 "Why Deepika versus Bombay Times may not be a real war at all")
If I were a gambling man (which I am not), I would offer odds of 10:1 that the controversy between the Bombay Times and Deepika Padukone is a fix, and both Bombay Times and Padukone will emerge winners and all the voyeurs of the drama, the twitterati, the columnists and the bloggers are just mugs in the game. If you re-read the previous paragraph, you would notice that I’ve said Bombay Times twice and made no mention of The Times of India.[caption id=“attachment_1713311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Deepika Padukone. AFP.[/caption] That’s the first inference that leads me to say that it’s a fix, the fact that the battle is playing out in Bombay Times and not in the main paper, The Times of India. If this was indeed war, the so-called defence that we saw this morning would have played out in the main paper and not in the supplement. When Bennett, Coleman and Company wants to make a statement on an issue that concerns a position, it’s up there on the front page, or, at the least, on a right hand nation page. The IRS stories play out there, as do the BARC or TAM stories. Why is this one in a supplement? While the story is about an actor, and, logically deserves to be in BT, the issue that is currently being aired (I hesitate to say debated) is (ostensibly) a far more important one: how media needs to cover and comment on women. The second pointer to my belief that it is a fix is the fact that, in the red corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have Deepika Padukone and in the blue corner, we have Priya Gupta. Deepika Padukone Vs Priya Gupta? That’s not a battle of equals. That’s hardly Fischer vs Spassky or Ali Vs Frazier. Hell, it’s not even George Telegraph Vs Howrah Union. If this were a real battle, we’d see some heavy lifters in the blue corner: The suits from the BCCL stable, the spokespersons who step in on industry issues, such as Ravi Dhariwal. If BCCL decided to maintain their church and state position, we’d see the editor of The Times of India pulling on his gloves. The third provocation is BCCL’s ambitions and interest in Bollywood. Can BCCL afford to piss off the actor community, even as they have yielded ground to Wizcraft on the IIFA Awards and are playing catch up? If a body of actors stands up for Deepika and refuses access to the BCCL stable of newspapers and magazines, refuses to appear at BCCL events, refuses to engage with BCCL radio stations and TV channels, it’s a loss of no mean proportions – and that causes my cynicism and scepticism to increase. I’ll believe it’s a real battle if we see a spokesperson from the management side making a statement on the issue. I’ll believe it’s a real battle if the story is discussed in the main paper tomorrow. And if it is a real battle, let’s strap ourselves in for a long, bloody war, with all of Bollywood and feminists in one corner and the entire bouquet of BCCL products in the other. That’s when I’ll believe it. Till then, I’ll say well done, Bombay Times and Deepika, and well done, MediaNet. All of you have got great bang for the buck.
Anant Rangaswami was, until recently, the editor of Campaign India magazine, of which Anant was also the founding editor. Campaign India is now arguably India's most respected publication in the advertising and media space. Anant has over 20 years experience in media and advertising. He began in Madras, for STAR TV, moving on as Regional Manager, South for Sony’s SET and finally as Chief Manager at BCCL’s Times Television and Times FM. He then moved to advertising, rising to the post of Associate Vice President at TBWA India. Anant then made the leap into journalism, taking over as editor of what is now Campaign India's competitive publication, Impact. Anant teaches regularly and is a prolific blogger and author of Watching from the sidelines.