Rakhi chose her groom on live TV. Not sure how this will play out over the next few days. So is this path breaking or a really wrong turn. I come from the days when ‘Choli ke peeche’ was ostracized. Today, getting ones genitals smacked for a wrong answer is totally acceptable. How the views have changed. I wonder what the actual TRP numbers are for these shows. But if Indians find shows like MTV Roadies/MTV Splitsvilla entertaining or even slightly funny than that’s pretty alarming. There is already an undercurrent of disgust at these shows, which leads to the obvious question… should they be banned? I have always been opposed to the idea bans. And if one goes by the popularities that these shows suggest, then surely there are people who enjoy watching these shows. So what’s to be done…
What I want is that these shows be explicitly marked as suitable for mature audiences only [you know that red circle with 18 written in it]. I am not sure if I would want any school going kid to watch these overly dramatized shows drawing on explicit voyeurism and take that to be how majority of the people in this world behave, think. And yes, I don’t believe these reality shows represent the psyche of the common man. These individuals are chosen precisely for their eccentricity and emotional quotient that assures of aggravated responses in ludicrous and disgusting situations. I would want these shows to be moved to a late night slot, with adequate warnings mature content and advising viewer discretions and not just the bleeps and the blurs.

Indian Television has stopped being meaningful. Balika Vaadu, is a serial that in my opinion makes child marriage seems routine. And its acceptability by the masses is shocking. How can you educate the society that child marriage is a crime when the society loves Anandi.

And it’s not that we can’t create entertaining television. We had Antakshari, Filmi Chakkar, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Hum Paanch, Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai. So surely there are writers and directors out there that can create quality. But there has to be someone willing to take a pause, re-evaluate what entertainment should be and then deliver.