

TAM has just 7500 meters. BARC proposes 25000 meters in 25000 households. It is a three-time jump.

The Surveys will be manged by Media Research Users Council. The technology tie up will be with international players. The panels have been identified. They will have the right people for data analytics.

For the time being, TAM continues to conduct the ratings but its survival is doubtful.

Celebrity journalism covers every area of life where wealth and fame can be found — movies, fashion, politics, sports and corporates. Afsana Ahmed learnt seven things in celebrity journalism.

Cut-throat business : It is a fiercely competitive environment. There are few ethical practices and these are used selectively. It is possible to connect with genuine sincerity and honesty immediately.

Hard work pays : Start  small, and work your way up. That is the way to achieve success.

Publicists are not friends : Celebrity PR works for celebrities. Its job is completely different. A celebrity journalist is in the opposite side of the business.

Style matters : In the glamour world, the style matters. It is to be cultivated.

Lonely stars : Stars are surrounded by their entourage. Still essentially, they are lonely souls. They should be reached out on a human level.

Never be star-struck : Show them respect. But don’t be star-struck. Or else you will not be taken seriously.

Be fearless : While communicating, be courteous, but do not be intimidated be them.

Chandrakant Khot published a Diwali ank aa-ba-ka-da-ee between 1973 and 1996. The issues could not be published for some reasons during 1976-77-78. Thus in 24 years, 21 issues were released. The magazine was experimental. Some issues are devoted to the themes.Some treat the genres such as autobiographies, diary, letters, portraits of persons, interviews etc. The concluding issues are devoted to extra-sensory perceptions, faith, miracles, truth, reincarnation and such spiritual matters. Lok Vangmay Griha has compiled selected articles from these 21 issues in the book-form called Nivadak Aa-Ba-Ka-Da-Ee.

Meenakshi Natrajan proposed a legislation that sought to regulate media. The desire to regulate media is not new. The media extensively covered the scams and the campaign against corruption and black money. Media sometimes hurts the ruling party, but benefits it too by its coverage. The elected representatives may feel threatened by the media coverage. They become insecure.

Instead of controlling media through legislation, politicians invest in media business. It is another way to restrict the media. There is a growing nexus between corporates and politicians. It further affects the freedom of the media, as some of these corporates have stake in the media. It is desirable that politicians and political parties are not allowed to own media companies lest media become a tool of propaganda. There is a conflict of interest too. The best way out is for media to do self-reputation.

The Times of India was launched as the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in 1838. It has become the unofficial masthead of India, chronicling every momentous milestone in history. It has grown from a single edition of a few thousand copies to some 50 editions with a circulation close to five million.It has all along been contemporary and relevant. Dr JE Brennan was the frist editor in 1838. By 1850, the biweekly became a daily. It tied up with Reuters. The masthead changed to The Times of India in 1861. The paper came to Delhi after a century  — in 1950. A year later before independence, Bennet Coleman & Co. passed into Indian hands, and Frank Moraes became the first home-grown Editor of the paper. N J Nanporia, Sham Lal, Girilal Jain, Dileep Padgaonkar, Gautam Adhikari and Jaideep Bose continue the tradition. In 1991, the first page made way for urban issues, social trends and human interest stories. A good newspaper, Arthur Miller once said, ‘is a nation talking to itself.’

Meerut is Hindi pulp fiction country. The people who top the charts here are Surendra Mohan Pathaks, Ved Praksh Sharmas, and Amit Khans. One more author has picked up — Anil Mohan. Desi pulp is India’s answer to the West’s airport novel. The plots are outlandish, the characters are over the top and the titles arrest the attention. Meerut, a cantonment town, is the hub of jasoosi upanyas. It is at railway stations and bus terminus that a chunk of Hindi crime fiction books sell. They are priced between Rs 50-100. They are printed on coarse paper from cheap wood pulp, and hence lugdi sahitya or pulp fiction. Today the margins have declined to just 15 per cent, a huge drop from almost 100 per cent a few decades ago. The nucleus of publishing shifted to Allahabad in the 1970s. Ved Prakash Sharma (60) stays at Kavi Nagar, Meerut. He is the highest selling author of pulp fiction. He has written more than 150 books and churns out four novels a year that sell more than one lac copies each. His Vardi Wala Gunda sold more than 15 lac copies.

The 1960s spawned a crop of good writers — Rajhans, Ibne Safi, Gulshan Nanda and Ved Praksh Kamboj. In the 1970s Nanda’s books were adapted for Hindi movies — Kati Patang, Khilona and Daag.

Surendra Mohan Pathak (75) writes intelligent stories. He does not spell out every detail from scratch. Vimal is his popular character.He has sold more than 25 millon books. He is a self-proclaimed follower of Om Prakash Sharma’s writing.He writes about 180 sheets of paper to make a novel of 350 paper-back pages. He writes in long hand.He charges Rs 4 lac for a book.Anil Mohan writes 8-10 novels a year. He is 50 now.Between them, the popular Hindi pulp fiction sells more than 20 lac copies a year. Veena Sharma has created Reema Bharti, a woman spy. Amit Khan has created Karan saxena, a RAW agent. There was a time when cinema and popular Hindi fiction were the only means of entertainment in hinterland.These days TV competes with them.