still acceptable, but with the advent of a much stronger participatory medium of reality television in the field, I fear this may no longer be true.
After the first few game shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati had lost their charm, it was time for competitive programmes to take centre stage, where episodes turned overdramatic within an incredibly short period. It didn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to guess that most of the fights and showdowns were rigged. After all, they were called
‘reality’ shows. In spite of this (or perhaps because of it), the popularity of such programmes didn’t suffer a dent until the viewers got bored. This was where things turned truly nasty – it was no longer enough for participants to proclaim themselves arrogant and foul-tempered gits on national television. Now, they also had to be
ready to be utterly humiliated in front of millions.
Once it had become clear to the proprietors of these channels that spectators were positively agog for this sort of thing, it didn’t take them long to get to the next step – a show that would provide any ordinary person the long-awaited golden opportunity to be mortified on TV and the potential to ruin his/her life.
Sadly, viewers apparently take great pleasure in watching a hapless individual struggle as he/she answers insulting and traumatizing questions about their lives. And they discuss it with great relish the next day: "Did you see yesterday’s episode? It was so disgusting! The way they treated that poor girl; her husband walked out before she could answer!" "Yes, shocking, wasn’t it? I heard they’re getting a
divorce. It’s a horrible show!" A similar conversation takes place the next day, and the next. Ancient Romans could hardly have been this enthusiastic as they watched their slaves getting devoured by hungry lions.
The attitude of the participants themselves never ceases to amaze. I personally find nothing fascinating about the idea of sitting helplessly while someone tears my life apart piece by piece, and I consider myself a relatively sane person. Yet, people are queuing up for it.
The PIL filed for banning Sach Ka Saamna since it could lead to serious breakdown of social relations was dismissed almost immediately by the Supreme Court, which postulated that the Indian social fabric was not frail enough to snap because of a worthless show. However, the number of ruptures that have taken place on account of the secrets revealed tells a conspicuously different story.
It would be tempting for some to conclude that our societal norms are intolerant of anything deviant, of truth itself, but this is hardly the case. The disproportionate importance attached to certain meaningless facts, their flawed interpretation and disregard for the constantly evolving dynamics of human relationships are the real reasons for the failure.
In the end, it remains for us to learn a lesson about truth from a wise old man, albeit a fictitious one: “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.
