HERO is ZERO

By Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: What is the brand value of Chiranjeevi, the prospective political leader? If Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings are any barometer, then Chiranjeevi scores a negligible 0.8 per cent. Telugu television news channels, that have been going ga-ga over Chiranjeevi's much-anticipated political arangetram and devoting counteless hours of air time for the past few months, have realised to their horror that as a would-be politician the 'mega star' arouses little interest among the public. Here is a case in point. A day after the attack on a vernacular newspaper office by suspected activists of theMadiga Reservation Porata Samiti, the leading Telugu satellite news channel ran a two-hour special programme with MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga trying to justify the attack. A couple of days later, noted film producer and Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law Allu Aravind went to town claiming that the actor would indeed jump into politics soon. Within minutes, Telugu news channels were quick on the uptake and started beaming out "special episodes" for a few hours, giving vivid details about the actor's upcoming moves. Alas, there were no takers for all that stuff! "Manda Krishna's two-hour special earned us a TRP of 2.4 per cent whereas the four-hour show on Chiranjeevi's political moves garnered a mere 0.8 per cent," a dismayed production in-charge of the leading Telugu news channel pointed out. Worse is the case of other Telugu channels which had an average TRP of about 0.4 per cent. "Anything positive about Chiranjeevi seems to be not selling these days," the executive observed. At the height of his daughter Srija's marriage a few months ago, TV channels made merry with TRPs touching an astounding six per cent or more on prime time. Television news channels, particularly the vernacular ones, would normally be happy if the TRP touches two per cent but with the Chiranjeevi (political) episodes not even crossing the one per cent TRP many a time, channel bosses are a worried lot. Two rather new Telugu news channels have been vying with others and focusing so much on Chiranjeevi to improve their ratings but have so far failed to cross even the 0.5 percent mark, channel insiders say. Their obvious game plan was to step up the hype over Chiranjeevi's political ambitions and thereby boost their channels' ratings. That, however, failed to happen as there seems to be a certain scepticism over the actor's moves and motives. "Five or six months ago when there was widespread anticipation about Chiranjeevi's political foray, TV viewership was reasonably good with news TRPs being between 1-2 per cent. But as months passed without the actor himself saying something on what's exactly in store, people are apparently showing no inclination to take things seriously," a top functionary of the news channel remarked. Now, the channels are eagerly awaiting the day when Chiranjeevi will open his mouth and ultimately announce the "arrival of our train." That should, hopefully, cheer up one and all!