Of Media, Ads and Aamir Khan

I started early from office today as I had a headache. On my way home, I saw an ad which read "MoreBile" instead of Mobile. It amused me for a moment because at the first glance, I happened to read to as "More Bill". I could not digest how "More Bill" would make a mobile popular. In the meantime, the traffic signal turned Red. It was only then that the saw the other part of the hoarding which had things like More talktime, More value and so on. So "MoreBile " was supposed to be a Mobile that offers more value. I wonder how many will get it right in the first read.

Later in the day, I was watching the show on NDTV where Aamir Khan happened to be the guest. I don't know why and how, but all through the show, everytime I saw him, I was reminded of all the good things like truth, honesty and discipline. One of the things that he spoke about was about censorship in Indian cinema. He wasn't really happy with the idea of "Banning smoking" in cinema although he agreed that smoking is injurious to health.I personally feel that Cinema should imitate life, the life that is going around in the country. It is not a preaching medium where only the good is to be depicted and the bad denounced. As Aamir pointed out later, "Banning smoking" in the films would perhaps make sense when smoking is banned in the country. But I still fail to understand how a cigarette smoker could be someone else than a smoker. I think we would make a great comprise on the "creative expresion" of cinema if we try to do that. Maybe in the future we would have something known as "Stay healthy cigars" which would give the smoker both the smoking satisfaction and the longevity of life. Huh! Will we ever stop kidding ourselves?

Aamir was speaking of the love and warmth that he and other Indian celebrities get from the Pakistani fans in Pakistan and everywhere else in the world. As a kid and may be for a good part of my college life , I have seen a lot of Pakistan bashing by the Indian media. Anything Pakistani was viewed in the negative sense. The situation has changed for the better in the last two or three years, with many Indian celebrities including cricketers making it a point to highlight the Pakistani hospitality. I believe that the media should be objective and speak about the facts rather than being influnced by things that have happened in the past.

Objectivity. Well, that reminds of the many movies that I have seen in the recent past that seemed to lack an objective. I just need to visit one of the cinema halls this weekend and guess I will be having a whole lot to talk about objectivity or rather the lack of it.