Radio

Good morning Mumbai...as the long drawn out sentence from Vidya balan (RJ Jhanvi) rolls musically into your ears I almost forget that a Satellite radio station plays across a geography like India and so doesn't address a single city but multiple locations. But RJ Jhanvi's opening lines are telling. Desh apna ho gaya lekin log paraye ho gaye. I see Munnabhai's content dopey eyed look and am transported to radio heaven, a place where there are no set top boxes and cable connections, just free ranging, free speaking radio and its dedicated listeners!! World space has definitely hit a six with its association with the film. The fact that Vidya Balan was on Radio Jhankaar on World Space hosting shows was the icing on the cake. I wish the association was promoted a lot more and for a longer time (hope you got a sign off on reruns). Surely it could have bumped up sales as Vidya Balan made a stronger case for the Visual in our mind of a radio jock. Let the perfectionist in me forget for a while that World space is a stationary satellite listening experience and so cabbies and Police vans with radio sets are still a tad removed from reality. Yet the interesting thing that the film did was to prove a theory I have had for a long time. When does a medium become a mass medium?

For the next 10 minutes pay careful attention. Or at least pretend to, even if the boss sees you with Impact in your hand it will do your reputation a load of good. (That lad I tell you Mr Khanna/Mr Pandey/Mr Parigi will make a huge Impact).

So when does a medium become a mass medium. Well for this let's look back to Dil Se. Box office disaster, Mani Ratnam gem, Malaika Arora's claim to dancing fame!! Here was the lead protagonist an All India radio reporter. The construct of the film was such that it needed an AIR man, but he was old school. With a portable recorder and patriotic fervour for companions. The first seed of a master seer pointing us to a new direction. Mani ratnam has always had the pulse of the people. Perhaps a little before time.

Fast forward to 2005. Salaam namaste...and RJ Ambar!! More than 50% of the people who give the radio audition in our school start there show with that phrase. A movie that clicks with a young urban population suddenly finds itself creating a new heroine who works as an RJ and is a bindaas, modern, motor mouth. Preity's dimpled smile create's a perfect visual for many a new career is born. So you see where I am headed...Lets move to RDB, Rakeysh Mehra's ode to nationalism. The students need to tell the world what actually happened and choose not a TV station to hijack but instead a Radio station. Where a youthful jock (good friend Cyrus Sahukar) host Raat Baaki Baat Baki. The world listens from far flung localities to college campuses. A revolution seems to spark off, and fanning the flames is radio.

Suddenly radio is everywhere!! And when icons start seeping into pop culture from a fledgling medium then surely the medium has arrived. I have