One does, the other follows - thats all I have to say about the "Indian of the Year". Irrespective of whoever wins the award, my vote goes to that Indian who sits in front of his idiot box with a mobile phone in his hands and thumbs typing "IOTY" (CNN-IBN Indian of the Year) to 52622 or some other four/five letter word and some number for NDTV. I don't quite understand this logic about having such an award. With due respect to the award, this whole channels-awarding-personalities is a bit unnerving by itself. It was originally intended to be India's response to Time's Person of the Year, but intentions are not what they are made out to be most often.
Its resulted in a channel war, which might not be a good thing in the context of the Indian electronic media. I am myself confused at "Who decides who should be awarded ?" or for that matter "Who really should be awarded ?" - the newsmaker or someone who does his bit behind the glare of this media ? I do not know. The IBN award looks a bit genuine, since they believe in honouring some anonymous Indians who have deserve their due of recognition. Arvind Kejriwal, was honoured with the award last year for his public service - and rightly so, because since then the Right to Information has become a household name in India's citizenry. NDTV doesn't have it. Again, a glaring omission from one of India's primary opinion leaders.
The jury is interesting on both sides -
IBN: Soli Sarabjee, Deepak Parekh, Kiran Bedi, Geet Sethi, Nandan Nilekani, Shobhana Bhartia and Mohanlal (now, this seems truly representative with media barons, IT tycoons, judicial luminaries, real estate barons etc etc.)
NDTV: Kiran Karnik (NASSCOM Chief), Shekhar Gupta, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (today, known as Saif's father), Ramachandra Guha (one of the country's best historians today), JS Verma, Leila Seth and Shobaa De.
Where is the citizenry representated in both juries ? Baffling to be honest.
Viswanathan Anand is the Sportsperson of the Year on both fronts - a good selection I must say, for he has always been the unheralded flagbearer of Indian sport on a global platform. P Chidambaram's name for Politician of the Year on IBN is somewhere questionable. What are the drastic economic measures he has taken this year ? The budget was reasonable to say the least. Nothing much, a weird choice. Businessperson of the Year on both sides - interesting choices I must say - State Bank of India's OP Bhatt for IBN and Mukesh Ambani for NDTV. I would have been tempted to give the award to Ratan Tata, for the sort of tact he showed in handling a) the Singur issue and b) producing what was considered to be the impossible - Tata NANO.
Inspirational Indian Leader of the Year Award in NDTV is an interesting award. Abdul Kalam, not a bad choice for someone who has gone back to his books, after his Presidential tenure. Yet, he remains an inspiration for every one of us. Entertainer of the Year in NDTV goes to Rajnikant and rightly so. Not because I am South Indian, but because how well his movie appealed across India and not just the south, where it is a one-man industry inevitably. The Actor With the Most Impact on Indian Cinema - uncalled for to be honest and Shahrukh bagging the award, smells of some nothing but glam. AR Rahman is deservingly the Musician of the Year (NDTV) - right from Guru to Sivaji to Lord of the Rings musical to Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, Rahman's notes have been really consistent and he deserves every bit of that award.
CNN-IBN has kept some of its big awards under the wraps, leading up to 26th January, when on Republic Day, these awards will be announced and given. I somehow feel, between the two, they still have the right ingredients and the guidelines of how these sort of awards must be given. An award must be in sheer recognition of the person's achievements and not the amount of money/revenue the man or his product earns for the organization and that is where IBN scores over its counterpart big time.
Do we need the Indian of the Year awards at the first place ? Or does it make for a good media war ? Maybe or maybe not. Yes, we the media need to roll the platform to the people who have really made a difference to this country. But, we the media also need to realize that these awards are not something to score browny points over each other in terms of TRP or TAM ratings.
If you ask me, I am the Indian of the Year - for I have been keeping my eyes on these two programmes to sit and waste an hour of my time writing about the same...
Its resulted in a channel war, which might not be a good thing in the context of the Indian electronic media. I am myself confused at "Who decides who should be awarded ?" or for that matter "Who really should be awarded ?" - the newsmaker or someone who does his bit behind the glare of this media ? I do not know. The IBN award looks a bit genuine, since they believe in honouring some anonymous Indians who have deserve their due of recognition. Arvind Kejriwal, was honoured with the award last year for his public service - and rightly so, because since then the Right to Information has become a household name in India's citizenry. NDTV doesn't have it. Again, a glaring omission from one of India's primary opinion leaders.
The jury is interesting on both sides -
IBN: Soli Sarabjee, Deepak Parekh, Kiran Bedi, Geet Sethi, Nandan Nilekani, Shobhana Bhartia and Mohanlal (now, this seems truly representative with media barons, IT tycoons, judicial luminaries, real estate barons etc etc.)
NDTV: Kiran Karnik (NASSCOM Chief), Shekhar Gupta, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (today, known as Saif's father), Ramachandra Guha (one of the country's best historians today), JS Verma, Leila Seth and Shobaa De.
Where is the citizenry representated in both juries ? Baffling to be honest.
Viswanathan Anand is the Sportsperson of the Year on both fronts - a good selection I must say, for he has always been the unheralded flagbearer of Indian sport on a global platform. P Chidambaram's name for Politician of the Year on IBN is somewhere questionable. What are the drastic economic measures he has taken this year ? The budget was reasonable to say the least. Nothing much, a weird choice. Businessperson of the Year on both sides - interesting choices I must say - State Bank of India's OP Bhatt for IBN and Mukesh Ambani for NDTV. I would have been tempted to give the award to Ratan Tata, for the sort of tact he showed in handling a) the Singur issue and b) producing what was considered to be the impossible - Tata NANO.
Inspirational Indian Leader of the Year Award in NDTV is an interesting award. Abdul Kalam, not a bad choice for someone who has gone back to his books, after his Presidential tenure. Yet, he remains an inspiration for every one of us. Entertainer of the Year in NDTV goes to Rajnikant and rightly so. Not because I am South Indian, but because how well his movie appealed across India and not just the south, where it is a one-man industry inevitably. The Actor With the Most Impact on Indian Cinema - uncalled for to be honest and Shahrukh bagging the award, smells of some nothing but glam. AR Rahman is deservingly the Musician of the Year (NDTV) - right from Guru to Sivaji to Lord of the Rings musical to Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, Rahman's notes have been really consistent and he deserves every bit of that award.
CNN-IBN has kept some of its big awards under the wraps, leading up to 26th January, when on Republic Day, these awards will be announced and given. I somehow feel, between the two, they still have the right ingredients and the guidelines of how these sort of awards must be given. An award must be in sheer recognition of the person's achievements and not the amount of money/revenue the man or his product earns for the organization and that is where IBN scores over its counterpart big time.
Do we need the Indian of the Year awards at the first place ? Or does it make for a good media war ? Maybe or maybe not. Yes, we the media need to roll the platform to the people who have really made a difference to this country. But, we the media also need to realize that these awards are not something to score browny points over each other in terms of TRP or TAM ratings.
If you ask me, I am the Indian of the Year - for I have been keeping my eyes on these two programmes to sit and waste an hour of my time writing about the same...
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