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Indians with a story to tell

BBC's Michael Peschardt does a string of interviews of Bollywood personalities — people who make up the story of modern India

ALL ENCOMPASSING Peschardt prefers to call his interactions conversations rather than interviews

He's thoroughly impressed with IT magnate Narayana Murthy, like most interviewers are, and Michael Peschardt is now on his way to meet Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and then, who else but Amitabh Bachchan in London next week. With Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya and actress Preity Zinta, they are all Peschardt's People.

One of the longest serving reporters and presenters on BBC, Peschardt is hosting the second series of "Peschardt's People", a series of conversations, as he would like to call them, rather than interviews.

Last year's series featured the likes of Shobhaa De, Preity Zinta and Vijay Mallya from India. This year's series begins with Edmund Hillary and tracks people in the Asia Pacific region.

In Mumbai this week, Peschardt says the channel is committed to having many Indians on the programme. "The country is rich in talent and they are people with strong ideas. They also articulate very well," says the BBC's foreign correspondent based in Australia for a long time now. But why does it have to be the same Indians who've already been interviewed by Indian and foreign media? "They are prominent people and are part of the story of modern India. And the others don't interview them in the same style as we do," says Peschardt.

His line up of people to be interviewed for the season shows an unmistakable Bollywood tilt. "Yes, Bollywood is of massive interest the world over. There are people who haven't watched any of mainstream Hindi films but are still very fascinated by the concept." Politicians, though, have never figured on his list. "We have a strange rule on the programme," he laughs as he says: "We don't speak to politicians. It becomes a "Hard Talk" sort of programme then, and politicians tend not to answer hard questions. Sometimes it turns into a verbal volley and there's heat generated but not much light!" Aggressiveness is certainly not his style, he says. He prefers to put people in a situation where they speak candidly about themselves and their work."Like when you are friends... "

And you get to the bottom of an issue without an adversarial approach. But isn't this a time when being aggressive on TV is equated with being good. "I don't think it works. Maybe at the time of a national crisis when you are putting someone in a spot, maybe... "

So who really qualifies to make it to his list? "The only thread as such is a good geographical mix. But the key is that they must have something extraordinary about their lives. One assumes that if you are successful, you have an interesting story to tell. Though not every successful person has, you know... " he laughs. "Most of the people watching the programme may not even have heard of someone even like Narayana Murthy. What they say must be interesting to the audience." Peschardt says when he gets talking and finds himself engaged and fascinated with the person, he knows it will be a good interview. Being a seasoned presenter and interviewer and coming from a land of brash tabloids and a paparazzi culture, I'm curious to know how far does he think is too far where a guest's private life is concerned? "I believe that people are absolutely entitled to a private life. Only when a guest wants to talk about it," he says and adds, "surprisingly it happens. But we do it in a non-exploitative way."

But he does point out how in certain cases, like say an interview with Shane Warne, it would look odd if he didn't ask him about his personal life. "Because it has affected his professional life, it is legitimate to talk about it. Otherwise I believe it's none of our business."

In an ideal world you would spend at least two days interviewing someone for a programme like this, he says.

But sometimes he gets just about half a day, and sometimes he has to stretch it to a week, like he did when he met the princes of Bahrain.

"In some situations, you just need time to get people to trust you." Among the people he's interviewed are actor Sam Neill, violinist Vanessa Mae, a gold prospector from Australia, plastic surgeon Dr Fiona Wood, and Australia's richest woman Janet Holmes a Court.

Peschardt's People will be telecast on BBC World every Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Catch the series April 7 onwards.

BHUMIKA K.

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