Hype, Hypocrisy & Television in Urban India was a book way ahead of its time. Too many likely users who would benefit from it are deprived simply because it is such an old publication now. Nobody has done a comparable book on politics and sociology of Indian television. It would find an audience among journalists and television viewers bewildered by the fast evolving scenario. Media is now a huge industry and punches above its weight in terms of impact on our minds.
Shah is that rare writer who combines the topical energy of journalism with the reflective depth and breadth of scholarship. Her television book is, by the same token, that exceedingly rare approach to the subject that is neither superficial nor ponderous. This is a text that navigates seamlessly between reportage, social analysis, and personal memoir. It brings policy debates alive and mines everyday experience for its structural significance.