The problem for Ben Kingsley the British actor is that he is typecast for ever as Mahatma Gandhi. As a result, the current Santam ad on television has the unusual side effect of presenting Mahatma Gandhi as an insurance salesman. Not only that, but the abstemious Mahatma is shown hanging out in an elite bar, making urbane observations about insurance and playing an amusing mindgame with the viewers. Rumours persist that Jim Caviezel, star of Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, has been approached for Santam’s next marketing extravaganza.

Meanwhile, back in a dark room, six English people are groping towards a meaningful relationship. Weird stuff, but let me start at the beginning. It seems that BBC L owns a truly insightful reality show. Called Dating in the Dark, it has most of the jolly stuff we have come to expect from this challenging genre, although, to be fair, at no time did any of the participants eat anything disgusting. With an invisible male voice-over as our guide, we met three women and three men. All were single, all were over 30 and all were game for love. The show put them up in what appeared to be a conference centre somewhere in the dead middle of British Nowhereland and in the time-honoured ritual of reality television, each one of them delivered a short personal statement to the camera regarding their relational needs. These were quite varied and sometimes tinged with regret.

Back came the voice of god, who ran merrily through the rules. There would be three or maybe four dates. These would take part in a pitch-dark room, rendering the contestants invisible to each other but not to the international television audience. What came next in no particular order were some chats about deep emotional needs, thoughts on international travel, some belly dancing and some dancing involving the whole body.

There were flaming kisses! Lewd gropes! Giant bunny suits! Wicked stuff! And then after some folderol involving a psychologist and three sketch artists, the lights came on and most of the gang packed up and fled. Two remained, found love and strolled off into the sunset. There may be more of this next week. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Changing channels, mindset and world view led me last week to BBC K’s astonishing documentary on India’s ladyboys. These are transgendered people whose body-altering surgery is a couple of light years away from the urbane stuff available in the West.

What happens is that the young man desiring the change has his genitals – penis, testicles, scrotum – chopped off without anaesthetic. Why do they do this? The short answer is that gender has greater variety than male and female. Indian society makes a place for such people as hijras, a religious subset of the culture at large. To become a hijra is to enter a world of shame, sex work and extreme marginality.

This careful and well-made documentary shows how these difficult lives are lived. While many hijras were shown, only a few were interviewed, so allowing the chosen hijras to provide an extended commentary that continued throughout this absorbing and confrontational movie. For this viewer the most enlightening revelation was the hijras’ tight sense of community, providing emotional and often economic interdependence. This candid yet respectful movie deserves a wide audience, so wait for its inevitable return to the broadcast schedule. - Sunday Tribune