What is so Real about Reality Shows?

So Rakhi Sawant has finally found her life partner. In fact, it was a real stiff competition at that. The contest was not easy at all. The Canada-based industrialist Elesh Parujanwala had to face quite a bit of challenge before he ‘won’ the proverbial bride. It is another matter that the actual winner was NDTV Imagine and not Elesh or Rakhi

Then of course, there was another Reality Show, Sach Ka Saamna on Star Plus. You are asked all sort of personal embarrassing questions to make you truthful, or more truthful. The lie detector machine will catch you if you falter. Even if you have spoken the truth there is no guarantee that you will win. According to the organisers at least, machines do not lie; they only go out of order at times.

Many years back scientists had discovered predecessor of the now famous lie detector. It was called Haggoth. That machine would find out if a person was speaking the truth when he/she talked over the phone. It would detect the stress content in your voice and declare that you were lying. You could not speak the truth, at least according to Haggoth, if you had stress in your voice. Today Haggoth in its new avatar has come into Reality shows as well.

Coming back to the point, what is so fascinating about Reality Shows? Why are they so popular despite many controversies? (Or are the controversies making them popular?) The answer lies in the very human nature itself. Human beings by their vey nature are voyeuristic. We are curious to know the personal matters of people. Not that that will give us entertainment of pleasure. But we are anxious to know what makes people the way they are; we want to know what makes them tick. So there is no point in pondering whether we should ban Reality Shows. They are just the reflection of human nature itself.

It was unfortunate that our netas wasted precious time debating this useless issue in the Parliament. However, what we need to ponder over is what is so real about reality shows? There is hardly anything real in such shows. People may or may not be surprised if they come to know that almost all the so called reality shows are staged and well-edited. There is nothing that is happening off-hand. So one wonders why they should be called reality shows at all. Even in Sach Ka… certain hints as to what questions may be asked are already given to the participants. So it is indeed a big fraud that these channels are playing on gullible audience.

It is a fact that once the cameras are on there is nothing that is natural. Everything automatically becomes a bit artificial. There is nothing called natural in front of the camera. Even a villager when he knows he is on camera tries to be smarter and wiser. So let us not be sucked into this useless debate of the Realness of Reality shows.

So should they be banned? Our netas do not miss a chance to be hypocritical. In the bargain though, they gave enough mileage to Sach Ka.. If the TRP of the show has soared, much credit should go to them as well.

Reality Shows are here to stay, simply because human nature desires for more of them. So do not blame them. If you are offended, kindly switch off the TV.