Screwed Mechanism for Selection is my definition of SMS in the pretext of reality television. Read on to find out how real is reality telivision in India .....
I am absolutely dumbfounded by the sheer volume of TV channels fencing on the branches of reality programming. Snap the remote for once and check out for yourself. I happen to have access to most of the Hindi channels and it is really annoying when you see the endless number of singers wanting to make it to the top.
Just a pointer, read on and see how many Indian reality shows I can enumerate in the following list:
Indian Idol Sony
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009 Zee TV
Kya aap paachvi Pass se tez hai Star Plus
10 ka dum (Sony)
Star Voice of India (Star Plus)
The Great Indian Laughter challenge (Star One)
Sansui Boogie Woogie (Sony)
Junoon Kuch kar dikhane ka (NDTV Imagine)
Ek Se Badhkar Ek (Zee TV)
Superstar (MTV)
Splitsvilla (MTV)
Zara Nach ke Dikha (Star One)
Krazy Kiya Re (SAB TV)
Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka ticket (9x TV)
I may have missed out quite a few but then these are 14 TV shows with their own set of crazed voters, crazed viewers and crazed judges. Why do I call them crazed? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t. Why would I watch someone shoot to stardom from my living room? Agreed, he is struggling and one vote of mine can save him a life to the next round but hold it there.
Who are these struggling people? They are just like me and you who want a short cut to making it large in life. Unless and until he is a relative, friend or someone whom I can associate with I wouldn’t want to see the crap on offer.
As an active media user (Yes Feroz Sir, this is your term which is ringing in my head now) I don’t want myself to act as a ladder for someone else's success. Come on people, it is your money, why let it seep into the producer's pocket for no gain of yours. (Arghh, I sound like a miser at this point)
This time I would say, DAMN the producers of these shows who rout the money of common man by asking them to vote for THE NEXT BIG THING. The ultimate choice lies with you. You can always switch the television off.
I wouldn’t be as much offended by the whole issue of reality shows if they weren’t branded as the next big thing of this world. It really gets on your nerves when you switch channels only to find a different form of the same thing. Even the news channels are not shielded from this whole complex world of deception on offer.
Some of the key issues in lieu of this discussion would be as follows
Sensationalism
Transparency
Competition
These key factors seem to intertwine at some point of time when the show is in running. A deeper look in this retrospective would provide the following:
Sensationalism: Exists in all forms of media and reality shows aren’t divine as to be protected from this evil. Why evil? Come on man, there is a balloon; you blow it beyond proportions, what happens? It bursts. Indian reality shows were blown off proportion long back. All things are given a larger than life feel. There are thousands who audition, millions who watch and vote in this mass hysteria. I feel that a producer exploits the viewer. The shows are posh and filled with pomp n style. Voting for any participant gives the viewer a sense of pride. Pride in turn creates a sense of belonging for the viewer towards the show. He simply wants to associate himself with THE NEXT BIG THING.
Transparency: Allegations and accusations have ruled the roost. Any conflict becomes of news value and what happens is we get to see the same thing on news channels also. Except a few reality shows, I haven’t seen any major auditing company being involved in the process of checking the authenticity of the votes. I once got to talk to the participants of Laughter challenge which comes on Star One and he told me that it all depends on the producer / director. They call the shots and decide who remains in the show. The votes are mere eyewash.
Competition: No issues here. LOL! I just wanted to remind the producers, please do not cash in on linguistic lineage or the ethnicity of a participant. Don’t ask Punjabi's to vote for a Sikh participant so much and so that the others feel offended.
There are several other things in my mind but there is hardly anything that will change. Change would happen only if we as viewers take things into our hands and avoid watching this hypocrisy on offer.
If you have read this long post I believe that you should leave your thoughts as writing this wasn’t as easy as reading would’ve been.
I am absolutely dumbfounded by the sheer volume of TV channels fencing on the branches of reality programming. Snap the remote for once and check out for yourself. I happen to have access to most of the Hindi channels and it is really annoying when you see the endless number of singers wanting to make it to the top.
Just a pointer, read on and see how many Indian reality shows I can enumerate in the following list:
Indian Idol Sony
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009 Zee TV
Kya aap paachvi Pass se tez hai Star Plus
10 ka dum (Sony)
Star Voice of India (Star Plus)
The Great Indian Laughter challenge (Star One)
Sansui Boogie Woogie (Sony)
Junoon Kuch kar dikhane ka (NDTV Imagine)
Ek Se Badhkar Ek (Zee TV)
Superstar (MTV)
Splitsvilla (MTV)
Zara Nach ke Dikha (Star One)
Krazy Kiya Re (SAB TV)
Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka ticket (9x TV)
I may have missed out quite a few but then these are 14 TV shows with their own set of crazed voters, crazed viewers and crazed judges. Why do I call them crazed? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t. Why would I watch someone shoot to stardom from my living room? Agreed, he is struggling and one vote of mine can save him a life to the next round but hold it there.
Who are these struggling people? They are just like me and you who want a short cut to making it large in life. Unless and until he is a relative, friend or someone whom I can associate with I wouldn’t want to see the crap on offer.
As an active media user (Yes Feroz Sir, this is your term which is ringing in my head now) I don’t want myself to act as a ladder for someone else's success. Come on people, it is your money, why let it seep into the producer's pocket for no gain of yours. (Arghh, I sound like a miser at this point)
This time I would say, DAMN the producers of these shows who rout the money of common man by asking them to vote for THE NEXT BIG THING. The ultimate choice lies with you. You can always switch the television off.
I wouldn’t be as much offended by the whole issue of reality shows if they weren’t branded as the next big thing of this world. It really gets on your nerves when you switch channels only to find a different form of the same thing. Even the news channels are not shielded from this whole complex world of deception on offer.
Some of the key issues in lieu of this discussion would be as follows
Sensationalism
Transparency
Competition
These key factors seem to intertwine at some point of time when the show is in running. A deeper look in this retrospective would provide the following:
Sensationalism: Exists in all forms of media and reality shows aren’t divine as to be protected from this evil. Why evil? Come on man, there is a balloon; you blow it beyond proportions, what happens? It bursts. Indian reality shows were blown off proportion long back. All things are given a larger than life feel. There are thousands who audition, millions who watch and vote in this mass hysteria. I feel that a producer exploits the viewer. The shows are posh and filled with pomp n style. Voting for any participant gives the viewer a sense of pride. Pride in turn creates a sense of belonging for the viewer towards the show. He simply wants to associate himself with THE NEXT BIG THING.
Transparency: Allegations and accusations have ruled the roost. Any conflict becomes of news value and what happens is we get to see the same thing on news channels also. Except a few reality shows, I haven’t seen any major auditing company being involved in the process of checking the authenticity of the votes. I once got to talk to the participants of Laughter challenge which comes on Star One and he told me that it all depends on the producer / director. They call the shots and decide who remains in the show. The votes are mere eyewash.
Competition: No issues here. LOL! I just wanted to remind the producers, please do not cash in on linguistic lineage or the ethnicity of a participant. Don’t ask Punjabi's to vote for a Sikh participant so much and so that the others feel offended.
There are several other things in my mind but there is hardly anything that will change. Change would happen only if we as viewers take things into our hands and avoid watching this hypocrisy on offer.
If you have read this long post I believe that you should leave your thoughts as writing this wasn’t as easy as reading would’ve been.
9 comments:
Nice Thought
I completely agree with especially to the point where you said that producers are in-charge of deciding the winners. I had a friend reporting about Indian Idol and she too is of the same opinion as you.
Reality shows are just glamorous and for the mere purpose of entertainment. Thus when the producers fell that their shows TRP is falling they either insult a participant or you'll see an argument among the judges.
Another thing common these days are the questions being asked between the shows. I doubt if the deserving person gets cash or the gift. that also seems fake to me.
I would really like to hear from the person who has a different opinion from us.
What the ultimate winner gets is something around Rs. 1 crore - 33 % tax plus a year bonded contract to perform with the tv station where he hardly gets peanuts as a salary.
There was this huge outroar about the winner of Indian Idol not getting the promised flat in Mumbai, i dont remember if it was Indian idol.
About the TRP, u pointed out rightly how someone is kicked out.
I guess it is really difficult to find someone who differs from this point of view ... lets c ....
Thx for reading ...
Well, I think that there are always two sides of a coin. If these reality shows are a kind of a money making mechanism, they are also in turn getting recognition for a lot who often go unnoticed, especially in a hierarchy-stricken entertainment industry where only the ones with ancestral lineage get to have the cake.
If there is sensationalism, it is because of the viewers, to capture their imagination. It is the viewers who are hooked on to these reality shows, they are not forced to watch them. It is completely the viewers own personal discretion. Sensationalism is just a mechanism to give a boost to the TRP’s which determine the success of the channel.
As far as the issue of transparency is concerned, it should definitely be looked into. The reason for that is the fact that a lot of careers are at stake. If there is a certain kind of bias, it should be cleared off. There have been numerous instances, when the sense of partiality has been beyond the personal likings of the judges or the directors of the respective shows and have resulted in unfair eliminations of deserving participants. This is definitely an area which should be looked into.
As far as the competition goes, it is hardly there. I mean, ofcourse there is competition, but ultimately it does not take the participants anywhere. Just think of it. For example – Indian idol has had 3 seasons. If we consider the careers of only the final 10 contestants, that makes it 30 contestants in 3 seasons. Add to that, there have been atleast 5 reasonably popular singing talent shows with atleast 2 seasons. So, going by the mathematical calculations (considering only the final 10 contestants…..lol) it would be astonishing to know that about 100-150 of them atleast are roaming unemployed without any proper recognition or substantial work. Oh no!! This is not all. Don’t forget the dance reality shows, laughter shows etc. So one can gauge the range of untapped talent in India having temporary fame. Ofcourse, they have their bit of mileage when they perform. But, public memory is short and they tend to forget the contestants and in the end, these reality shows show the contestants their actual REALITY; their true colours. So, it is a temporary bit of fame, and then no name.
For instance, take Abhijit Sawant, the most popular one on this reality block (I’m saying this coz’ many would not even remember who was the winner of the 2ns Indian idol or runner up of 3rd season of SAREGAMA….blah) when Indian idol rocked the television scene, he became a star overnight. He was touted to be the next best thing to have happened to the music industry in India. Hoardings, albums, music videos, weddings……you name it and abhijeet sawant was there. It appeared as if whole of India had embraced him with open arms, and all the lead singers of the nation had a threat in the form of Abhijeet Sawant. But, things turned out to be different, infact soured. Apart from the initial hype when he won the competition, where has all the fame gone? How many songs has he sung for bollywood movies? Not more than one I guess.
It is indeed an eyewash that these 20 somethings (even less, coz’ there are kiddie competitions also going on) who get fake promises from the unscrupulous judges that they will offer them a song or other kind of reinforcements in their films. There have been a number of instances, when the judge (who is a renowned composer) jumps off his seat and promises so much that it seems like a dream to the viewers. Then just think what kind of illusions the contests have when they are buoyed up to such large extents, only to know later that the promises are fake and meant to be broken.
But still despite its myths and negative effects, the reality shows are working big time and garner the highest TV ratings. (for the moment, the bubble is just growing and growing. Only time will tell when it explodes). But there are reasons for that. Some of them are –
- For the viewers, it is a kind of an escapism and they feel they are a part of this whole process and tend to vote due to emotional compulsions.
- It gives a thrill to the audience to watch unedited actions and drama (well, whether it is unedited or not, it is always portrayed as that)
- Ordinary people in extra-ordinary situations provides ample entertainment for the viewers…(latest one Fear Factor is a prime example)
Some shows are genuinely entertaining and of mutually beneficial to the viewers as well as the producers. For instance, KBC was one of them. The audiences were provided quite a bit of entertainment from the popular hosts as well as general knowledge. It was a give and take kind of a relationship where there the contestants took part in the game show, won loads and got to meet their worshipped celebrities. The channel’s TRP’s went up and there were no persuasive SMS voting tactics.
So, its just that there are to sides to a coin, and it is upto the viewers who want to watch the particular reality show or not. It is upto the contestants, who are so naively idealistic that their dreams would come true, to evaluate their priorities and choices. The respective channels are also not here for charity. Every channel wants to increase their TRP’s to raise their market value. It is not a social service after all. But what is not right is the low levels these channels stoop to, in order to elevate their TRP’s
Reality television in India is interesting, but sporadic.
(I guess this was supposed to be a comment……….but went on to be more than an essay…..lolzzz…………sorry for the damage caused to the already stressed up souls………..also, the happier ones whose good mood might have got spoilt due to this……….lolzz)
hey
as far as i am sitting in Dubai and watching the reality shows its ok as i don't atleast have to vote. That also dish tv No complaints but yeah no more reality shows pls!
In India of course media should give more importance to provide knowledge to people then entertainment. I think talk shows r better options then the game or talent shows as u get know the experience of the other person.
Some shows like Operah Winfrey show!
Thanks for all those long comments. No issue of length. The longer it is the more expressive it is.
Coming back to the points raised by Geet.
The mathematical calculation was simply astounding yet simple and it is bare reality that Talent is being pooled but reaches a dead end.
This bubble simply doesnt seem to explode rather the bubble is travelling around the world. A small station in Dubai makes millions of Dirhams via SMS's. It is a double bonanza for the channels where the viewer watches as well as ends up paying money to vote. The advertisers need not be forgotten because they too pay higher prices for cheap sources of entertainment.
Judges are humans like us and they too want to be counted in the great people of this world. Their formula is simple, offer a song on national television to a rising singer. The world goes ga ga in praise of this judge. I dont know if they ever fulfill this promise.
You rightly pointed the escapism value on offer by these shows. But what is escapism? Escapism is the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment. If we are avoiding reality at the cost of illusion then no one can help us. The TV was a good source of escapism for me but today I want to escape from these reality shows .... Do you have any solution Geet? (Other than switching off my TV set)
I appreciate the effort you have put into debating this issue ....
Regards,
I do agree with the thought to some extent, in certain situations wherein they have become really annoying what i mean to say is the idea of differnt production companies or so cashin on the same idea, for instance indian idol according to my knowledge was the first singing talent hunt show but then everybody started cashing on the same idea, for eg. voice of india followed, etc. in the same way laughter challenge was the biggest hit when it started but now each channel has atleast 2-3 laughter shows. this is quiet irritating.On the other hand, i think relaity shows are beneficial for people to some extent. for instance in India there is this huge pool of talented people but due to some reasons many are not recognised nor have the resources to be known. These reality shows give them a ground to showcase their talents, the other thing is these singers, dancers etc are also given some amount of professional training therefore, even if they do not earn anything in the end, the name and the expereince counts a lot. its one way of making the whole country proud and aware of their talent.
therefore, To end it there are cetarin reality shows which have no quality and content but there are certain others for instance On the job on mtv which i guess is doing some good in the country by giving opportunities to young people by providing internships. yeah and not to forget shows like KBC, and all the quiz shows are truly inspiring and knowledgeable.
As far as escapism is concerned, in today’s hectic lifestyle, people do find a sense of diversion from these reality shows. Escapism has become a way of life when people, especially in the urban parts of India are so crushingly consumed by the increasing demands in order to survive in this uncompromising world. So, idealistically speaking, you are right. But it does not happen that way. Everyone wants a break from their routine, hectic & mundane lifestyle which could be in the form of computer games, music, pornography (o..oh), movies or Television. Reality shows provide this kind of relief to the viewers who are in such a desperate need to leave behind the frustrations of their life. Humans want escapism, or else they would have been machines. But yes, I do agree that it should not be at the cost of illusions as that would lead to disasters & nothing else.
As far as reality shows are concerned, its you own personal discretion. (someone’s Takia kalam’s r getting popular….lolz)
Escaping from the reality shows could be done through switching channels and watching other fun or knowledgable stuff (after all the one with the remote control has all the control…….lol)
My personal choice would be Cricket………lolzz….
Other than that there is loads of crap and lots of sensible stuff on TV. About 100 channels are there man….kuch bhi chalega…….as far as reality shows are concerned, even I cant tolerate them, with some exceptions.
As far as the comment by Nafisa is concerned, I agree that there is a positive aspect to the whole debate. These people get trained, they get exposure, they get to know the industry but all this is temporary. The good things take place as long as the contestant is deemed fit to earn money via votes from his fans for the channel and increase the TRP of the station.
On the flip side the contestant is earning crores of Rupees for the station for which he doesnt even get a share. The day his fans stop voting for him, the doors close for him and he continues to live the life as it was before coming to the show.
@Geet: LOL !!! I prefer National Geographic or Ten Sports who do'nt offer me any reality shows.
k....so after reading every1s comments...
i agree more to geets POV on the whole issue. i watch reality shows myself n find them very entertaining.....as far as the amount of them is concerned...like u guys have repeted...over n over again...its a matter of choice.
u dont like it...change the channel!! the shows work bcoz the entertain that amount of people. obviously theres gonna be some amount of people not liking it....its an exception.
also...the more the better!!!
theres more choice.!!
i personally..am totally of a diffrent side in the whole thing..
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