Coming Soon. The End.
Omkar Sane
Tranquebar Rs 295 pp 252
FlipArt. Or, an eminently ‘flippable’ piece of creation. That’s my verdict. But unfortunately book reviews must say more. So here goes.
After a jerky start — notes from the author and three tickle-yawn-tickle chapters on the ‘telly’ and its vision — this Omkar Sane product finally takes off. Sane uses a cast of five TV professionals who meet at a bar to catch up. But their lives, like their names, smack of monotony. Their conversation is the book. The book is an honest effort to deconstruct the world of television, replete with fancy titles and nuanced roles (freelance producer, promo producer, anchor, and show producer), jargon (GEC, AD, DOP) and a deep-seated ‘air-archy’.
The content is informative, but the delivery over-cheeky, and long-drawn. The curious use of typography (a skinny sans serif in italics) and omission of chapter labels in places is confounding. And the illustrations by Aindri Chakraborty serve as an interrupting presence mimicking TV ads in spirit, if not in form.
On page 252, after the friends have departed, the TV plays on. Sane writes: “And the muted TV kept playing. For whoever was watching. Or wasn’t.”
{{/usCountry}}On page 252, after the friends have departed, the TV plays on. Sane writes: “And the muted TV kept playing. For whoever was watching. Or wasn’t.”
{{/usCountry}}Confused? But then Sane had qualified in his introduction, “Since this is not a masterful work of literature…”