Why to reel with such reality?

Reality shows have our nation by the scruff of its collar, all thanks to our ever-elastic propensity to walk that extra mile for easy money.

Consider these queries that have taken centrestage with the brave new world of Sach Ka Saamna. “Do you think of other women when you have sex with your wife? The contestant said ‘yes’ as his wife looked on.

“Do you think of having sex with women younger than your daughter?” The answer by a 65-years plus Muslim contestant was ‘yes’ and he won a certain amount as his three wives and a girlfriend as young as his daughter applauded!

“Are you secretly happy that your parents stay with your elder brother and you don’t have to take responsibility of them?” The contestant said ‘yes’. His mother managed a smile but his father looked ravaged!

There are many more in store and the promise is that they are only more outrageous/revealing/courageous! But the question is not about how good and innovative this is.

The question is how destructive such shows can be. Personally, I feel being outrageous has become synonymous with being young, being the generation of today, being in fashion and, declaring that you are not from the fossil brigade. Shows like Sach Ka Saamna signify this trend and hence are jaw-droppingly popular.

Even if the MPs had not gone into a tizzy and discussed the show for hours in Parliament (they have no locus standi though), Sach Ka Samna is pure trouble. Besides abetting family trouble, break-ups at a future time and also breaking trust and hearts for just a few lakhs more, it also comes without any social responsibilities. Ask the channel and it will tell you with a straight face how its karma is to entertain and nothing more. Bullish TRPs will buttress its claim and you will be made to feel like a shrewish social nag who has nothing more important to do than to mind others’ business.

But come to think of it, luring people into singing like canaries for just a few bucks, and at the huge cost of familial betrayal, is not a good way to entertain. People, Indians more so, are genetically voyeuristic and so the staple of the Indian reality TV industry has been to cash in on that. That’s the reason why you have people like Chand’s Fiza and Rahul Mahajan minting money through TV. That’s why Rakhi Sawant and her tantrums are hot property.

But to do something like Sach Ka Samna tantamounts to an offence as serious as aiding and abetting suicide which, under the Indian law, is a punishable offence.

The Indian version of Moment of Truth has been on air for just five episodes and if reports are to be believed, it is the highest grosser among all shows of all segments.

Though monitoring and censoring the media is the last thing a democracy like India should go for, the entertainment industry really tests the limits when not put on hold. May be, Sach Ka Samna would create enough trouble for itself and get banned. May be not. But its longterm effect on society would be damaging. It is a show not meant for a family-oriented country like ours. It is a show which has potential to trigger divorces, suicides and what-not. One would not be surprised if such reports start coming in from the show’s mid-season by which time enough men and women, wives and husbands, lovers, sons and parents, daughters and in-laws would have fought and broken up over a particular episode that spilt the beans and removed all veneers from all relationships. That would be the show’s moment of truth and one will have to wait and see how the organisers would take responsibility for it.

Till then, you can tune into the mega wedding of the incorrigible Rakhi Sawant that has everyone hyper-ventilating on if this one is really, really for real!

Published July 26, 2009, Sunday Pioneer; http://www.dailypioneer.com/191537/Why-to-reel-with-such-reality.html