THE “BHAKT” BANERJEE ALTERNATIVE

CREATING SATIRE FOR IMPATIENT TIMES

“But it’s a clear case…he was waiting with a knife…”

“That’s not the question; the issue is – did he stab to kill…”

“Come on…of course he did…!! there are eye-witnesses…”

“They might have eyes and be a witness, but not everyone can see beyond the obvious, my dear. Look at the incline of the wound, here… come here (drags me near a table and picks up a pen)…see when you stab to kill you hit horizontally and then turn your wrist…like this … but in this case it was a slash (swashes the pen wildly across my paunch) … diagonal, like this …”

That’s not Sherlock Homes and Watson.

That’s Akash “Deshbhakt’ Banerjee and me, about 10 years back. Right in front of our coffee-machine besides the newsroom toilet, we were discussing a story.  

Akash was my anchor during my stint as a senior producer with Headlines Today. First with a OB-Van based spot-report show “Ground Zero”, which went on to win the NT Awards. Next, we paired in “Inside Story”, a late night crime show, where we spent quite a few lovely nights together.

From the above conversation, the point to be noted is – ‘They might have eyes and be a witness, but not everyone can see beyond the obvious’.  Well, Akash Banerjee can !! He can see far beyond a story and almost always knows how to tell it with a twist. He always insisted on telling his stories differently. There’s a lot I have learned from him.

But that’s ancient history. Now, driving towards his office in Noida, I had been thinking. This is the seventh month of the year 2019.  Akash ‘Deshbhakt’ Banerjee has over 650,000 YouTube subscribers now, and all of that came in just about one year. He might as well refuse to be interviewed for a newbie blog. That would be uncomfortable.

Well, my apprehensions were misplaced.

Akash remains as warm and welcoming and witty as he ever was. Fame still sits easy on his shoulders; as always.

While still in college, he was Doctor Love on radio, offering relationship advice to lovelorn souls; then, his brief stint with Arnab Goswami in Times Now seasoned him as a TV News Reporter!! Not just seasoned, but baked and then deep-fried him from both sides, if I know it right. Then. at India Today TV, he worked with yours truly in his team, followed by a long and successful run as the regional head of Radio Mirchi in Delhi.

More than enough reasons to turn into a full-time “Deshbhakt”, I presume.

News runs in the blood of Akash; it’s his dominant stream of consciousness. 

I remember the episode of Ground Zero where he walked all the way through the deep jungles of Rudrakonda Hills, to be among the first few reporters that reached YSR’s chopper crash site – at around 75 kilometers from Kurnool. I still recall his PTC from Taj Hotel during the Mumbai attacks against the burning dome, when the terrorists suddenly started firing, and he had to duck on-screen; even after that, he didn’t leave his station for three nights and days, if I remember it right.

And then, those colorful holi stories from Barsana, with Akash perched precariously on a make-shift crane while doing his (literally) over-the-top PTC, splattered all over with a fervent frenzy of colors; those crazy vox-pops as he walked the talk during rail budgets, when he invariably got into a train, mostly without permission.

There’s a lot more in terms of memories. In those days, I was a big fan of his courage and commitment to his work; I still am.

It’s his indomitable and irreverent attitude that makes him a perfect fit to the world of satire; he still looks at things differently, and seeks to share his oblique outlook with the world – coated with a liberal dose of dry sarcasm.

What he now does with “desbhakt” is classic Akash Banerjee.

I believe, in his self-induced smug embrace of fact-loaded banters, my friend Akash has finally found his true calling.

On the eve of the ‘century’ episode of DeshBhakt, my best wishes.

We met and we spoke about many things, including satire as an alternative vehicle of presenting news. Of all the secrets he revealed, I will give a few pointers below. 

• To make a joke on news, you need to know ‘news’ inside out.
• Satire is a platform to present serious issues in a direct, easier and far more digestible way.
• Satire is not comedy; in satire writing for TV, there has to be a deeper message first, which is then layered with humor and sarcasm.
• You have to know your ‘facts’; their authenticity will always have to be double-checked; no compromise on that.
• A good satirist should be self-deprecating; he should be able to take a joke on himself.

That’s that then; if you are hated for your wit, your tongue, and if you manage to rub people the wrong way, then you should be in the business of satire. 

Love you for that closing statement Akash.

May you be hated more than ever before; let all that hate translate into an even more robust following; and may that continue till the end of eternity, or the politics of hate, whichever comes first.