Satyamev Jayate, BY AMIR KHAN Options

[Sharmila-Sweet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyamev_Jayate_(TV_show)


Satyamev Jayate (SMJ) ( Hindi : सत्यमेव जयते; English : Truth Alone Prevails ) is upcoming TV show to be aired on Star Plus featuring debut in TV by Aamir Khan.[3]

Contents [hide]
1 Background
1.1 Marketing
2 Broadcast
3 Content Type
4 References
5 External links


[edit] BackgroundAamir Khan has been working on the concept of the show for three years.[4]He described it as his most ambitious project[5] and due to his commitment to the show, his long awaited movie Talaash's release dates were postponed.[2] As a part of the show Aamir has travelled across India and communicated with people.[6]

The studio portions of the show were shot in Vrundavan Studio[7] and Yash Raj Studio in Mumbai.[8]

[edit] Marketing External videos
Satyamev Jayate Official Theme Song featuring Aamir Khan

The teasers of the show were made public on YouTube on April 2, 2012.[9] The makers of show has booked around 2,000 slots for the broadcaster’s promos in 27 hours for an amount of 6.25 crore (US$1.25 million). Reportedly this is the highest costing promotional campaign for any indian television show.[10][11]

The theme song of the show composed by Ram Sampath and written by Prasoon Joshi was released on April 13.[12]The song was shot by Ram Madhvani in different states of India. [13]The song was sung by Keerthi Sagathia.

[edit] BroadcastIt is the first ever programme to go live simultaneously on a private channel and national broadcaster Doordarshan. Besides, the show will be dubbed in four southern languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. It will also be broadcast in Marathi on Star Pravaha. While the producers of the show were high on showcasing the show in prime time considering Aamir Khan's popularity, Aamir thought it best to settle for 11 A.M Sunday slot,[2] the time slot which was once famous for shows like Mahabharata and Ramayana. When talking about the show, Khan said that "I don't understand TRPs and GRPs. I have no idea how to calculate it! I don't care about it. It is important to reach out to the Indian audiences. If viewers want to see, they will see or else it is up to them." [14][15]

[edit] Content TypeThe show is reported to be based on social issues relating to the common man rather than being fictional. Also, based on its content, it's sometimes referred as talk show.[1][3]

While talking about the show Khan mentioned that "The show is about meeting the common man of India, connecting with India and its people.

[Sharmila-Sweet]

Don't be cynical about Aamir's 'Satyamev Jayate', watch it!

Last updated on: May 06, 2012 16:22 IST

The idea is to wake up and smell the S*** so that someday, Sunday marks a bright morning for one and all, says Sukanya Verma (REDIFF)



The universe is such a bizarre space; it is alright to be cautious. With flourishing opportunists in the garb of do-gooders in every second corner, even cynicism feels like an act of self-protection. In order to shield oneself from inevitable disappointment, one starts to doubt the motive of everything remotely genuine.
But it's not recommended.
Let me explain.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't too pleased with the aggressive promotional campaign of Aamir Khan's [ Images ] debut on small screen. He is one of the few Hindi film actors with a distinct growth graph from confection to consistent and a rare achievement of pursuing success on his own terms and strategy.
Except that the righteous and preachy vibe he gives out in the publicity spots, billboards and soap opera appearances (Diya Aur Baati Hum) of Satyamev Jayate, which went on air this morning on Star Plus, left me grimacing big time. Marketing and meaningful almost never cross paths, you see.

I felt as though my suspicions were confirmed at the start of the programme with a visual of Aamir Khan and his lump-in-the-throat voiceover reflecting the sorry state of our nation and its diverse issues in a lengthy but articulate monologue against the sunset on a vacant beach. It's a familiar tone. He has conveyed such idealism about academics in 3 Idiots and dyslexia in Taare Zameen Par [ Images ].
'Bah, gyaan!' I grumble under my breath. (Sunday sleep is sacred.)

The actor/filmmaker was, reportedly, adamant on an early morning Sunday slot pointing out how back in the 80s, we would wake up rubbing our eyes to catch a series of our favourite shows.
Only cable television wasn't rampant at that time and Sunday morning was exclusively reserved for some of the best family shows aired between seven to noon.

The entertainment scene has grown dramatically since then. And so has the thickness of our skin. Aamir only wishes to pinch it somewhat. This realisation comes to me within the first ten minutes of Satyamev Jayate, which works as a platform to discuss social issues and injustices, a celebrity-hosted forum that concerns itself with highlighting reality, debating its effects, analysing its outcome and suggesting a solution.

The subject of today's discussion, directed by Satyajit Bhatkal, is female feticide.
First, how do I feel about this issue? Honestly, I have never thought about it. My parents wanted me dearly. It's a special, secure feeling. The idea of them wanting me dead even before I came out into this world is unthinkable. Not everyone is as privileged and desired as I or perhaps you reading this.
We keep reading in newspapers about discoveries of female fetuses in the garbage. A precious life reduced to a discarded banana skin. It's frightening. It's reality.

Satyamev Jayate acquaints us with women from different sections of society and reveals their individual battle with their husbands and in-laws for giving birth to a girl child. A lady from Ahmedabad [ Images ] underwent multiple abortions without her knowledge in a sedated state.

A man in Madhya Pradesh [ Images ] literally ate off his wife's face because she went ahead with her pregnancy with a girl in her womb. But, most shocking, was how a well-educated family of doctors and academicians in Delhi [ Images ] tormented their daughter-in-law, also a doctor, for carrying girl twins.
Following these painful disclosures, Aamir brings attention to how badly this has altered the sex ratio in India [ Images ]. For every 1000 boys, there are 914 girls. How this leads to an overwhelming population of bachelors, regression , eve-teasing and the practice of women being bought from different states to marry one/resold to marry another with the sole purpose of procreation and extending the family tree.
A medical representative is called upon to reveal how this unethical practice is a thriving business with many doctors offering a 'package deal' of misusing ultrasound (for sex-determination) followed by abortion in case of a girl child.

Up next, a pair of journalists comes in to reveal some appalling footage of a sting operation they conducted inside various clinics across India. Things aren't always so bleak. In Punjab's [ Images ] Nawanshahr, a collector's efforts to bring awareness and eradicate this evil reduced the gap in percentage encouragingly.

All through the proceedings, many members of the studio audience are shown shedding tears or expressing shock. Every so often, the camera settled to focus on a tearful Aamir as well. (He is a no-nonsense host but could try and be more spontaneous, relaxed and accessible. He doesn't have to tweak his lips all the time to conceal its quiver.)

Personally, I don't think either is necessary. The content is powerful enough to warrantee a reaction. It doesn't require any additional visual cues to do so.
As for me, I felt a mix of disgust, empathy and a distinctly queasy sensation in my stomach. I also felt silly about my reservations.

It made sense now why Aamir would go all out to promote it like he did. Let's be honest, we are comfortably apathetic to wake up at 11am and watch a chat show on India's never-ending troubles -- social or economical. But it hits you that the idea is to wake up and smell the S*** so that someday, Sunday marks a bright morning for one and all.

This is a grand initiative and a sound format into which a lot has been invested -- monetarily as well as in terms of research. Will it bring about a change? I don't know. But, at least, it will bring a larger scale of shame to its offenders. To that man who bit his wife's face leaving her deformed for life. To that urban, educated family who didn't want anything to do with the twins.
Deriding this show simply because it is hosted by a Bollywood actor who is also a marketing whiz, questions our credibility, not his.

[Sharmila-Sweet]

Aamir Khan's Satyameva Jayate played it safe
May 08, 2012 17:34 IST



Fine packaging is not desirable when the stuff inside is about the real India [ Images ], says Sheela Bhatt of Aamir Khan's [ Images ] television debut.

Did you see the first episode of Aamir Khan's Satyameva Jayate on Sunday?

Did you miss anything when the superstar with a conscience launched himself on the small screen with a multi-million publicity blitz?

Was Aamir's debut performance fiery enough to rekindle the hearts of television viewers thoroughly degenerated by the Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi genre of programming?

The answer is in between 'yes' and 'no.'

Aamir Khan's first television outing was on the problem of female foeticide in India. Those who hardly read newspapers or who are ill-informed about such issues must have cried at the mother narrating her story to Aamir Khan in the television studio.

Amisha Yagnik of Ahmedabad [ Images ] aborted six times in less than 10 years because her husband found out that she was carrying a girl child. She and other women on the show touched one's heart when they narrated how they had to suffer only because they had a girl child.

It is very interesting to see that in a country where the mainstream media is limiting itself more and more in making the choice of subjects and is drifting away from national priorities, Aamir Khan is arriving with a mega show to occupy this vacuum.

Aamir has to be applauded for picking a serious issue that has afflicted and shamed India. One is not trying to denounce him or his efforts. But, at the same time, his programme's format is too predictable and flat. It hardly carried any nuances of the complex subject, it did not even try to show the husband and mother-in-law's devilish minds, it threw no light on the police's inaction for the blatantly illegal act by husbands, it didn't try to explore deeply society's deafening silence on the issue.

The issue of gender bias has a historic context and it shows the ugly side of the human psyche and Indian family traditions. Satyameva Jayate was neither hard-hitting enough nor did it show any new facets of the issue to usher in change, leave alone revolution.

It played safe by making us cry. Only cry.

Sure, Aamir denounced forcefully the monstrous idea of killing the girl foetus but, in some moments, in some frames, he was making an attempt to appear engaged which did not look natural.

One is sure that even superstars have butterflies in their stomach before appearing on television where they face a tough test before the national audience.

One will have to wait for more episodes to see if Aamir Khan will grow beyond his marketed image and create a new Aamir Khan for the real India, for the real issues.

The format of Satyameva Jayate has to be more profound. The present format looks like an assembly-line production. Many such programmes have come and gone. One does not need the great actor Aamir Khan to make people cry. One only needs to bring the 'Indian story' before the television camera and shoot.

The big problem of Satyameva Jayate's format is that it is on predictable lines. Smriti Irani [ Images ] has done such shows; and even yesteryear's Priya Tendulkar -- who passed away in 2002 -- could have done the job.

Also, Aamir should not touch the emotional nerve of his fans too soon and too frequently. 'Drama' or 'melodrama' defuses the focus on stark reality. Tears are an obstacle to touch the core of the issue. To make an impact Aamir should not make us cry, he should make us angry, outraged.

It is up to Aamir to decide if he is out to change India or is he simply trying to just 'inform and educate' his audience. If he wants to educate us on the serious issues afflicting India, which is no less noble an intention, then the current format is fine, but if he wants to give his stamp of leadership, wants to re-establish values, and if he wants to share his idealism with a larger section of Indian society, then Satyameva Jayate is likely to fall short.

No profound change in any Indian issue is likely to come about just because Reliance [ Get Quote ] Foundation contributes some money or Airtel gets smses in millions at the end of a television show.

We are not kidding when we talk about issues like human rights violations, child abuse, corruption, female foeticide, road accidents, child labour, Indians' apathy towards beggars, the digital divide, hunger, poverty, unemployment, disregard for ecology, malnutrition, domestic violence, selling of poor girls in urban India etc.

Surely, Aamir Khan will take up these kinds of issues in coming episodes. But change will not come even after 1,000 episodes of Satymeva Jayate if Aamir Khan sits in the studio and tells us the phone numbers where to send our SMS.

In all the burning issues of India that are likely to be touched upon by Aamir Khan, let us not forget, the story is about us. It is about the viewers, for the viewers and by the viewers.

The 'people' who are portrayed in Aamir Khan's shows as the main actors, actresses, villains, vamps or characters will not be very different from the Indian masses who constitute the 'TV viewing class.'

How will a television viewing society change by sending SMSes or by a donation of a few million rupees by a corporate house?

Impossible!

Aamir Khan is trying to be the male Oprah [ Images ] Winfrey and more. In a nation with one billion-plus people and one billion-plus stories, Aamir Khans are needed, yes, but Aamir can only add value to his image and gift TRPs to Star Plus and Doordarshan if he tries to make an impact on the issue by the 'market' route.

Aamir's marketing department seems to have been in overdrive. Make-up kuch zyaada hai! Fine packaging is not desirable when the stuff inside is about the real India.

Bring in some raw energy, Aamir Khan!

Please also read:
Saisuresh Sivaswamy Aamir Khan's concern should be ours too
Sukanya Verma: Don't be cynical about Aamir's 'Satyamev Jayate', watch it!

Sheela Bhatt


http://www.rediff.com/movies/column/aamir-...fe/20120508.htm

This post has been edited by Sharmila-Sweet: May 16 2012, 04:30 PM