Their Experiments with Truth

Of late a furore has been whipped up on the issue of the question of morality in Indian television. With Star Plus's mega offering, 'Sach Ka Saamna' igniting the final wood and resulting in a ruckus in parliamentary sessions and copious debates in 24X7 news channels. The matter? well a boundless emphasis on a person's privacy which runs the risk of damaging one's reputation and creating ruptures in one's relationship. Several questions have been raised on morality and the degrading Indian culture. And it does not only restrict itself to sach ka saamna but reality shows like iss jungle se mujhe bachaao and quite a handful of TV commercials.

Personally, I dont see any point of this raging debate, which is for a change, giving the members of SP some TV footage and people are getting to know names apart from Mulayam Singh Yadav. Well, let's admit it! Television producers, like all entrepreneurs, hanker after money. and money comes from (no, not hard work) TRPs. And for TRPs, Indian entertainment channels and news channels bank hugely on sensationalism. Sach ka Saamna, even though a cpied format from the west, IS sensational and however much we cringe to the questions, or foul mouth the producers, he;; bent on giving relationships a tough time, we DO stay glued to the TV screens every weeknights at 9.30pm. Why? Because of Human Being's primary and intrinsic interest in anything odd, bizzare, controversial, sensational and something which creates ripples during chit chats and localised debates. So that's natural. Even if my neighbour was in the hot seat, answering a question on whether he has been cent percent loyal to his wife or not, I would definitely give the India Pakistan WC encounter a miss and wait for a 'no' from the respondent, only to be beeped by the lie detector. And the current Indian consumer mass thrives on such shows, apart from soppy soaps and cricket. So nobody will watch television and perhaps display an even more vindictive display of outrage than the people in a certain region of India, protesting against govt inaction against chasing down the perpetrators of a gruesome rape, if such shows are banned or withdrawn form Indian television. Even our dear critics, who can very well debate about other issues of importance over national security, poverty, energy conservation, education (and the list goes on), will be displeased if that happens.

Secondly, I feel that contestants in shows like sach ka saamna come to participate knowing fully well that in a moment of ill fated luck, a question can pop up which will doubt why does his neighbour's son look like him. But still if he chooses to come and sit in front of a 1 million odd audience (in the venue and in front of TV sets), just either to see him on TV or to gain some money, then sir, I respect your decision and nobody should crib because a 'socially degrading' question has been put forward to you. Its totally your choice whether to boycott your attendance to the shoe of participate in it. You always knew the consequences. Didnt you? So why the hullabaloo, sirs and madams and others?

Thirdly, I am not jesting. But seriously feel that one of the main reasons, the ministers are howling over the show is because they fear that one of these days, they might get a letter form Siddharth Basu, inviting them to be a participator in the show. And that day, neither can he deny (coz that will draw huge flak from his vote bank and citizens of India), nor can he accept ( coz that will draw huge flak from his vote bank and citizens of India...you know the reason why) I mean just imagine asking an L K advani whether he had a strong role to play in the Babri demolition, or asking a Mulayam Yadav, how much money has he siphoned till now, or asking a brinda karat whether she does these infrequent exercises just to garner some publicity for herself rather than the party which she is affiliated to.

And Lastly, I take an opportunity to agree for once with the so called traditional hardliners about the issue of ungirded and unabashed show of sex, sleaze, immorality in the Indian television today. So whether its a flavoured condom ad, or an chocolate scented axe flavour ad or Anaida's translucent skin (ahem) show and petite nubiles' shower footage ala liril ad in iss jungle se mujhe bachaao, there are some elements like these which do hamper the culture which we Indians are so proud of and corrodes the mind of an individual watching them. No I am not a hardliner so I wont talk about banning the shows. But bringing in a regulatory body is an option, which I wont like though (nor will many, I know) which will control and censor the explicits and the visual explicits from shows like such. But then again, another humongous debate will arise regarding to the field the head of the regulatory body will belong to, his political affiliations, his individual beliefs, his past. If that problem is solved by appointing different members form all walks of life in the body, then again another will emerge as to who will have the maximum say in censoring or not censoring a content.

The main winner and the gainer in all these issues will not be the producers, nor the adudience, neither the ministers, But I believe, the 24X7 news channels, which will cash in on these aspects and have numerous debates until it turns bitter (with my experience in a news channel, nothing does, till the time it guarantees you TRPs) And following these debates, endless Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha session time will be consumed by these discussion and not by whether kasab should be hanged or not or why are mass suicides still continuing, among farmers. This in turn, will attract the viewers to these shows and TRPs will go on increasing till the time another show of this kind comes on air and sparks off another debate.