Bhoomi (The Earth) is a teleserial produced by Sidharth Kak of “Surbhi” fame. The serial is proposed to be telecast during prime time on national network. It attempts to promote environmental issues. In the mindless chaos of film based entertainment programmes, this serial comes as a boon. A preview was organised at the WWF premises. It is presented by film actress Meenakshi Sheshadri and has jazzy special effects and a catchy music score. The first episode highlights the eternal conflict between the people’s way of life, and “development”. The railway track route proposed by Konkan Railways along the eastern coast of Goas encroaches on agricultural fields. Rice production and fisheries, the two major sources of income, are affected, creating a gloomy future for the local residents. Water stagnation, another problem associated with local residents who complain about not being consulate, and hence being lumped with a development project that will, among other things, cause harm to their environment. Even as one is getting into the problems of the Goans, Ms Sheshadri appeared on the screen, framed in special effects to take us to the Madras crocodile bank. Mr. Whitekar narrates his experience as to how he succeeded in saving two endangered species of crocodiles. The camera catches a few interesting close ups of the species, but the monotonous and long narration makes the viewer yawn. There is also a brief story on the Irula snake farm. The extraction of venom and its use for medicinal purposes are explained. The two stories, except for being from Madras, do not have anything else in common. From Madras, we move to Jodhpur. The issue here is the storage of water. A jheel in the city, the ancient method of storing water, was an efficient way of catering to the needs of the locals. The greed of the modern building industry lead to the extraction of stones which has posed a threat to the storage of water. The story presents the efforts of local engineers to rectify the mistake. With Meenakshi we move towards her current home, Bombay. The camera pans through the entire city capturing the excitement of the metropolis and finally takes us to the Mahim nature part: and attempt by WWF to make parks a way of life, to develop parks a way of life, to develop parks as the forests grow. The dense green of the mangroves in the city of concrete look too optimistic. The presentation is rounded off with the work of Dr. Keswani of Bhai Jeejabhai hospital who has been using potato peel to protect burnt skins. His potato peel bandage is a breakthrough in the treatment of burn victims. The entire magazine is approximately of 30 minutes duration and the viewer sits through it comfortably. It has weakness though: long narrations and interviews; the viewer is not made aware of the historical perspective of the issues; some stories need to be structured more clearly, even at the cost of reducing the number of stories. With the general level of awareness, which unfortunately is not very high, a programme like this needs to be more comprehensive in its treatment of subjects. A part of each episode can be of a participatory nature. The reviewer’s chief concern is that Bhoomi should not share the same fate as that of other T.V. serials such as “Turning Point” and “Bharat Ek khoj”, which are only viewed by a particular class. Bhoomi needs to reach everyone, all sections of society, and it is towards this end the producer/director must direct their creative skills. q
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