Do you know that “Star Plus” is the most watched television channel in Pakistan?
It may be a pleasant surprise for many Indians to learn that three of the top four channels in the neighbouring country, in terms of viewership, are Indian channels. Star Plus, Sony and Colors occupy the leading slots, along with Geo News.
Another fact that might sound stranger than fiction for a secular India is that all the news anchors on Pakistani channels must begin their shows with a religious salutation “Bismillah ir Rahman irRahim…..”
“Pakistanis get their news from local channels but their entertainment from Indian channels. This is so because it is not possible to produce entertainment in a moral society,” says columnist Aakar Patel in Mint.
The commentator on socio-political trends in the sub-continent makes an interesting comparison between the news and entertainment channels of the two countries and looks into factors that distinguish Pakistani viewers from their Indian counterparts.
“Pakistanis watch the same Bollywood movies as we do. What actually separates us from them is their news channels. One of the most repeated words in Pakistani media is “saazish” (conspiracy).
Conspiracies are usually the doing of “Yahood-o-Hanood (Jews and Hindus)”, besides of course “Amrika”,” Patel says.
Here is the link for his column in Mint
