Hair today gone tomorrow. Fashion statements don’t get any more fashionable than Farhan Akhtar. Every time he appears on television we hold our breath to see which way his hair blows.

On Star World’s Cover Story he outdid himself with the chic curls bunched up in a fashionable mop-top with a girl’s hair-band.

What did Vir talk to Farhan about? Can’t say. I just couldn’t look beyond the amazingly innovative hair care.

Because of Lakshya Farhan will be seen on television frequently. Just waiting to see what he’ll do with his hair next is reason enough to watch his zillion interviews.

Hair stare over, I quickly moved to NDTV India on Sunday evening for Humlog, a debate on why the young refuse to enter politics, or was it on why they aren’t given opportunities to get into the political arena?

Here there was plenty to look at and listen to. For once Cyrus Broacha wasn’t fooling around on camera. Pooja Bhatt was quiet for a while. Once she got going there was no stopping over. She took off on various topics including the lack of accountability in politics. When moderator Pankaj Pachauri pointed out the lack of youth icons in the nation, Pooja piped in, "Well I’d like to believe I’m one."

Hum aapke hain icon?

A little later I heard Yukta Mookhy describing herself as an icon too. Did she mean con or icon? Before Cyrus Broacha decided to hop on to the me-too bandwagon, the anchor quickly moved on.

Modesty certainly isn’t one of the USPs of today’s generation. A bright youngster wanted to know why there was no minimum qualification to enter politics. To his credit well-placed politician Milind Deora came across fairly reasonably, even when he was asked downright rude questions like why was he given the chance to get into politics just because his father was already there to pull him in.

I thought Pooja was as usual, eloquent. But I found two of her arguments strange. She refuted the BJP’s ‘India Shining’ slogan because of the ‘Sari stampede’ in Lucknow.

Hello? That was an accident! Just because passengers die in train accidents does it mean we stop travelling?

Secondly Pooja‘s assertion, "Talk is cheap, I want action" came across as ironical since she was on a talk show while saying this.

One politician I truly enjoy watching is Uma Bharti. She’s upfront entertaining and often quite logical. On Aaj Tak’s live debate on Sunday night Kyon Sunoon Aapki she fought with moderator Prabhu Chawla for suggesting that she gave in her resignation papers ‘minute-minute’ and then changed her mood when a young man from the audience asked her a question.

"Aapka naam bahut sundar hai. Aap bhi bahut sundar ho," she smiled.

The young man blushed fiercely.

Unlike Uma Bharati who always comes up with innovative things to say in public I’m afraid some of the soaps are fast running out of things to say. Sony’s Sakshi is just two episodes old. It’s already hiccuping in anxious dialogues of dizzying motions. Sakshi’s hysterical mother seems to be saying the same things…and in knocked so many words!

Is Sakshi inspired by Khalid Mohamed’s Fiza? Brother has gone missing in Kashmir. Will sis Sakshi go sibling hunting? And if she does will the soap become another one of those hit-me-with-your-best-jibe social statements that viewers just don’t seem to warm up to?

Speaking of Sakshi, the one on Star’s Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki is back. Last seen she was spotted sauntering on the streets of Melbourne by Shruti who gave out a squeal Mom’s got a doppelganger deal...with two Parvatis played by Sakshi Tanwar and Jaya Seal, Ekta Kapoor can drop whichever plays truant.

And if you think Melbourne is hot things back home are even hotter, what with a girl called Manya dragging Kamal and Pallavi’s virtuous son Kamal into a bedroom during a family gathering. And not just for a chat.

When she starts unbuttoning his shirt Krishna realizes what plans manic Manya has in mind about his body (and hers).

"You’re ugly. If you were the last woman on earth I’d take sanyas." Krishna spat out. Oooh celebrating celibacy, is it? The serials sure seem to be getting more purple in their intentions.

The small screen provides strange sorts of succour to the actors. Raveena Tandon trying to perform a clumsy Mujra for her uncaring husband in Sahara’s Sahib Bibi Gulam was a stroke of brilliant unbecomingness. Not too many star-actresses are open to putting their characters up for ridicule. I remembered Sharmila Tagore performing a clumsy seduction dance for Sanjeev Kumar in the film Mausam when I saw Raveena trying to entice Ayub Khan.

Enciting in their own right were the actors from the new film Shaadi Ka Laddoo who got together in gender-segregated groups to play antakshari on MTV.

Quite a change from the usual Q&A sessions that precede all pre-release publicity campaigns. It was a fun session punctuated by lots of inhouse humour. The camaraderie among the actors was infectious. I for one am looking forward to the film after watching the cast at play together.