Masala as Reality! Being outrageously rude, crude and over the top would benefit both the aggressor and the victim in a reality show, it seems!
Do no work. Just live. Become a celebrity overnight. There is a small price to pay for all the riches and fame that come in its wake, of course: TV cameras following you everywhere!
Sounds great, isn’t it? Bogged down by hard labour under the merciless gaze of the no-nonsense employer for a paltry salary, the very idea of a live-in reality show (A genre widely called as ‘Fly in the wall’ or factual television) like ‘Bigg Boss’ would look tantalizing to all kinds of wannabes and fame-hunters.
In a ‘glass-house’, you are caged in with a few ‘aspirants’ for a few weeks. What will happen to your daily lives? The feeling that somebody’s gaze is on you may be very irritating for you. Even if there are no cameras inside the house, you feel very awkward, as most of the other inmates are new to you. But you have to tread cautiously. The viewers, with their all-powerful votes are on the ready to nominate you out!
But, once you consider the inmate status as a role being played for a decent remuneration, there ends the tension and you start behaving in tune with the requirements of the show. The only problem is you might just overdo it, like a man who started crying inconsolably while feigning to be sad.
Surviving inside the ‘house’ is no small task. Your communication with the other participants should (seem) genuine. You should be a great person, and at the same time, should ensure enough drama to have the TRP chart purring in approval. Being goody-goody won’t bring in the viewers. Boss, it needs masala; loads of it. So, play-acting, gossiping, mud-slinging etc are definitely in. Any way, you are not expected to discuss Shakespeare or Noam Chomsky. Not even Amitabh Bachchan or Daniel Craig. Come down please, as deep down as possible till your feet are firmly stuck in dirt and mud.
Participants would of course take a cue from the British version of ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. Jade Goody, a nobody then, rose to celeb status overnight as she was accused of racially abusing our own Shilpa Shetty. The latter became the darling of the voter-class and won the event. Goody was invited to join ‘Bigg Boss-2’ (a reality show being aired in India, of all countries!), though her fame rested on her not so beautiful vocabulary aimed at Shilpa. On hindsight, it seems that being outrageously rude, crude and over the top would benefit both the aggressor and the victim!
The all-important thing in a reality show is its casting. Get the right kind of people into the household. Those people with whom the yuppie hordes (young, high income individuals are the majority of ‘Bigg Boss’ watchers, it is said), can identify with and whose world view and lifestyle would appeal to them. The reason why the show is being aired much later than the soaps is a sure indication that the show targets a much smaller niche audience.
Sounds great, isn’t it? Bogged down by hard labour under the merciless gaze of the no-nonsense employer for a paltry salary, the very idea of a live-in reality show (A genre widely called as ‘Fly in the wall’ or factual television) like ‘Bigg Boss’ would look tantalizing to all kinds of wannabes and fame-hunters.
In a ‘glass-house’, you are caged in with a few ‘aspirants’ for a few weeks. What will happen to your daily lives? The feeling that somebody’s gaze is on you may be very irritating for you. Even if there are no cameras inside the house, you feel very awkward, as most of the other inmates are new to you. But you have to tread cautiously. The viewers, with their all-powerful votes are on the ready to nominate you out!
But, once you consider the inmate status as a role being played for a decent remuneration, there ends the tension and you start behaving in tune with the requirements of the show. The only problem is you might just overdo it, like a man who started crying inconsolably while feigning to be sad.
Surviving inside the ‘house’ is no small task. Your communication with the other participants should (seem) genuine. You should be a great person, and at the same time, should ensure enough drama to have the TRP chart purring in approval. Being goody-goody won’t bring in the viewers. Boss, it needs masala; loads of it. So, play-acting, gossiping, mud-slinging etc are definitely in. Any way, you are not expected to discuss Shakespeare or Noam Chomsky. Not even Amitabh Bachchan or Daniel Craig. Come down please, as deep down as possible till your feet are firmly stuck in dirt and mud.
Participants would of course take a cue from the British version of ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. Jade Goody, a nobody then, rose to celeb status overnight as she was accused of racially abusing our own Shilpa Shetty. The latter became the darling of the voter-class and won the event. Goody was invited to join ‘Bigg Boss-2’ (a reality show being aired in India, of all countries!), though her fame rested on her not so beautiful vocabulary aimed at Shilpa. On hindsight, it seems that being outrageously rude, crude and over the top would benefit both the aggressor and the victim!
The all-important thing in a reality show is its casting. Get the right kind of people into the household. Those people with whom the yuppie hordes (young, high income individuals are the majority of ‘Bigg Boss’ watchers, it is said), can identify with and whose world view and lifestyle would appeal to them. The reason why the show is being aired much later than the soaps is a sure indication that the show targets a much smaller niche audience.
May be that was why Ramdas Athawale was omitted from the cast (Would the target audience identify with him?). And the participant who stands a very bright chance of winning is Rahul Mahajan! The channel-math of TRP generation is quite bewildering, indeed!
The viewers can openly discuss the character and behaviour of the participants and make judgments on them. They can feel morally superior, enjoy the voyeuristic pleasure the show provides and imagine that it is they who decide on the fate of the celebrities. As the show goes on to resemble gladiatorial fights, the viewers, like Romans of old, lap up with shameless glee all the thrills the humiliations and agonies that the ‘warriors’ undergo.
Privacy and human dignity? Never heard these words before!
But don’t think the audience can be taken for a ride. The majority of them do not believe in the ‘reality’ of the reality shows! When they sit down to vote, they assess as much as they can, how closely a participant resembles his/her real self on TV. Obviously, the vote will go to the more ‘genuine’ one in their estimation!
Why channels are running after reality shows? It’s all economics, folks! Nothing comes as cheap as reality shows on TV these days. You don’t have to pay writers or actors, no need for elaborate rehearsals, sets, music... The list of advantages goes on, which reduces the production costs to almost one-fifth, says one estimate. When the profits are piling up, it is ‘unethical’ to talk about ethics!
George Orwell, in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (1949), described a world where the State monitored all the activities of its people by fitting giant two-way TV screens in every room. (Incidentally, the title of the first ‘Big Brother’ was inspired by the all-seeing authority in the book, called ‘Big Brother’.) He was thinking of a time when the State would intrude into the private lives of individuals and make life hell for them.
How mistaken Orwell was! In reality TV, people, of their own volition, submit themselves to the relentless examination of their personal lives, suffer indignities and insults…all in a bid to get recognised!
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