Rooted in reality

Once upon a time in India, reality came outside the box…the idiot box. Today, it is all about star value, gimmickry, cheesy plotlines and money, always money, lots of it. And it all happens right in your home, your living room, perhaps your den, your bedroom, wherever you happen to have your television set placed.

Welcome to the wild and occasionally wicked world of reality shows, a fairly recent phenomenon that has taken flight in the Indian entertainment firmament, giving rise to a multitude of concepts, many of them copies of Western equivalents, some of them with an original twist that, once in a rare while, actually works wonders with the TRPs, meaning that people watch and then come back for more. A lot of the time, they come back not to see the people involved and their angsts – which is what sells best – but the stars or celebrities, minor and major, who make enough salacious gossip possible for it to be vicariously satisfying and watchable.

Perhaps the biggest sensation of them all was something that happened a long time ago (in television history, even two months is an age), in 2000, with Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of the British show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was hosted by actor Amitabh Bachchan, whose fortunes were at a low at the time, and got a huge fan following courtesy his steady, serious and sober demeanour and his sonorous, soothing and somehow encouraging baritone, all made so much more accessible via the idiot box to the millions who remembered him in Zanjeer, Sholay Agneepath and other notable film roles.

Though the show took a four year break, it was back in 2005 with its second edition, with the same star anchor, and heralded a host of other offerings that roped in stars, some at a low in cinema and looking for a new lucrative direction, some just exploring a new world that offered a new set of admirers and adorers. The next season saw superstar Shahrukh Khan take over the show, though he was not as successful as his predecessor, who was inspired enough to reprise his anchor role in the fourth season.

But by then television had a glut of star-anchors. Govinda had Chhappar Phad Ke to his (dis)credit, Salman Khan made a delightful host in Dus ka Dum and Madhuri Dixit looked like an eligible bride herself in Kahin na Kahin Koi Hai as she introduced young people to each other view matrimony. Shahrukh Khan tried his luck with Kya Aap Panchvi Paas se Tez Hain?, but it failed to make the grade. There were many others. The film world and its stars were the draw, finally seeing that the small screen was not something to avoid, but somewhere to increase fan numbers and a way to discover new avenues of revenue generation.

Today, television has become crowded with star power, each channel fighting its way to gain prominence and reach the top of the TRP charts. There is Shahrukh Khan (once again) being snide yet encouraging on Zor ka Jhatka, the Indian version of the popular and seemingly painful Wipeout. Priyanka Chopra tested her mettle and inspired a higher level of testosterone-fuelled achievement in the third season of Khatron ke Khiladi, a show that two-time host Akshay Kumar will return to in the next season. Kumar also aimed for the sweet finish with Masterchef India, but it didn't quite have the right flavour, reports say.

Salman Khan, meanwhile, conquered with his stint as host of Big Boss, a mantle inherited from Amitabh Bachchan, whose son Abhishek, sadly, did not do much for his own ratings as anchor of National Bingo Night. Rakhi Sawant, controversy queen and Bollywood 'item girl' is busy with Rakhi ki Adalat, while Preity Zinta, who has been concentrating on cricket and assorted other games not in the cine-pantheon, will soon bring Guiness Book Of World Records – Ab India Todega to the small screen.

So what happens on these shows? A group of celebrities, usually rather small time, with not much viable work or progress in their careers, get together and behave badly. Which is what they are told to do, paid to do, choreographed to do, according to media interviews given usually by those who have not made the grade. They get into fights, scaling upwards from minor tiffs to nastily vituperative slanging matches, cuddle and coo and steam up the windows, issue press statements about their attachments and detachments, do everything from clean toilets and wash other people's clothes to cook and take their turn as head of the clique and, at the end of it all, get mileage from the fact that they were part of the show or, best of all, part of some scandal that was associated with the show.

Does it work? Well, who knows! Some of the participants make money and get more exposure (career-wise, of course, what else would I possibly mean?) than they otherwise could, while others just get the pay checks they are promised in their contracts, taking home as a bonus a bad reputation that gets them avoided by future employers.

Do the shows work? Presumably, or else there wouldn't be so many of them cluttering up prime time television, would there?
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Ramya Sarma is a Mumbai-based writer-editor.