Vantage point




Monday, January 22, 2007

Oh just STFU

I posted the two Colbert videos discussing the Amitabh and Shahrukh feud because I found them hilarious.

But a lot of people are basking a little too much in this attention. Led by reporters always hungry for Indian recognition in American eyes, a lot of people are saying that this means there is a growing awareness about Bollywood and India in general in the US mainstream media. That Bollywood is becoming more popular. To those people, I would say, STFU.

While that may or may not be the case, basing such an opinion on the Colbert clips is so (insert Indian City name here)-Times-ish. As a regular viewer of Colbert I find such assertions even more hilarious. Firstly, the whole segment makes it obvious that part of the punchline was the fact that Colbert picked such an arbit feud from some unknown universe to make fun of right after the Rosie-Trump feud. Colbert picks anything random to make fun of. Literally anything. Recurring themes on his show have been based on completely random things like some bridge in Hungary. Or some high school ice hockey team in the Great Lakes area. Or some arbitrary eagle whose migratory habits are being tracked by ornithologists.

Imagine if someone was to say, "this means there is a growing awareness and respect for Hungarian bridges in the American media" based on Colbert's show. It is ridiculous!

At the most, we can speculate that there is probably an Indian writer on Colbert's staff, who thought of the Amitabh-Shahrukh feud as a randomly hilarious follow-up for the Rosie-Trump feud which was dominating the American media.

Well whoop-de-doo. An Indian writer is on the staff of a cable comedy show. If that is news, then an even bigger news that one of the writer-actors, Mindy Kaling, on a network show(i.e much higher reach as opposed to a cable show) The Office is an Indian and the show had a 'Diwali Special' episode.

Go crazy (insert Indian City name here)-Times writers. Weave a story about how NRIs are becoming influential in the American entertainment industry. Bask in that glory.

But for FSM's sake, if you are going to make stupid claims based on the Colbert Report clips, I repeat, STFU.

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