Reality shows – how real are they?

There has been a debate going on that certain reality shows ought to be censored / banned due to objectionable language or content. The matter was raised in the Parliament too. The show in contention was the Indian adaptation of the Moment of Truth. For those not familiar with the concept, a participant is asked a set of questions which are ratified by a polygraph machine and based on their veracity a participant can win some prize money. Now the questions range from intrusive, personal to very bizarre obviously to up their TRPs. What I fail to understand is what motivates a common person to undergo this humiliation in the studio in the presence of their family and how do they face them once they go home. The format of the show aside, why do we think of banning anything we don’t agree with. It comes in the late-night time slot so definitely the kids ought not to be watching it. And if adults find it objectionable, they don’t need to watch it! It’s simple. This policy of banning a book, movie or TV serial is silly. The more you ban something, the more appeal it holds to people.

Another genre of reality based shows, I am sick of is the reality contests for kids, mothers, singers, dancers, comedians and you name it. Unnecessary controversies are created to popularize the shows. The judges of the shows (most of them pretty worthless themselves) eg. Sonali Bendre judging music, Arjun Rampal judging dance etc. are sometimes so rude and downright evil in their criticism. They do not think twice in even pulling down a child participant. Here I feel is one area where there ought to be clear-cut guidelines in place. The most wonderful reality show I think is Boogie Woogie – going strong since over 10 years and a very encouraging and positive show, very entertaining too! Most of the others are only dramebaazi !

We can continue to debate whether these reality shows are good or bad but eventually if the audience does not like it, they will give it a boot; just like they did to the horrible saas-bahu serials from the ekta kapoor stable.