It’s that time of the year, when television has to be at its bestest. Next week, two   focal events will take centre stage on Indian television channels. On Monday February 29, cineastes in India will wake up at the crack of dawn probably to a preset alarm which will turn on   Star Movies, the channel which has been telecasting the Oscars Live without a break for the last 20 odd years. After the Oscar fever has died down, the news channels unequivocally take charge of viewership, with the run-up, presentation and analysis of the Union Budget. This time the eyeballs are different.

The live telecast of the Union Budget is an annual event where hotels in every city host a Budget event with corporate heads, analysts, even the campus think tank included. A banquet hall, set up with a large screen resounds with   cheering, etc. as the Budget is read out. Later, a round of discussions, debates and opinions follow, as do the refreshments. Some channels also telecast these side events as they have their crew on standby for bites. The next morning’s papers are merely refreshers. A few days later, at post-budget events, a more detailed postmortem is presented by analysts.

Before the mid-1990s, when satellite news channels took flight in India,   a brief report would be presented on the Budget by the state owned Doordarshan. For some years it would also telecast the Budget in its lackluster way. Next morning, the bulky morning paper would be eagerly awaited,   read and studied. It would be a few days before the Budget was presented and analyzed for the public. Erstwhile lawyer Mr Nani Palkhiwala was considered the most erudite analyst and exponent, his Budget Speech was always held at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium which was as packed to capacity as it would be at a premium cricket match.

The early morning Live Telecast of the Oscars is a purely a tea and breakfast in bed or on the couch affair. The first live telecast had its special thrills that you were watching it at the same time as friends and relatives in the US!  There is of course the repeat telecast the same night, where you can catch up the bits missed as you answered early morning doorbells. There was a buzz that a multiplex was considering a Breakfast with the Oscars Live. I don’t know if it ever took off.

Prior to Star Movies’ Monday morning treat, Doordarshan telecast an edited version weeks later. The hour-long show was hosted by Simi Garewal and sponsored by Vimal Fabrics. That too was a huge treat those days, as barring the principal awards, the newspapers scarcely elaborated on the Oscars. One was then dependent on the imported film magazines for news and pictures of the awards’ night.

So come Monday, February 29, TV screens will buzz with glitz and glamour in the morning, thereafter they will flash facts, figures and opinions.

Across channels some Prime Time shows are showing a marked improvement in scripting, direction and editing; hence the narratives are moving at a brisk pace.

Two newbies – Star Plus’ Tamanna and Colors’ Krishnadasi - are particularly impressive. Both shows have moved away from an urban setting to small town, rural India.    Krishnadasi is set in Krishnavati, a small village near Pune. Cell phones and other trappings of present day India abound along with feudalism, autocracy and social discrimination.  The mindset is: Man is the king,   Woman is the doormat. The script is heading in the right direction and the path is being cleared for rehabilitating the machismo and women asserting their rights.

In the meanwhile, Tamanna is set in small town Gujarat with all its flavours of food, colours, and a   girl’s obsession with cricket. Her focus is playing the game as a professional, and not merely spectator interest. The early years as shown in a flashback are sweet and sour. Her opponent is her Dadi, who dominates the family of three and ridicules her granddaughter’s cricket obsession.  

Tamanna and Krishnadasi seem to be leading the challenge for progressive content and social change. Whilst, after 10 years Chakor is back in Azadganj, with the media in tow. As she rekindles old ties, a few surprises await her.