In India, one group’s grip on media is complete

Last week of December, at a large gathering of India’s top celebrities from business, politics and Bollywood, Mukesh Ambani decided to celebrate Reliance’ empire’s 40th anniversary in Mumbai.

The occasion was an undisguised excuse to introduce the third generation of Ambanis, among whom figured prominently — for varied reasons, including a mysteriously evaporated but all too real Aston Martin car accident in December 2013 — Anant Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s son, and prince-in-waiting.

On the stage, Anant was introduced by Bollywood star and a reliance brand ambassador, Shah Rukh Khan, who profusely complimented Anant for conquering one of his visibly great problems: his obesity. Anant lost more than a 100kg in some 18 months, on a diet which was much written about by, among other journals, the Times of India entertainment supplements. Soon after SRK’s introduction Anant took the centre stage and gave a determined and rather impassioned speech about his debt to his family, his unbounded love for his parents, and his vision of Reliance as India’s business and commercial future. Perhaps inspired by his grandfather, the legendary Dhirubhai Ambani, he said Reliance is about relationships with customers and that the rest is “minor details”.

All quite unexceptional. Later, the video was released. And naturally it went viral — for the wrong reasons. Some said it was a duplicate of Leonardo DiCaprio’s possessed speech in Wolf of Wall Street. Naturally memes mushroomed in the social media. Others focused on Anant’s feral expressions.

For instance, he had a way of baring his fangs, or expanding his mouth wide open as if he was going to roar rather viciously, like the lion in MGM pictures. He punched the air several times especially with what seemed like vengeful emphasis when he said Reliance is India and India is Reliance.

The websites went crazy. And two days later, Mukesh Ambani bared his fangs: the reports and mocking stories and clips on Anant’s speech were pulled down from eight sites, ScoopWhoop, Storypick, and Times Group’s MensXP, which curate viral contents, and India Today’s Daily ‘O, which was at first critical of the rest of the media that genuflected.

Mukesh Ambani owns one of the biggest media networks, TV 18. In addition he owns by proxy or have significant stakes in NDTV, News Nation, India TV, and News 24. Though Anant’s rocket-on-steroid speech was not really bad show all in all, that Mukesh Ambani felt it was essential to protect his son from general laughter and the mockery at the hands of the wicked public, is proof perhaps of his parental affection. But more ominously it represents how India might be heading for a media shut down or a blackout depending on the nature of the news, and that not much can be done about it.

Young (23 years old) Anant Ambani might be excused for faithfully imitating DiCaprio. He has got decades ahead to perfect his speeches and style of delivery. But, for a country that claims free speech as its fundamental right, that a business baron decides what could go out for public consumption is bad news.

This assumes a special significance in the present political context when the government in power is overly sensitive to criticism, doing what it can to control the editorial of even the big media, and a bunch of proprietors who is rather eager to be bullied into silence.

The right wing pundits have defended Mukesh Ambani’s forays into the media as a step in the right direction as media finances and revenues are either peaking out or starved of funds. It may be good news too to hundreds of journalists out of a job in an increasingly automated, algorithm-run news environment. But money hardly ever comes without strings. Which is why the media owners must try their tolerant best to be ethics-driven. This is a tough call. Normally no one pays for criticism. Yet, media’s function is to hold the establishment, be it private business or government matters, accountable.

Reliance’s 40 anniversary celebrations and Anant Ambani’s speech sought to show India’s richest business house is the engine of India’s future growth. Maybe. But humour seems not part of that vision. And a nation without laughter is a sad nation, no matter how rich or poor.

— C.P. Surendran is a senior journalist based in India.