Rajdeep Sardesai speaks at Footprints 2007

November 29 saw a throng of students hit Vidya Mandir to attend Footprints 2007, a series of media seminars hosted by the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC). The Calcutta chapter was organised by SIMC and NSHM Institute of Media and Communication (NIMC), in association with The Telegraph. The topic of the day was “Is media creating clones?”

The event, with Sumit Roy acting as the moderator for the day, was inaugurated by actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who spoke on the importance of effective communication. “My own field of work — acting — is nothing but communication,” he said.

The first session on journalism comprised a panel of Amit Chakraborty, Subir Bhowmick, Abhijeet Dasgupta and Pradeep Gooptu. Session two on advertising and public relations began after tea. The speakers for the session were Tara McGregor, Arindam Nandy and Kanchan Dutta. McGregor compared the media in the west with Indian media, speaking about the change in Indian media post liberalisation. Nandy stressed on “thinking” as the keyword. Dutta felt advertising was all about telling wonderful stories and one should not get worried about advertising “creating clones”.

Post-lunch, Rajdeep Sardesai took the stage. “The media is a 12-year-old baby looking to do new things. In terms of quantity, we’ve exploded, but I’m not to sure about quality,” said Sardesai. He defined cloning as a “saas-bahu” phenomenon, where one formula is followed by all. He however provided a solution to the problem — credibility. “We have to build a trust with viewers in a gradual way,” he said, before fielding questions from the audience.

The final session saw RJ Jimmy Tangree, film-maker Anurag Basu and SIMC deputy director Anupam Siddhartha taking the stage. Tangree said that radio has a long way to go. “You have to be in the system to change the system. This can happen slowly,” said Basu. When asked about Indian films copying Hollywood, he replied that “they copy our films as well.”

“This has perhaps been the best Calcutta Footprints in the last seven years,” said Ujjwal Kumar Chakraborty, director, SIMC.

SWATI MEHTA
1st-year media student,
Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication