Are we ‘Peeping Toms’…?

From straight faced ‘Salma Sultan’ to bare all dare all ‘Rakhi Sawant’ and from orthodox ‘Hum log’ to shocking ‘Sach ka Samna’ Indian TV scene has come a long way! Now a days new rage is reality TV, and we the spell bound audience are like ‘peeping toms’. Leaving aside the merits and demerits of latest programmes (‘idiot box has become ‘hot box’ now)this genre of television broke the monotony to create interesting scripts and out-of the box ideas that made them stand out from the run-of-the-mill shows. Although drama-lovers are still glued to their idiot boxes at prime time, reality shows are hogging the limelight big time. These reality shows comprise of talent hunts, game shows, celebrity shows, makeover shows, or some of them are just plain voyeurism personified. However different their concepts might be, all the reality shows, intrinsically run on the same path. They put ordinary people or celebrities in real-life situations and allow peeping toms to enjoy the thrill of watching them! Star Plus’ show Sach Ka Saamna, the Indian version of polygraph test-based reality format The Moment Of Truth, was a hot topic of discussion few days back in the Rajya Sabha, , alleging that “obscene questions” were being asked about contestants’ personal life in front of their family members. It is felt that the show was against the “Indian culture”. The show actually is a success, thanks to the controversies it has raised and people are free to make harsh and lenient interpretations (obscenity can mean different things to different people, after all). The audience has the remote control and the power to switch channels and watch what they want. It’s ridiculous for a bunch of politicians to feel that society will be corrupted because of one show. Though personally I feel that the time slot is not appropriate and the type of questions being asked, it should be aired at around 11.30 pm, all said and done it is full of ‘adult content’ after all! Every one seems to have joined the band-o-wagon, recently celebrated Indian football player Baichung Bhutia, took of his soccer shoes and donned dancing apparel. . The popular footballer from Sikkim has won a reality dance show, ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’, on Sony, becoming the latest in a long and ever increasing line of contestants to win a big prize on reality television, with no small thanks to SMS voting Actually the programme that ushered this wave was ‘Kaun banega karorpati”.When ‘KBC’ was started some years ago , so many were suspicious about success of ‘Big B’ of silver screen Amitabh Bachchan in TV world ,but he truly lived the saying ” He came, he saw and he won”. TV medium in India is not same as it was before his entry into this medium. All of sudden it was wave of KBC all over. People used to wait for 9 PM from Monday to Friday so that they could watch his interesting manners of presenting the programme.Several attempts were there to imitate this show on several other channels but no one could match the outstanding success of KBC. Apart from being a clean entertainer, it imparted knowledge to viewers. I would suggest young audience especially school going kids to watch TV but do not become addicts, TV viewing is a sedentary activity, and has been proven to be a significant factor in childhood obesity, and if at all they switch on then click for news related programmes , and opt for channels like ESPN, National Geography, and Discovery channel, because what we watch does make an impact on our psyche. Television can affect learning and school performance if it cuts into the time kids need for activities crucial to healthy mental and physical development. Most of children's free time, especially during the early formative years, should be spent in activities such as playing, reading, exploring nature, learning about music or participating in sports. Like a writer once said –“Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object”. Do not let it happen to you!!