The public interest litigation by Aggarwal doesn't make sense. The movies which have been regarded as obscene, Big Bad Mamma, Dance of the Damned, Stripped to Kill were aired all over Asia at the same time they were in India. But it is only in this the land of the KamaSutra and the Khajhurao and wet sari-bosom-and-belly-button displaying songs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films has somebody taken objection to the said movies and gone to court. And the courts are listening to him. Not only that. They've issued summons andarrest warrants against Rupert Murdoch, who runs newspapers and television stations all over the world, and who probably would not have had any idea that the movies were being shown and would be labeled obscene in India.

Not that other Asian countries are not as conservative as India. Not that the media barons there don't hate Murdoch as much as Indian media owners do. They all want to bring him down, prevent him from attacking and stealing away their fiefdom.

The sad part is the law in India can be exploited. And it is being done so in the obscenity case. If the Indecent Representation of Women's Act were to be applied stringently not one Hindi or Tamil or Telugu or Kannada movie would ever make it to the big screen. Nor would the songs be shown on the south Indian TV channels under the category called Midnight Masala.

How often has Indian cinema displayed Indian women as objects to be chased, fondled and raped and that too sadistically? Or as just decorative pieces in mindless movie plot? Countlessnumber of times.

And while there have been objections, they have not been as loud in Murdoch's case. This is not to say that the so-called `wrong' committed by STAR Movies executives should go unpunished. Sure, if STAR TV executives have flouted the law they should be punished. But by trying to haul up Murdoch for something he may not be responsible at all is foolish.

Blaming Murdoch for the movies shown on STAR is like blaming India's prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for a railway accident and hauling him to court for that. The obscenity matter has dragged on long enough. And taxpayers' money has been wasted enough. Murdoch is unlikely to come to any Indian court (without any disrespect on this writer's part for the court).

What the government should do is get the STAR TV senior management to render a public apology for the mistake on its part. Additionally, the courts should levy a heavy monetary fine on the executives too. Remember, the `transgression' (if we can call it that) occurred at a timewhen there wasn't even a skeleton of broadcasting regulation in India. Not that there is any now.

Mallaya comes up with a master stroke

Vijay Mallya in a TV commercial exhorting car owners not to drink and drive. There was a time when it was unimaginable that the liquor baron with his penchant for fast cars (and some say even fast women) would ever develop a social conscience. Well he has, and with some style.

However, there is more to the commercial than jut social conscience. It has in one stroke cleaned up the Mallya image and made him come across as a sober, responsible and respectable human being. This apart it has also helped place his UB group's image, which was one of the most blatant users of surrogate advertising for liquor, in good light with the powers-that-be.

Earlier this year, when information & broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj was cracking the whip on liquor marketers who were bunging in their commercials on every channel, it appeared as though the UB group would get theworst of her (and her party's) wrath. However, Mallya will surely have won some fans amongst politicians and the babus with his endorsement in the McDowell Safe Drinking Campaign.

All one can say is cheers to HTA, which produced the campaign.

Hindujas will be better off without ATN

The rumour that the Hindujas are about to buy into the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't ATN has surfaced again. This is despite repeated denials from Indu Sind Media. If there is any truth in the rumour, the Hindujas, who manage In Cable Net should get ready for trouble. For reasons they have to turn to Siddarth Srivastava's track record. An industry source says: "While he is a good entrepreneur, whoever Siddarth has dealt with has had problems. Take Sun TV's Kalanithi Maran. Or Inter Sputnik. Or Lalit Modi. Or the ATN Bangla people. I don't even know whether all of them have managed to get their money out of him."

When this writer met an Inter Sputnik official in Mumbai at a party, the first question asked was: "Haveyou seen Siddarth?"

Hopefully, better sense will prevail with the Hindujas.

The writer can be reached at wanvari@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in or television@hotmail.com