Reality shows have now displaced the weepy family soap as India’s favourite TV format.
The other big show is Sach Ka Samna, where contestants answer searingly direct questions about their personal lives in front of a few hundred million viewers. It has created a furore, with questions being raised in Parliament about its alleged violation of Indian values.
Reality shows in India began harmlessly enough with the usual assortment of I-can-sing-dance-perform-tricks-involving-dogs-and-knives talent shows. The explosion in viewership happened when viewer voting became the norm. In a country where sources of economic and social mobility are few, the talent show became a vehicle of very rapid transportation out of poverty. Reality shows opened the floodgates of self-belief in small-town India. Also, the nastiness quotient has been steadily dialled up and some shows are just exercises in barely legal humiliation.
So how can this leaning towards reality shows be explained? This is a universal phenomenon, but the wholehearted manner in which India has embraced this format, given the nation’s background of restraint and respect for family values, is curious. In part, it might have to do with the process of individualisation that is occurring in India. The individual is uncoiling himself from the folds of the collective, and reality TV works towards making explicit the implicit rules which govern the culture.
The debate is whether reality TV is taking India too far down a path. There are no answers yet, and perhaps there won’t be. In the meantime, of course, we will keep our eyes glued to the TV.
Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands
[email protected]
This article was originally published in 13 August 2009 issue of Media.
The other big show is Sach Ka Samna, where contestants answer searingly direct questions about their personal lives in front of a few hundred million viewers. It has created a furore, with questions being raised in Parliament about its alleged violation of Indian values.
Reality shows in India began harmlessly enough with the usual assortment of I-can-sing-dance-perform-tricks-involving-dogs-and-knives talent shows. The explosion in viewership happened when viewer voting became the norm. In a country where sources of economic and social mobility are few, the talent show became a vehicle of very rapid transportation out of poverty. Reality shows opened the floodgates of self-belief in small-town India. Also, the nastiness quotient has been steadily dialled up and some shows are just exercises in barely legal humiliation.
So how can this leaning towards reality shows be explained? This is a universal phenomenon, but the wholehearted manner in which India has embraced this format, given the nation’s background of restraint and respect for family values, is curious. In part, it might have to do with the process of individualisation that is occurring in India. The individual is uncoiling himself from the folds of the collective, and reality TV works towards making explicit the implicit rules which govern the culture.
The debate is whether reality TV is taking India too far down a path. There are no answers yet, and perhaps there won’t be. In the meantime, of course, we will keep our eyes glued to the TV.
Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands
[email protected]
This article was originally published in 13 August 2009 issue of Media.
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