I was lying in my bed, trying to get some sleep, but that seemed like a luxury.Bollywood numbers were piercing the atmosphere from some trumpets, most probably of some baraat.Playing 'Mujhe pehchaano, me hoon kaun' at a wedding , and that too an arranged marriage lends itself some unintentional humor. But I digress.
I started thinking of how bollywood or films in general has invaded our lives , much like those blaring trumpets. A few months back we had our rail budget. On the day the budget was introduced at the parliament, a popular national daily had a strip dedicated to "Top train moments in Bollywood". Had they run out of ideas or suggestions for a rail budget for our country? While channel surfing a few days back I noticed that almost all daily soaps have lends its name from bollywood lyrics. Can't they take some time out of their busy tear jerking schedule to find a title that suits the storyline? To know the difference one should try surfing for internet radio station. There were plenty of channels to choose from offering variety of news, analysis, discussions, stand up performances, music, and podcasts. While I found foreign channels to be enlightening, all the Indian channels were narrow minded and focussed only on celebrity gossips and film music. I remember during my schools days I used to hear a lot of light music on radio and TV. But where are they now. The malayalam radio channel I was listening online was playing hindi songs.
Genuine, fresh and creative music and writing should be a source pride but apart from dewarists and few other programmes I hardly find anything original on TV on arts and music.
While cheerleaders of IPL mindlessly gyrate to recycled bollywood tunes, I have turned to news channels for entertainment.
