Reality Shows - Not all that Bad!

Of late apart from the 3 seasons in the year,almost every year we are well and truly witnessing a fourth one too. And this fourth one is rather more consistent these days than the other three. So which is this new found consistent season dawning our lives every year? It's the season of bitching,bickering,abusing,exposing,debating,criticizing and banning. It's the season where in every year we or more particularly the Government of India takes objection to the vulgarity and nudity shown on the Television by the medium of reality shows and tries to curb it through threats and bans. Interestingly the shows in contention, the parties on protest, the sole aim behind the supposed vulgarity (high TRPs) and the final outcome of the entire drama remains very much the same every year but still there are no signs of any change,boredom or respite after these consistent streak of events every single year. And this recurring phenomena probably reflects the state of mind or the appetite of the audiences more than anything else.

So if this year it is Dolly Bindra breaking the decibel levels with her vulgar and over the top remarks in Big Boss, previous years it was some Raja Chaudhary or KRK doing the encore. Similarly if Ashmit Patel and Veena Malik are found coochi-cooing around every corner of the Big Boss house, previous years it was Rahul Mahajan and Monica Bedi or Anupama Verma or Aryan Vaid. Same goes with Rakhi Sawant, if last year she was creating new records of shamelessness and audacity with Rakhi ka Swayamwar, this year she is doing it with Rakhi ka Insaaf. And the list goes on with new shows like Emotional Atyachaar, Splits villa and Roomies following the suite. And what eventually happens every year is also a repeat replica of the last year, a select few raise voices against the proclaimed nudity and vulgarity shown in these shows, thereafter the Government wakes up and passes a threat or in some cases imposes a (partial) ban and in due course all these shows are back on TV in a toned down fashion or almost in the same vein.

Now the big question is, Is the Government or the Information & Broadcasting (IB) Ministry correct in imposing itself by means of warnings and bans against these shows? Or are these supposed shows of obscenity, the true and the only culprits? Well on the face of it, it's very easy to straight away tag these shows as the real culprits but the matter is not as straight forward as it seems. True that the content showed in these reality shows is objectionable and beyond the moral values which we as a nation have been endorsing and practicing for years but the high TRPs which these shows are garnering day in day out are the true indicators of the fact that how much the common man wants to see these shows. Whatever be the reason, be it the bold avatar of the main protagonists, be it the nudity, vulgarity or the brazenness shown by the medium of these shows, it beautifully emphasizes the changing times. This isn't the early Sunday morning Ramayana or the Mahabharata age, it's the age of late night shows of vociferous Dolly Bindras, brazen Rakhi Sawants and live telecast of a newly married couple's first night.

Hence it's highly imperative that IB ponders upon this change of guard among the audiences and only then they can hope for a long term check or curb on these morality breakers. Understandably the IB's concern about these shows casting a bad image on the children is praise worthy, but have they ever wondered that, Are these shows the only medium of vulgarity available to the children or the masses? With almost every second middle class child and every fifth lower middle class child having access to Internet in the close confines of his bedroom or the omnipresent Internet Cafes, isn't the free and readily available access to internet pornography a far more worrisome fact than these television shows? What good the IB or the Government has done so far to curb these free access to obscenity and vulgarity over the years? Hardly Any! And it's not only the children or the younger strata of the society who is an audience to these reality shows, the very fact that the TRPs of these shows are higher than the regular family soaps running on all the channels, clearly emphasizes the fact that even the families are watching these shows regularly and with a gruesome appetite.Naturally the producers of these (reality) shows are showing what the audiences actually want to see and enjoy.

In a nutshell, it's highly important to decide upon the permissible limit shown by the medium of these reality shows but that should not be the sole effort put forth to curb the obscenity on air. There are other sources and mediums too which need to be monitored, regulated and rigorously checked. And hence blatantly blaming the producers of these reality shows isn't the most prudent thing either,agreed that they are selling shit for high TRP's and raking big bucks but on a more practical note they are selling the commodity which is on high demand, so what if it's a waste of a commodity. On the whole, it's a vicious cycle which breeds on the premise that you might love it, you might hate it but you just can't resist yourself from watching it. And the funny irony is, this is not only applicable to the children and the young guns but this equally holds good for all those (IB included) critics and oldies too:).


Perspective : With new seasons of Splits villa and Roadies about to start, there is more fun waiting to unfold, not only through these shows but off it too:)!

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