Indian radio has come a long way since the times of Vividh Bharati. With the plethora of FM stations available today these are exciting times for Indian audiences, more so with RJs on various stations trying out all sorts of innovative stuff to keep the lights going.
As i may have mentioned earlier , my office commute consists of traveling across three Indian states. Everyday. Among other things, this gives me a lot of time to sample the fare.
One common theme doing the rounds these days is calling up random people and trying to make a fool out of them. Sometimes it is funny and sometimes plain rude. The audience seem to love these segments.
Came across this very interesting exchange the other day.
The RJ calls up this guy, whom we will call Hero no 1. As Hero no 1 takes the call, there are sounds of people crying on this side.
Loud wailing by a few men.
RJ: Ajit ji, so how much did Mr Mehta owe you?
Random person 1 (Crying): Well, this is not the time to do this, but he owed me Rs 20,000.
RJ: And Rajesh ji, how much did Mr Mehta owe you?
Random person 2: Now you are embarrassing me. Waise it was Rs 15,000.
All this happening in the background as Hero no 1 is listening in bewilderment. RJ now turns to Hero no 1.
RJ: Hero no 1, did you know Mr Mehta? He just passed away
Hero no 1: Of course. He was a dear friend. What happened to him? He owed me Rs 50,000.
[In case this got too complicated, Hero no 1 has no idea who the caller or Mr Mehta is, but senses the opportunity for a chance pe dance.]
RJ suddenly changes tone. Loud Jat accent, like a Delhi Police cop.
RJ: Abe saale, so you knew Mr Mehta. He was running a smuggling racket involving crores of drugs. So you are a partner in his business?
Click. Phone disconnects.
RJ calls up again. Tring tring.
RJ: Hello
Hero no 1: In a kid’s voice. Hello. Papa is not home.
RJ now can not control his laughter. Bursts out laughing.
RJ: Hero no 1, I am RJ bla bla bla. We were just making a bakra out of you. Your girl friend told us that you are the greediest SOB possible, and you proved it. Serves as a lesson for you.
Creative, huh?
Scary, anyone?
You could get a weird call one day and be made to eat crow in front of millions of listeners.
Do Radio Jockeys need to take it upon themselves to teach people a lesson? What if they get manipulated into mistreating perfectly sensible and honest people, who are just gullible enough to get trapped?
I remember another time when another RJ called up a random auntie, and pretended to be her daughter’s friend. She casually mentioned the daughter’s wedding, and little tidbits about the entire affair. Poor woman was shocked. You could hear her voice trembling and shaking, very nearly in tears. What if she had a heart failure in response to this very sudden and depressing news?
Or another instance where they called up a guy en route to his engagement. The RJ said that he was previously engaged to the bride-to-be, and that he had photographs to prove it. The groom started off disbelieving, but on hearing about the photographs he asked for them to be sent to him immediately. You could sense a wedding about to break. What sort of a mind frame would this person be when he arrives for the engagement, bakra or not?
The question is, how far can we go for fun?
The question is, how far can we go for fun? Should we play with such sensitive issues just for kicks? Should we try to act like a moral authority out to police the streets? Is Radio going to go the way of TV channels, who dont shy away from stooping to abysmal levels just to create glamorous news, however biased it may be? Should these people be liable for defamation lawsuits?
What do you guys think?
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I think they should liable for defamation suits. I never liked Bakra anyway.
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I think people should start filing some soon!
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this is just weird! How can anyone find this funny? I agree that these people should be sued!!
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i know. Some of it is so twisted!
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I never like most of these crank call things that come up on FM nowadays.. stopped listening to FM for quiet some time but this totally sucks… If I get such a call, I would surely be really pissed and you never know, might end up suing them.. though I know it would be futile…
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I totally see myself giving them a piece of my mind if i get such a call. Makes me think that for every such call they broadcast on radio there are probably dozens which are too laced with insults for them to go out.
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I don’t know but I found that funny. May be other two examples are in bad taste But most of these pranks are in right spirit.
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Most i dont know. Some yes, but they are beginning to cross the line in the bid to outdo the competition. Same thing as what has happened with TV.
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It may sound funny, but, I do not subscribe to such cheap jokes.
Last year, one such caller from a FM was arrested as he called up a businessman in Mumbai and cracked some silly joke.
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Good. It will take a few arrests for them to learn the lesson.
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Theres another one going around that calls up businesses in a very fractures english and gets creppy. Like calling up english speaking classes, travel agencies, call centers and stuff…..FM guys need to grow up and definitely need to mind their language.
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Oh yes…i think i know the one you are talking about. Some singh character. Highly idiotic!
Language – “aaj ke zamaane ka radio, BAAP ke zamane ka nahi”, ‘aaramkhori”, “bhasad”. They use the choicest expressions that are just outright filthy at times. Is this progress?
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Very very interesting post. I am in the process of writing a dissertation on radios in France and there are radios here too which do the same thing. But not all of them. In fact, the quality of programmation on the French public station radios are very good. We get to hear litterature, philososhy, reportages on films, daily info, businees news, interviews.
That apart there are the radio privées or private radio stations, which have their own themes like religion, music, or representing a certain community. India has great potential as a radio country.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. India too has serious state run radio stations. Unfortunately they are deemed boring.
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I’ve listened to some of these calls. They are in really bad taste. I’m wondering why somebody doesn’t complain…
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