By Abraham Mathai
MOST of the time shows of only Hindu families are shown on national TV. Once in a while they may show Christian families and that too where the father and son in a family are shown as drinking and partying. That is the convoluted image they may show of a Christian family. This is certainly not a depiction of a true Christian family.
In fact, when they show Muslims, they are generally portrayed as terrorists and anti-social elements. The majority of Muslims in India are, however, law-abiding citizens.
It isn’t as if that showing minorities on TV will lead to a TRP loss. If you have a good story line and good character roles, I think it will boost the TRPs.
Also read: 9 reasons why Indian TV lacks Christian values
Turn to any channel and you would find a Hindu mythological serial being telecast, but you would not find a single one on the life of Lord Jesus. You may say it’s the channel’s prerogative since they are the ones who spend money. I agree that they have to weigh the pros and cons before deciding on programming. All I am saying is it would be nice though if there is equal representation of all faiths including Christianity on television. Doordarshan, however, being a government channel will give Christians more slots if possible. The private channels don’t find the same profitable enough.
As far as a serial on the life of Lord Jesus goes, it would be nice if the actor who plays Jesus is a Christian. Although any talented artiste can enact the role of Jesus on TV, we need someone who would be convincing enough in his portrayal on and off-screen.
If the channels cannot produce a serial on the life and message of Jesus Christ, the least they can do is dig into the Old Testament and come up with realistic depiction of the Jewish life that teach the fundamentals of the Bible through the prophets and stories from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is all about God’s love and prophecies concerning Jesus Christ.
During Christmas and Easter, the channels’ programming has become farcical. I wonder why the channel heads would associate the festivals with only Santa Claus and Easter eggs. Ask any Bible-believing Christian and he would tell you that Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus. However, year after year the channels find it more lucrative to promote Santa than carol singing and talk about the birth of Christ.
Easter is a pagan term. In Christian terminology it should be Resurrection Day. Jesus rose from his grave on the third day.
You can actually spread the Gospel through TV serials by showing how Christians take up stands in various walks of life. They take a strong stand on various issues based on their faith in Christ.
As far as the association of Christians with wearing a cross and praying in a church is concerned, you really can’t blame media professionals as the lay viewer needs some kind of symbol. There is no harm if a cross is shown as an identification mark.
It is unfortunate that the atrocities on Christians aren’t shown much on TV channels. That is because it doesn’t attract much media attention. In fact even during the Orissa riots, it was on the third day that the channels started showing it. That is after I got in touch with Mahesh Bhatt and asked him to convince Prannoy Roy to show it on NDTV.
The good work done by Christian NGOs and churches should be widely telecast on TV. They are after all helping the poor, orphans and widows in accordance with Lord Jesus’ teachings. That shows that Christians are actually walking their talk.
As far as reaching out to the youth, who like regressive reality shows, is concerned, Christian media professionals should come up with real innovative ways to spread the Word of God to them.
As told to Pallavi Bhattacharya
(Abraham Mathai is the Vice Chairman of the State Minorities Commission, President of the Harmony Foundation, President of the Indian Christian Voice and Gen. Secy. of the All India Christian Council).
