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For Reality Shows

The rise of reality shows can be read as a strong reaction to the increasing irrationalities of the

popular soaps during that period in the realm of Indian television. Although soaps were entertainment

programmes that also reflected a slice of the daily lives of people, they eventually turned extremely

unreal for the public due to their content which focused on unreasoned quarrels or sobs or even

unrequired extensions. As TV channels saw a drop in their viewership, they had to look for re-

anchoring the interest of the people into them. The real life was to be revived on television screen

only through the idea of reality shows.

In India, reality shows probably started with the famous Antakshari - a musical programme where

people outside the television industry could participate. The number of reality shows grew with

increasing channels and proliferating viewership over new millennium. Most channels were pitching in

for various kinds of ideas of reality shows what earlier was entertainment via music, became a

hunt for finding the various bests for the industry. Probably, it also was meant to search for new

people, for new faces to be screened on the upcoming channels. At the same time, with the dearth of

content (due to the sharp rise in the number of channels and increased reach of telecom sector), the

industry must have thought of turning the whole idea of presenting a processed product in to

something to do with the process. Viewers got glued to the programmes because not only they were

able to peep in to the processes that go behind the scenes, but they could also become a part of thefinished product.

Music was one of the easiest arenas to tap into in terms of reality shows since it has remained a vital

aspect of the daily lives of people in India. India can be assumed to have a piece of music for any

event/occasion from life to death. Thus, the idea of music connected people to the channels

strongly. Initially, music reality shows were purely about competition which turned into talent hunts.

The essence of competition was sincere and the award title held significant value. The awardees in

some reality shows of the past became leading figures in different fields in the industry. Primarily

these were singers or video jockeys. But still, reality shows were not very visual till the very actor

hunt came in. A Zee TV reality show on hunting a fresh new face for the film industry was probably

the first visual attempt at exploiting the medium of reality shows television.

Later, things kept becoming more visual, glossy. Exuberant sets, lavish budgets, large halls, largeprogrammes became the norm. The reality shows echoed the bigness of the idea by adding prefixes

like Mega-, Maha-, No.1, etc. The hosts became louder, they spoke more forcefully. One wonders if

this force was to address the larger audience or to enthuse the passive tv-watcher. However, another

thing that became explicit was the process of selection of the final group of people who would perform

/ enact for the main part of the programme series. Here, considerable footage was dedicated to show

people enthusiasm, devotion and often eccentricities and passion for the subject of the show.

However, this was always projected as the love or popularity of the show rather than the subject (i.e.

for eg. Love for ABC show instead of love for music, dance, etc.). The talent was supposed to be

more visual, probably to suit and exploit the medium of disseminating images. Thus, even if in a

music show, a contestant didnot sing well, he would be chosen if he/she looked good. This, coupled

with other undefined criteria was later labelled as the x-factor. It would also include poor people,

someone with a really troubled background, controversial people that would help raise the trps of achannel.

New formats of game-shows, talent hunts, entertainment shows and recently spying and dating

shows have emerged as content for the television perhaps to pull all kinds of eyeballs to the

television incuding young, old, females, males, etc. The public life has become spectacular and the

real suddenly took too much importance. Newer ways of bringing in more spectacular reactions from

public included an aspect of distribution of money (as in shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati, Sawal

Dus Crore Ka, Kamzor Kadi Kaun, Ariel Mr. Gold, etc.) were introduced. Most of such concepts of

shows were borrowed from outside of the country and a lot of them were contextualized for here. In

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this process, probably many of the shows became cheap versions of the original and also at times,

generated controversies.

The jury panel for such shows can be understood to be a response in two ways one is to maintain

the seriousness of the show in the process of judging, etc. this is the intellectual anchor of the show.

On the other hand, the visual anchor of the show is either the host or the jury itself. Here again is a

political aspect of the show.

Although we may harp about an overdose of reality shows on television prime time today, we do need

to agree that those have remained the only programmes that hold public attention today. Perhaps

every channel has at least one reality show, or atleast every channel wants one reality show. It is

quite ironical to talk to the representation of real as reality.

But one also needs to be a bit optimistic and look at how staging reality has benefitted community. In

the first place, reality shows recognized or acknowledges public, the mass. It shifts the focus from the

star to the public. It reaches the public through their strengths. It forms groups / guilds of similar

strengths. The most primary ways in which it has reached public is through art forms and culture.

These, most importantly in Indian context, were music and dance. In a state where scientific

education was only given so much more important than artistic fields, reality shows staged such fields

as opportunistic. It allowed for such fields to get a face and acceptable profession.

For those who didnot participate too, reality shows subtly induced a lot of positive values towards the

area of performing arts. The format of the shows, where a strong renowned jury panel reviewed,

criticised a participants performance opened up the viewer to the technicalities of an art form. It

exposed the framework of appreciation of art forms. For those who never understood music; jury

comments served as a medium to separate better from the best. For aspiring artists, these comments

became a virtual guidance.

Producers of reality shows went into deep recesses of the country to look for talent. Not only that,

perhaps they were also looking for tapping different markets for themselves. However, media had

already had a hegemonic influence over a large mass. Thus, people today have already started

imbibing expected image-culture. If we could only attribute a positive value to this hegemony, it

would be the reinforcing the confidence levels within an otherwise introvert or inert community to facea cosmopolitan urban society. This was achieved through the setting up of various finishing schools

that trained people in urban culture presentation of the self, counselling in language, thinking,

habits, etc. Such institutions also brought together people from different backgrounds together where

they learnt from each other. Perhaps when they differed in opinions, it strengthened their belief in their

own upbringing.

Such smaller nuances itself became material for reality shows. On the presumption that the real is not

always so happy-go-lucky, there have been instances where unexpected or untrue instances have

been planted. The public reaction to the unexpected was phenomenal initially. TRPs of such

programmes / TV channels soared due to screening of the unimaginable. Such unimaginable events

were now constructed for reality shows parents insulting jury members, performers forgetting their

acts, fights between juries, bitching of different concurrent reality shows on same contexts all

became a part of reality. Moreover, the transfer of decision making power from the hands of the jury

to the public by means of electronic voting (telephones, sms, internet) complicated the matter further.

Manipulation of votes remained for long a matter of controversy to which, there exist different

solutions today, including limited voting time spans and increased prices of messages. Voting

mobilized the media in newer territories and ironically took reality into newer unexplored areas. All of

this remained spectacular for the viewers not only because it documented the success story of an

aspirant in some cases, it exposed the urban mass to an interior space of the country.

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Shows like MTV Roadies, or Swayamvars, or Splitsvil la / Emotional Atyachar as the recent reality

shows have become profane with depicting reality to an extent where they become a-cultural.

However, towards the end, the publics preference for reality shows over television soaps suggested

their preference for having a finite end to virtual screen life. As per the formats of most shows, there

had to be a winner, either over weeks or over a single episode, marking the programmes end. Every

episode moved closer towards culmination. The reality shows were thus more real than the never

ending soap sagas.

Although we may keep debating the cultural changes that reality shows have brought in, we have to

credit them for exposing us to diverse group of people, interior parts of the country and

acknowledging different forms of art. These shows have made us conscious of the trajectory of the

self. They have brought into focus the potential of the individual. Media has made opportunities

completely democratic. Whether or not, one chooses to be a part of the hegemonic order that media

sets is a personal choice. But we have to realize that reality shows have successfully opened up this

choice and undone the hierarchic system of opportunity.

1. The jury panel allows us to appreciate an art form

2. It brings out the technicalities of music

3. Reality shows sensitize market

4. They lay some foundational framework of appreciation of art forms like music, dance, etc

5. They introduce us to long lost and important work in such cultural fields

6. They bring out people from deep recesses of the country

7. Induce confidence amongst even the inferior

8. They set up schools and train people at the background

9. They open up various platforms for budding artists and introduce them to the industry.

10. They, to some extent, fill the aspirational gap of the participants.