Shailaja Bajpai

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 One is Aaj Tak. The other is Dilli Aaj Tak. The first is a Hindi national news channel (which means it tells you that the price of tomatoes in the country has gone up from Rs blah to Rs blah); the second is a Hindi news channel exclusively for the capital (which means it tells you that the price of tomatoes at the local government price controlled shop is Rs 29.50 on Saturday morning).

Aaj Tak, the national news channel, will headline the news of a bomb in a Nagpur school (Friday lunch time); Dilli Aaj Tak will headline the alleged suicide by a student (in Delhi, not at the Nagpur school); Aaj Tak will trumpet the release of Hrithik Roshan’s latest film Krissh nationwide (which includes halls in Delhi, like PVR); Dilli Aaj Tak will bugle the release of Hrithik Roshan’s latest film Krissh at halls in Delhi (which include PVR).

Subsequently, both will preview the film at great length with public reactions (from Delhi) to the Roshans’ flight of fancy.

You see how the two channels walk the fine line between ‘national’ and ‘local’ and how, by a happy coincidence, so much of what happens in Delhi is considered both local and national. With sports and films being of equal interest to viewers of national and local news channels, there are moments the two can pass off for each other. This is not just a happy coincidence but a contrived branding which allows the sister channels to cross-promote one another.

Dilli Aaj Tak is the new and younger sibling — and Delhi’s first dedicated TV news channel from a well-known house. It was introduced last month and sports a bright yellow and red colour scheme (in keeping with its age?), while Aaj Tak prefers the the more sober red, white and grey.

Apart from family resemblances, what’s stands out about Dilli Aaj Tak is its spartan approach. It keeps things simple: on a random switch to the channel, the chances are you will see the following: crime in Delhi, crime in Delhi and more crime in Delhi. No wonder some people call it the crime capital of the country.

Watching the channel has been an absolute revelation: didn’t know there was so much crime in such abundant variety here. You have to salute the criminals — they leave nothing to the imagination. During a few hours Dilli Aaj Tak had come up with the following: two criminals involved in bank robbery, Preet Vihar lover sets fire on his girlfriend, DGB Road miscreants loot five lakhs, multi-crore housing scheme scam unearthed, three arrested with smack, DRI arrests Indonesian girl in Nizamuddin with 3 kilos of heroin, Sanatam Dharma temple robbery (is nothing sacred?), robbery in Rohini — Rs 25,000 stolen, water mafia active throughout city, kerosene stolen, SHO removed for protecting rape accused, fire...

If it’s not crime, it’s the weather (including the longest story on the longest day of the year), or promos. No channel runs as many promos as Dilli Aaj Tak. Some are very good but the reason for their lavish numbers is that the advertisers are few and something must fill the break between crime and the city.

Now, either Delhi is one tight-fisted-as-Scrooge capital, or else its potential advertisers don’t watch/receive Dilli Aaj Tak and think the people who live there don’t either. Given the fulsome and adulatory coverage the channel gives Delhi’s denizens (sorry for the awful alliteration but couldn’t resist) this is real churlish.

Khan Market’s traders should hang their heads in shame. Last week saw a lengthy promo-show on New Delhi’s chic shopping center — a tourist guide couldn’t have done more. From praise for the chicken, the vegetables and everything cooked with them, to the the best music and best bookstore in town, Khan Market was Dilli Aaj Tak’s favoured destination. Did the Market express its gratitude with a few ads? Nope.

There is much more to the news — events on the art circuit, timings of films at different movie halls, et cetera, et cetera. If that is what you want to watch on a city news channel, then, as the promos urge you, ask your cable operator to give you Aaj Tak. Now.