I wrote a reviews on the same topic a few months ago,but after watching the show off late,especially the ones shot after elections,I am forced to take a U-turn in my opinion!
The Big Fight is a one hour program on NDTV 24x7 broadcast on every Saturday(8 PM).The show, which began in 1999, is being anchored by Rajdeep Sardesai,the political editor of the channel.
About the Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai is the son of former international cricketer Dilip Sardesai did his masters at Oxford, then he came back and joined TOI as an assistant editor.Then he joined NDTV with a famous interview with Brian Lara for The World This Week,a program then broadcast in Doordarshan.He grew to become its political editor,and is considered as Prannoy Roy's blue eyed boy and right hand man.He is married to famous journalist and author, Sagarika Ghose.He is one of the best known personalities in Indian media. ------------ New Addition---------
But lately he seems to have disconnected himself from the current affairs of the country and abroad.It seems he is desperately trying to prove that he dont know even the basics of economics let alone trade,commerce and stock-markets.
Reason: You should have seen Sardesai when Sitaram Yechuri quipped that the congress election manifesto is against privatization of profit making PSUs-perplexed and completely at sea to comment(on May 17th)!There are many more occasions like this,one of them being the interview with Lalu Yadav in the evening of Rail-Budget day.A visibly uncomfortable Sardesai asked 'You cannot run railways with such populism.How can you keep the freight charges so low?'.He,understandably, didnt seem to know that the freight charges in Indian Railways are too high,inorder to cross subsidize passenger fares.Remember the mess he did on the Big Fight when he took on Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala about the Transaction Tax issue!He was speach less until he managed to ask Jairam Ramesh to comment on this.
In addition to this,he has become one among the large number of victims of the fastest growing thing the reforms the country has seen in the last 14 years or so has produced,InequalityMr.Sardesai and his crew seems to be completely cut-off from the rest of the country(which includes the Rural India as well as the poor in Urban India.)(Remember Barkha Dutt uttering 'This is the pulse of India' in The Big Story promo!!Which India is she talking about?)
Also,Sardesai has let his emotions and opinions show off late,and his continuous left bashing sometimes becomes embarrassing.He utters 'I dont need kudos from communists' to one poor old PSU engineer and Marxist(whose commen,seemingly came from his Heart for that matter) , while simultaneously offering Thanks to Neha Dupia for her congratulation,when she came to talk about Julie(in which she tried desperately to prove that the film is the most titillating one ever released in India!).
Or are these the strategy that made NDTV earn a profit of 7 crores in last quarter,up from a 20 crore loss the previous quarter
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The structure of the show The show has: Three personalities(generally) with different views on a subject debates a topic.(a former ndtv ad described them as 'the good,bad and ugly fighting it out' ).There will be two journalists(generally from print media) as co-panelists.There is an audience of,say 50-60.
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Did Sardesai read my review?Nowadays,the journos are absent!!
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The show has three parts:The First Punch, Crossfire and the audience round.The three personalities will give an introductory view of their topic,their view and why.Then they will fight it out among themselves,and in the next round the co-panelists will ask them a few questions.The last round is an audience round,and then the three personalities will give a concluding remarks.
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I guess I was wrong on the number.Is there 5 parts?Any way,that doesnt make a huge difference!
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Pros:
The most important factor is Rajdeep Sardesai.He is arguably the best TV journalist in this country.He is an authority on Politics and Cricket.The combination makes him produce some wit,along with some tough questions.He is the best part of the show.New Addition(ha ha ha!!Saw the U-turn I have made!!) With such an anchor,what more does a TV show need?But what about co-panalists?Okay, they are all eminent journalists,each an authority on the respective topic,and are carefully selected.But, It has failed to make a mark in my mind.I remember every thing from the show, from intro,to crossfire ,audiance round and concluding remarks, but the journalists' Q&A doesnt get fixed in my mind.They have never asked a breakthrough question. Also, sometimes, the audience are not at best.They need to apply more care in selecting the audiences. The debating personalities are carefully chosen,very much like the topic, and the choice is quite ideal.The video footage they show sometimes suites the occasion very much. In a major boost to Indian television, the show won the Best Talk Show prize at the Asian Television Awards,2003.The Big Fight' episode which won the competition was titled `Is sex finally out of the Indian closet' and featured actress Mallika Sherawat, activist Madhu Kishwar and columnist Anil Dharker. Talk Shows on general issues are virtually absent in Indian media,except for big fight and question time india in BBCWorld(seems they have discontinued that),and 'We The People'.Among these, Big Fight wins hands down.
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Of course I dont think so any more(on that win hands down) primarily because I miss QT India nowadays and We The People is equally bad.(And more cruel to the panelists Ms.Dutt embarrasses too many people these days(mostly old men who cant talk in English that fast),which I find sad.).The Panelists in Big Fight(and on all NDTV shows!) are repeated too much,like Jaitly(He is definitly doing a good job as a lawyer,but he lacks knowledge on many issues and sometimes makes a fool of himself(Prannoy made him one on Budget day,when he said that the Manufacturing growth rate last year at 6.2 was shockingly low.Jaitly recovered quickly,and said that the most important thing is to get on higher growth trajectory etc),Jairam ramesh,Sitaram Yechury etc. And the audience!See their opinion,they like a police state to democracy,they think NDA will win hands down and feels that the current govt is not doing much for national security.As Abhishek Singhvi quipped,'the opinion presented by the audience in urban newsrooms do not represent the ordinary people!'
So if you are preparing for a uni debate,or want to see your side to win atleast in this or want to hear 'Are there no permanent friends or enemies in politics' or just want to beat your friend in a bashing match,watch this program.
