Journalist Sashi Kumar makes his podcasting début with ‘Loss of life, Lies and Cyanide’, which launches September 7 on Spotify
“The podcast requires a great deal of investigative journalism, which is pushing the frontiers of journalism,” begins Sashi Kumar, who’s beaming over video chat on Google Meet, as his début podcast ‘Loss of life, Lies & Cyanide’ is about to launch on Spotify as we speak.
“You can not take too many liberties with the info. Some crimes will not be as fascinating as they’re constructed — generally the narratives get tedious. So one has to make it fascinating, in being true to the info and interesting,” provides the journalist who can also be trustee of Media Improvement Basis, that handles the Asian Faculty of Journalism.
Throughout 10 episodes, ‘Loss of life, Lies & Cyanide’, written by Ramesh Ravindranath, covers the chronicles of Jolly Joseph from Kozhikode whose poison-imbibed murders took Kerala by storm. Each native and worldwide media have been drawn in by the ‘ladies who kill’ attract in addition to the character of her 14-year silent rampage (from 2002 to 2016). All of it got here to a head this 12 months, when Jolly was convicted of six murders by cyanide, together with that of her husband.
Sashi Kumar factors out that the podcast ends on an open-ended observe, to go away room for the listener to ponder, and for extra developments within the investigations down the road, if there are any. The podcast is not only a retelling of the crimes, but in addition a navigation of the widespread media protection and of views of investigating authorities. Sashi Kumar was cautious to make it possible for earlier than kicking off the podcast, he and his staff had entry to main and secondary sources to again the narrative.
‘A variety of recent data’
Throughout the pre-podcast analysis, extra angles to the case have been found, primarily based on a re-examination of proof. “It’s not as if there’s a treasure trove ready to be found right here,” he admits, “You get that from dogged and painstaking investigation. This case, for a spell of time, had over-saturated protection, so one would assume every little thing to know is on the market already. However within the podcast, there’s recent data from the chargesheet, and snippets that have been within the public area which nobody bothered to observe. There may be quite a lot of recent details about this character: what she has accomplished, who she is, her connections, these complicit within the killings, and extra. The podcast, importantly, just isn’t aimed toward vindicating or demonising, however somewhat at telling a real story objectively with out taking something as a right.” The truth that the case is pretty current and nonetheless within the unconscious of Kerala and India, provides an attraction and contextual relatability for listeners.
Sashi Kumar, Chairman, Media Improvement Basis photographed on November 03, 2011.
| Photograph Credit score: R_Ravindran
There’s a storytelling vibe in regards to the podcast, affirms Sashi Kumar, pegging the expertise as having a “non-factual aura” about it, due to the juiciness issue to maintain listeners on tenterhooks.
The podcast comes at an apt time, he agrees, given the polarising protection round Sushant Singh Rajput’s passing. It invitations listeners to take the information and social media they see, hear and browse with a grain of salt. “It is going to be exhausting to compete with the breathless sensationalism that the [SSR] case bought,” he shares. “It is very important have a story which was corrective, in a single sense. We’re nobody to say whether or not so-and-so is responsible. Within the case of the podcast, there’s a chargesheet with quite a few bits of corroborated proof, an accused, victims, and so forth.”
A believer
Sashi Kumar, who began his profession as a movie journalist, was additionally The Hindu’s first West Asia correspondent within the mid-1980s. The 68-year-old is an enormous believer in “the sound of journalism” having been a radio journalist for a few years. However podcasting — “an enormous new dimension,” as he describes it — is a brand new horizon he’s excited to overcome.
He explains why: “Although I’ve not sought out podcasts avidly, I’m not stunned that it’s the occurring factor now. In a time when the visuals have gotten tougher, listening to podcasts is a soothing expertise, and you’ll interact with the medium in an on a regular basis setting.”
Take heed to ‘Loss of life, Lies & Cyanide’ on Spotify right here.
