Hey, the television debates are going from screech-level to stretch-level! Earlier we had Rajdeev Sardesai's The Big Fight on Star News. Now there's a plethora of prattle to choose from.

In the 'best-of' capsule of NDTV India's Muqabla on Saturday night a politician from the Shiv Sena blasted an opinionated journalist and of course Ms Mallika Sherawat for supporting sleaze in the guise of sexual liberation.

For once the politician had all his facts on his fingertips. He took on the two ladies who are inappropriately dressed with a sure handedness that belied their collective liberated images. When Ms Sherawat compared her Khwahish with Bandit Queen the politician gave her a mouthful. "Please don't compare the two. Bandit Queen was a very good film. Khwahish was bad"

And when Sherawat smirked, "The young like to see what we show. What can we do if the buddhas take offence?" the journalist (who's on the wrong side of 50) giggled. Both stopped short in their tittering tracks when the politician said, "You'd be surprised to know it's the buddhas who go and see your kind of cinema"

My heartiest congratulations to the politician for calling a spade a spade. Enough of this sleaze breeze that's blowing through television. The promotional clippings of some new films are becoming downright vulgar. One of them shows the hero sauntering up to the heroine at bus stop and smooching her smack on the lips.

Would Ms Sherawat find such an experience liberating if it happened to someone close to her home?

I'm afraid the soaps that try to deviate from the norm are perpetually shown the door. Look at what happened to Ekta Kapoor's Kehna Hai Kuch Mujhko. The hard look-see at a crumbling marriage crumbled faster than one could say, 'I do'. This, inspite of a rousing performance by Pallavi Joshi.

I watched the closing episodes (hastily put together) with close interest and was surprised by the deft dialogues. The scenes where the errant husband pleads to be taken back were beautifully written and performed. Shucks, does this have to go?

Who wrote the script for Subrato Roy and his wife's Rendezvous With Simi Garewal? The couple were so comfortable on camera, they made us wonder which came first, their success or their comfort level. The Sahara head-honcho laughed away his wealth, saying it was all for the company. His own wealth he estimated at some lakhs, and that too his wife's jewellery, etc.

The entire interview was conducted in a tone of incredulity which went well with the kind of overnight success that the man has obtained. Mrs Subroto Roy came across as surprisingly softspoken, almost unaffected by the monstrous wealth that had stolen into their lives.

Shabana Azmi was surprisingly mellow on NDTV India's Humlog. Even as voices rose and tempers got increasingly frayed over the Godhra issue she remained calm. The only time there was a flash of her habitual spirit was when a politician warned there would be riots again if the Godhra issue was opened up.

"No, it's people like you who'd incite riots again," she flashed back. A word of warning for the moderator who tends to exercise his powers of retortion too liberally. He was rightly ticked off by an earnest Congress I member for making joke out of a serious issue.

A lot of of our anchors are closet wags. They make faces and sarcastic remarks at the star's expense. This was the case with Cyrus Broacha (again!) while he was interviewing Tusshar Kapoor.

While Tusshar spoke about Gayab in his most earnest tones Broacha made it clear that the film didn't mean a thing to him. That's fair enough. Why should the anchor be bothered with the promotional product? But he can't get cocky and nasty. When Tusshar said his leading lady Antara Mali played a `khush-mijaaz` character Broacha wanted to know if this was a massage that made you happy.

In this case we can safely conclude the medium was the 'massage'. And the less we comment on the disdainful attitude of the anchors the better. For a change this week the interviewer on Cinema Aaj Tak was attentive and respectful. That could be because Aamir Khan deigned to give an interview.

Mr Khan twirled his 'Rising' moustache and said, normally he didn't give interviews while he was shooting. He only came down from his high horse when a film was complete. "So here I am"

The interviewer looked suitably grateful. Mr Khan also made an imperious declaration. He wanted every male who went to see The Rising to have a moustache like his.

We should be grateful the women were spared. We men are of course hurriedly growing the required facial prerequisite. Don't want the mighty Khan to be miffed, do we now?

A good well-researched story on Star News on Saturday on the success ratio of Hindi films this year. Unlike the arbitrary nonsense thrown our way on the other channels, the information was correct comprehensive and supported by hard facts. What a change from the silly countdowns and puerile prattle on the film shows on television!

If you watched Romona, egged on by Arjun Rampal, struggling to make Priyanka Chopra sing on MTV's The Big Picture, you'd know how low the standards on these celeb chats can fall. Priyanka refused to relent. "You're wasting everyone's time"

No truer words were spoken on television recently.