Dara Singh passes away: insensitive media garners TRP

12 July, 2012

Wrestler turned actor, one of Bollywood's most loved personality, Dara Singh passed away today at the age of 84. While there are many who mourn his demise, the insensitive media reports stand out as mocking representations of the sad incident.

“ABB HANUMAN ko chahiye Sanjeevani” was not exactly the title someone would like to see while skipping through the news channels, especially when it is a report about a person’s critical health. But that’s exactly how the ‘breaking news’ headline flashed across a number of Hindi news channels in the past few days when India’s beloved Dara Singh fought with his illness at hospital. Journalism was not supposed to be about creativity skills – but in the age of TRP driven advertising rates, creativity of substandard nature probably gets you the highest eyeballs.

Dara Singh, the man who played the character of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, passed away on July 12, 2012 at 7.30 am. He was 84-years-old and his demise is mourned by all and sundry. Most of the personalities from Indian film industry who visited to pay their homage to the actor were flocked by reporters, asking for a quote on the issue.

An Aaj Tak TV reporter, in an hurry to report from the spot said, “… bol rahe hai kaise unke shaadi mein chaar chaar ghante naachte thay Dara Singh ji” ! I was shocked at the insensitively- blown-out-of-proportion narration of the comment. Is that all somebody said about Dara Singh or is that the only line the reporter can remember about the jovial nature of the demised hero? I am not an avid watcher of Hindi news channels, but I have often heard the business argument behind such callous reporting – the target group is different. Does that mean there is a section of society who would like to hear it this way? I wonder.

Closing the television set, I switched onto the Internet. Somehow, I could not resist the temptation to visit a Hindi news website – zeenews. To my astonishment, on the homepage they were running a poll which when translated in English will read – “Do you think the loss of Dara Singh can be recovered?” The options were ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘Cant Say’. It looked even more disgusting than it sounds.

Whether Dara Singh’s loss had been a big blow to Bollywood is not something I would be able to comment on. However, it surely is a irrevocable loss to his family. We as fans grew up watching him personify the character of Hanuman or have liked his cute, funny ‘dadaji’ role in ‘Jab we Met’ very recently. RIP!