The illusion of reality ….

Surf any channel you shall find reality shows for every possible genre song, dance,comedy,eating insects and worms,staying locked for 90 days, romance and even swayambar of Rakhi Sawant an item girl turned adarsh bahu. The latest to add to that list is the controversial Sach ka Saamna which even sent the Parliament in a tizzy.

When the saas bahu K serials ruled the roost, slient prayers by youth across the country yearned for something new and something refreshing. The channel owners hit upon the magic formula of Reality television,

There are people who are increasing finding the shows becoming more voyeuristic and making a bad impact on young children watching these shows. There is a group of member who believe in the freedom of expression and abhor any kind of censorship.

Song/dance Shows Indian Idol/ Sa re Ga ma

The first few shows were the simple harmless song and dance shows, people sing and you the audience can decide the faith of these contestants. Slowly this genre degenerated into asking for votes from the people of your region. Slowly the North East began to assert their presence in India by en mass voting. Then the hosts themselves would mention Bengal ke Debojit needs your votes, Punjab ke Sandeep needs your support etc. If that wasnt enough people started doing melodrama, crying fighting in order to create an impression, talent is not a prerequiste, it is the likeability of a contestant that matters.

So you have hearts of talents crushed and talentless singers getting their 2 minutes of fame and then fading away faster than they even ascended to the stars.

Roadies / Spiltsvilla/Big Boss

Nothing can be more infruitating that a show which says it potrays the youth of the nation, so you have a classic stereotype, a delhite fake english accent, lots of gaalis, tantrums and flirting on the show. You have a bald man, who thinks he is god's gift to humanity and the only thing he loves is run people down. Put people in situations, people fight and say hurtful things with a lot of beeps. Put the show at 7 pm prime time and repeat shows throughout the clock. The host/makers say that they respect women but the tasks and contestants reduce women to mere sex objects. These shows can impact the thought of entire tween generation, the pre teens who are trying to grow up too fast.

The myth called free will....

When there are any calls for regulation on these reality shows, the simple answer the show makers tell us is you can switch off the television. Easier said than done. The same shows run at different times, similar shows exist across different channels. Children cannot be supervised all the time, and temptation and curosity to explore some new stimulus often gets the better of common sense. The kids today are growing up too fast and infact the information fed to them isnt objective. The vices are packaged as style statements, being rude/crass is shown to be cool attitude. The loss of innocene in the future generation is what disturbs me a lot.

I am afraid that choice has already been made for the next generation by the consistent bombardment of voyereutic, consumeristic lifestyle choices. I know I may seem a tad old fashioned in this post but when I look back in the days of Doordarshan, I watched Fun Time an one hour cartoon serial slot from 12.00 to 1.00 in the afternoon during summer vacations and went teary eyed when the show wound up with the end of summer vacations. Now, we have maybe 10 dedicated cartoon channels but the kids today watch Roadies/big Boss or Spiltsvilla.

The truth is complex and rarely simple – Oscar Wilde I think battle between regulation and freedom of expression is far from over !!