Forked tongues

Sir ? The Bharatiya Janata Party is matchless when it comes to maintaining double standards. When a party worker bungles the national anthem, it is ?stage fright? (?Nationalists go nanananana?, Sept 29). But a Muslim who inadvertently dropped Gujarat from the anthem in a school textbook loses his job following the lapse. P.M. Jaleel has been gracious enough to forgive the BJP for its faux pas. But many others, unlike Jaleel, would find it difficult to forgive and forget that party?s crimes in Gujarat and Ayodhya.

Yours faithfully,
Rahul Bajodia, Calcutta

No skin please

Sir ? I would like to draw attention to the so-called talent hunt shows being aired on many television channels, including Zee TV. The name of the programme on Zee is Cinestars ki khoj. The contest was held in all major cities of India and it was amazing to see so many young, starry-eyed boys and girls turn up at the auditions. However, these would-be Shahrukh Khans and their scantily-clad female co-competitors seemed to know very little about acting. More emphasis was laid on the jhatkaas than on emoting. To make matters worse, the judges ? some of them just a few films old ? made some bad decisions. At least we could have had senior actors like Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher or Naseerudin Shah judging the contest.

Another nuisance is the hunt for the ?item bomb?. What is there to be excited about selecting a girl who will get to perform an item number with Sanjay Dutt? It is indeed sad to see girls dressed up in cabaretdancer-like attires gyrating suggestively, just to be a part of a Hindi film. It would have been better to organize talent hunts for aspiring engineers, astronauts or scientists so that the selected candidates could work for a better future. But are the TV channels listening?

Yours faithfully,
Deepti Sodhi, Calcutta

Sir ? The growing vulgarity in films and music videos is a matter of concern. Film-stars and music video artists are more adept in showing skin than in acting. Such actors are the role models of the participants in the various talent hunts who are comfortable performing live in short dresses in front of an audience. The effect of this is seen in the increasing rate of crimes against women. However the irony is that it is not these stars but the ordinary women who are the victims of these crimes. The censor board needs to look into this matter and regulate the show of skin on television.

Yours faithfully,
Rasmita Rath, Cuttack

Sir ? The Union government?s decision to invoke provisions to police television content and censor vulgarity is good news. (?Reddy rap on TV skin show? Sept 17). Not just obscenity but other tactics employed by the TV channels to mint money should be ticked off too. The perfectly mindless instalments of late-night serials, that seem to stretch on and on, adversely affect the physical and the psychological health of viewers. The government must impose an upper limit on the number of episodes of a TV serial that may be telecast, along with a time-limit to ensure that they do not continue endlessly.

Yours faithfully,
Subhash C. Agrawal, Dariba

Sir ? It appears that the tradition of Indian women dressing elegantly is on the wane. In our eagerness to ape the West, we have crossed all limits of decency. As an example, one only has to look at the vulgar style of dressing of the television presenter, Mandira Bedi. Our society should discuss this issue first and then prescribe remedial measures to put an immediate end to such decadence.

Yours faithfully,
S.L. Kundu, Calcutta