Activist journalists and citizen journalists have a new beacon to show them the way. This Sunday, Aamir Khan came, he saw and shook us up, if not conquered us. From actor to producer to director, now Khan has donned yet another hat – activist journalist. Well, at least he’s using his popularity for some good unlike others who use it to sell underwear.

So yesterday was the day when Indian television was supposed to be stirred up like we haven’t seen it stirred up since Mahabharat or Ramayana. Aamir Khan was delivering on the promise of a show “that was about all of us, about our lives”.  And much like everyone in the country who advertising has access to, I too sat down to watch TV on a Sunday morning at 11am, for pretty much the first time since I was 14. And this was no My Little Pony or Star Trek.

Aamir’s been particularly circumspect about what the show was going to be all about. Other than us being bombarded with many hoardings across the city with Khan looking down at us with a piercing gaze and telling us “Dil pe lagegi, tabhi baat banegi” and a few interviews where he said nothing other than that there’s never been a show like this made before and that it was his love letter to India, we’ve known nothing about the show. Going by the promos and Aamir’s image of being a do-gooder (and of course the well-timed visit to the wedding of the rickshaw puller in Varanasi), we’d all pretty much guessed that it would be a show about the country’s aam aadmi with some true life stories thrown in to tug at our heart strings. What wasn’t clear was whether it would be about stories of unsung heroes or about the ills which the common man has to live with.

Following the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara-esque opening montage of Aamir boating, standing in Ladakh, looking pensive, we moved on to the show which it turns out is a talk show much like Oprah or even an improved version of Kiran Bedi’s Aap Ki Kachehri or Rakhi Sawant’s Rakhi Ka Insaaf. Satyamev Jayate is put simply, an extremely comprehensive public awareness programme almost akin to a well-planned moral science class. From identifying the problem to clearing up misconceptions to outlining the solution and finally asking for a call for action, Satyamev Jayate hits all the right notes.

The first episode was on female infanticide – a topic which we neither make films or serials on. More than a crime which is not spoken of, it is one which most people who perpetrate it aren’t even aware of. And that’s where the programme won out. It helped to at least build awareness. It introduced the audience to women who’d been forced to abort the female foetuses they were carrying and let them narrate their truly horrific stories (from a woman who was forced to have 6 abortions in 8 years to another whose husband mutilated her face for refusing to abort her female child). We were informed by Aamir on how the sex of a child is determined by the father and not the mother’s chromosomes, met a lawyer and a doctor working to help women who were forced to abort their children, met the two journalists from Sahara Samay who’d undertaken a sting operation in Rajasthan’s hospitals to expose those doctors who conducted these illegal abortions, were told that it wasn’t impossible to change the way things were and were given the example of a village in Rajasthan which has managed to take steps in educating people and stopping female infanticide. There were charts and graphs, vox pop and advice from researchers and gynaecologists. And finally we were told that he was not telling us just the problem, he had the solution as well. And the solution was us. We needed to pressurize the Rajasthan government to try those who were identified in the Sahara Samay sting op by asking for a fast track court to be set up, whether through sending an SMS or signing a petition. We could also donate money to an NGO set up by Reliance’s philanthropy wing to work against female infanticide and looking after female children.

What you cannot fault Aamir Khan on is his conviction to make a programme which fulfils the aim of educating people about the ills which surround them. Some of which they aren’t even aware of. Many people don’t even realize why it’s wrong to kill a girl child. And it needs a star like Aamir Khan to knock some sense into their heads. This is undoubtedly a commendable initiative by him. It’s a show aimed at the saas-bahu audience. It has been dumbed down to make it simple for them to understand the magnitude of female infanticide. The charts and graphs may look like what we’d have made in class VI, but that’s what works. He keeps it simple for the stupid. There are two or three audience members who the camera focuses on every time a victim narrates their experience. These audience members cry, wince and look shocked – almost on demand. It reminds you of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Aamir himself weeps on cue, almost blubbering at one point. Slightly reminiscent of Oprah and of Smriti Irani – not in her talk show avatar but as Tulsi. But this is what will tug at the heart-strings. The grey-haired woman shaking her head in horror, Aamir wiping his tears away, another woman gasping in shock. It had all the right ingredients. Tears, drama, real life stories, call to activism, wry smile. This show has it all.

But while Aamir is the best part of the show, he is also the worst. There is something utterly contrived about his reactions. Even his spontaneity seems studied, which takes away from what he says, for me at least. His well-timed tears, loud tut-tutting, looks of horror seem like the worst form of acting – fittingly reminiscent of Star’s very own saas-bahu serials. His holier-than-thou image also seems a little hollow when you keep in mind the many ethical and moral imbroglios he’s been involved with – from copyright issues to extra-marital affairs to taking credit for directing a film which he didn’t to being accused of not acknowledging his illegitimate child. The saintly mantle does not sit easily on his shoulders.

It also cannot but slip your notice that the public welfare partner for the programme is the Reliance Foundation. It simply leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I don’t doubt that Snehalaya does good work, but it makes my back go up a little, because whenever I read about any CSR work Mukesh bhai is involved in, I keep thinking of all the ills in India which he could have solved by simply not having built Antilla and instead putting that money into charity. But hey, we all want a $1 billion house which we don’t live in and which we pay monthly electricity bills of Rs 70 lakh for. Why would we think of donating that money to charity, when we can set up an NGO and ask for donations instead? But I digress.

There is also another moment which jars in the programme. A smiling mother who refused to abort her female foetus is interviewed in the programme. The mother herself cannot be more than in her mid-teens. In a country as profoundly beset by child marriage as it is by female infanticide, it is odd that the person shown as an example of a progressive mother is one who herself is a child. It’s not just I who noticed this girl, but almost everyone else I spoke with after I saw the show. One wishes that as much attention was given to this detail as was given to the gray haired crying woman’s timely tears.

There is no question that this is a show which needed to be made. Someone needs to talk about these topics, educate people and condemn these crimes. Whether it will work is a different matter. Will people want to tune in at 11am to watch a one-and-half-hour programme on society’s ills? This is not the 70s when people had no choice but to watch whatever DD showed them. Will the moral science lecture veneer and the earnestness of the programme work against it? I think it will. Will you want your 6-year old child to watch a visibly mutilated woman narrate how her husband bit into and disfigured her face like an animal would, just because she wouldn’t abort the female foetus in her tummy? I know I wouldn’t. These are obstacles which will start popping up now that the first day first show novelty has vanished.

Satyamev Jayate’s heart is definitely in the right place. And while the show might not be revolutionary, it is revolutionary to see an actor put his money where his mouth is. And if we can stop crimes like female foeticide by even a percentage, I’m all for it. Someone needs to educate us and open our eyes for us. I can only hope that this is an experiment which will not backfire or fizzle out.

Image Source [http://www.satyamevjayate.in/issue01/]