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Big B to add glamour to Kashmir DD relaunch

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Doordarshan's ambitious multi-crore Kashmir channel is being relaunched on Friday evening.

The star-studded function will see among others Bollywood's Amitabh Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty and singer Lucky Ali, at the heavily guarded five star Grand Palace, on the banks of the Dal lake, surrounded by the densely forested Zabarwan Hills.

Union Home Minister L K Advani, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley and other officials of the Prasar Bharati will attend the function, which will be inaugurated by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah. Advani will be the chief guest.

The channel was launched in Delhi on Republic Day, for what an official of the Prasar Bharati said was to "counter Pak TV propaganda". He said that DD Kashmir was a unique collaboration with Zee TV, Sony TV, Star TV and UTV, which will offer a bouquet of best programmes for entertainment starved Kashmiris. However, content-wise the channel, according to Kashmir-watchers, has proved to be a great disappointment and has only become a money-minting opportunity for Doordarshan officials.

The local sentiment of alienation has been best depicted in today's cartoon in the Kashmiri daily Greater Kashmir. It shows a Kashmir channel without Kashmiris and interestingly, its target audience is Kashmiris.

Mohammad Shafi, a lecturer in a local college, said those associated with programming were outsiders and most programme executives were unable to even pronounce 'Kashmir' correctly.

A local daily recently wrote that "the programmes are being made by non-Kashmiri producers and production houses which are only abusing Kashmiri culture in the name of its promotion".

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