A teenager starts breaking his dressing table mirror then he rushes into his bathroom and breaks everything that comes in his way. A girl getting beaten up by her boyfriend and someone hurling the choicest of abuses on another person and trying to physically assault the other person. These are few common things we would have noticed in the last few weeks on television in the name of Reality Television.
Reality shows in India has grown by leaps and bounds. After the deluge of Saas-bahu serials every other channel started showcasing reality shows after KBC, Indian Idol, Saregamapa on Zee TV and MTV Roadies caught on. However the reality shows are mocking the real essence of reality television. You can see that every show is clearly scripted and the characters are just acting it out whether it is Dolly Bindra fighting with her fellow contestants in the Bigg Boss House or boyfriends cheating on their girlfriends or vice versa on Emotional Atyachar. You can clearly see the participants are acting out in front of the camera.
In today’s world where TRP plays a huge role, every television channel is going out of its way by introducing such cheap tactics in the name of Reality shows in order to garner more advertisers for the shows and for them. So you can see mock fights between judges and contestants of the talent shows, contestants hurling choicest of bad words at their fellow contestants, insulting eachother and opening showing sleaze courtesy Emotional Atyachar.
Today's audience is intelligent enough to understand that the fights are staged however they watch it for sheer fun. However to upsurge one another every channel is resorting to cheaper tactics e.g. Dolly Bindra creating havoc at the Bigg Boss house and swearing badly at fellow contestants at the drop of a hat. Rakhi Sawant insulting her guests in front of her audience which also gave way to one of the guests committing suicide. Sach Ka Saamna, where the darker and dirtier secrets were revealed by the contestants to the host of the show. Bindass Dadagiri where contestants were asked to insult eachother and one of the contestants slapped the host in retaliation etc
In today’s age where violence is a common factor in our everyday life these channels are encouraging youngsters to resort to it so that they can get their few seconds of stardom. These shows not only are bad content wise but also make a very bad impression on the young minds who think that to become famous the best way is to resort to violence, disregard relationships and become a reality TV star. Television has a responsibility towards the society and with such irresponsible behaviour they are setting wrong examples to our today’s youth. The I & B Ministries resolve on telecasting such shows between 11:00 pm – 5:00a.m. is a welcome change however is this the only way we can discourage such shows? Maybe sensible viewers like us need to take a call.
