Whose responsibility is it anyways?

The abusive, violent tempered, brash Kamal Khan has been expelled from the Bigg boss house. So if this guy was so violent (he threw a bottle at a fellow inmate) and short tempered (he kept flying off the handle at the least provocation) what was he doing in a show which requires him to share space with 12 other contestants? Should not reality show contestants be made to go through some sort of test to gauge if they can be put in a community fish bowl? Even when a kid sets up a fish tank at home he is careful not to combine the aggressive fish with the mild ones for the fear of an assault. And KRK (as he pompously calls himself) did just that! And when he did that Bigg Boss promptly threw him out of the show. This is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Now the channel and the production house are laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing because KRK had until then single handedly upped the ratings of the show and crying because now the show may lose its punch (pun intended!). By merely getting rid of the culprit does it absolve all concerned from having let loose a nutty man in the house? Since the rule book says that anyone who gets abusive or violent will be expelled from the house why in the first place invite such an individual to play the game? On yet another reality show (Perfect Bride) where participants search for a life partner it was alleged that a contestant already had a girl friend tucked away back home and was on the show only to further his acting dreams. Does this not tantamount to a breach of trust? So then in that case who is accountable for having signed such a guy on the show? The argument here will be that it is such people who help the show. In fact more the controversial a person the bigger the chances of him being on such shows. Hence producers make a beeline for all such people. Recall a certain Rakhi Sawant, Raja Choudhary, Negar Khan? With reality shows mushrooming like never before on almost all general entertainment channels it’s about time there was some accountability and responsibility by the makers and broadcasters of these shows. How can we forget the 16- year- old Shinjini Sengupta who suffered a nervous breakdown and could not speak or move after allegedly being rebuked by a reality show judge? Would this have happened had the producers/channel exercised some caution? With more and more young kids being pressured to participate in reality shows it should be made mandatory that they undergo a psycho-analysis prior to participating in the shows to determine if they suffer from any problem. When an enraged Chetan Hansraj slapped a fellow contestant on Bollywood ka ticket the show got its rating but left the others on the show extremely upset. Was it based on this that the actor was offered yet another reality show which he obviously accepted? Most TV viewers will recall the episode when Jade Goody was expelled from Big Brother for her racist remarks. It was equally disturbing to listen to Shweta Tiwari confess on national TV that she had decided to walk out of Iss jungle se mujhe bachao (Sony) as she couldn’t cope with jungle life and the participants. We are at the cusp of making it on the international TV stage. The big daddies of the small screen are watching us evolve. With the constant emergence of such incidents India’s global image will also take a beating. But unfortunately our producers and channels don’t seem to agree. In fact a senior media player acknowledged that controversy is crucial and that nobody wants simple people on reality shows as they can never bring in the ratings. He adds that producers opt for people who indulge in over-the-top behaviour or have a scandalous past. He confirms that despite the fact that such people attract negative publicity they continue to be in demand as for a show any publicity is good. Without clear guidelines and no regulation or accountability producers and broadcasters will continue to do what they do best- titillate and shock. All in the name of TRPs. And therein lies the danger- the new acceptance for shamelessness. In order to ensure that this does not get out of hand proper guidelines should be drawn out and producers and channels should be held liable for any impropriety. So as KRK readies to return as a probable wild card entrant on Bigg Boss its time to think beyond ratings. TRP should now mean Take responsibility please! Read more...