ON VIEW: TV grabs from Bigg Boss

All the world loves a lover. And model Anupama Verma knows that only too well. Ever since she appeared in — and was booted out of — Bigg Boss, she has been besieged by questions, and one query in particular: “When are you getting married?” Viewers had quite taken to her coochie-cooing with actor Aryan Vaid on the reality television show, and were only too eager to see their romance culminate in marriage. And even now, the sparks that were sparked on television between the two continue to dazzle.

“From celebrities they have now turned into icons,” declares Rajesh Kamath, managing director of Endemol, which produces the show for Sony Entertainment Television. While Verma insists people now meet her warmly — “Having discovered the real me, they know I have much more to offer than just my physicality” — Vaid is being invited to attend various events, including children’s programmes, apart from being flooded with offers for TV shows.

Clearly, reality shows such as Bigg Boss are the flavour of the season. Voyeuristic in character, they are fanning the Peeping Tom syndrome like never before. Romanticism, hypocrisy, bitchiness, camaraderie — it’s all for real, or so the organisers insist. And the spiciness of watching a group of young men and women living together is addictive, by all accounts. “I must say some of the massaging that the girls gave to the other contestants was highly erotic and embarrassing to watch,” says Aryan Vaid.

contestant Rahul Roy

Small wonder then that the show — which completed its first season yesterday — was much talked about, dismal television rating points (TRPs) notwithstanding. But chances are it may gain in popularity. Bigg Boss, assures Kamath, will have a second season. And one can expect the format to become more experimental and less prudish, perhaps pushing the envelope a little more. “Its viewer profile comprised the urban populace as they can connect more to such shows,” points out L.V. Krishnan, the Television Audience Measurement (TAM) Media Research chief.

Ever since the brouhaha over Shilpa Shetty’s victimisation in Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4 in the UK, reality shows like Bigg Boss — a spin-off of Big Brother — have been the talk of the town. The reality genre in India has always been a hand-me-down from the West. But although game shows such as Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus and talent hunt contests including Little Champ and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV enjoy high TRPs because they tend to make the dreams of a fortunate few come true, it’s the voyeuristic reality show which is gaining an edge.

Initially, it was either 15 minutes of fame or the money that served as a bait for the Bigg Boss contestants. In fact, the pay has been excellent — a five-week stint fetched something around Rs 25 lakh. But in course of the last two months, each of the contestants stood to gain or perhaps even lose much more as viewers got an insight into their characters.

In many ways, MTV Bakra (a spin-off of the 1948 CBS show Candid Camera) which revelled in making fools of innocent people jumpstarted the reality genre in India. The channel has come a long way since. The fourth season of the adventure show MTV Roadies is a test of the guts, grit and gumption of a young group travelling across the country, trying to face challenges thrown at them.

These adrenaline-driven boys and girls have had to live in fairly cramped conditions. Earlier this week, an episode had all of them getting worked up about a dirty loo. No one was willing to volunteer to flush the toilet. Finally, one sporting soul did the honours, a huge white handkerchief tied around his nose.

But while in the US, producers and channels are willing to throw anything and everything into the reality tank to see what bubbles to the top, in India they tread more cautiously. In fact, they often have to do the tightrope act with the Information and Broadcasting ministry playing moral guardian to the Indian populace. Just 10 days ago, the channel AXN was banned for two months for telecasting a programme called World’s Sexiest Commercials. Two channels were forced to render an apology for having telecast video clippings of Mahatma Gandhi doing a pole dance posted on the social networking site Youtube.

So anything which borders remotely on the vulgar would obviously raise hackles. Kamath is aware of that. “We tweaked Bigg Boss to cater to the Indian sensibility. That is why we didn’t have cameras in the bathroom unlike Big Brother,” he says. Deepak Dhar, the creative head of the show, underlines another point. “We play up the emotional content. Bigg Boss isn’t as aggressive as Big Brother.”

But despite that, Bigg Boss has already raised a few eyebrows. Pratibha Nathani, the self-styled crusader who had moved court last year to trigger a ban on adult content on television, puts it simply: “It’s so cheap.” While Nathani has no issues about the blossoming romance — “when people are living together that can happen” — it is the antics of spice girl Rakhi Sawant who was brought back on public demand followed by Kashmera Shah that infuriated her.

“They were clearly the vamps of the show. They moved around the house perpetually in their underwear, which looked not only vulgar but was in bad taste,” she says indignantly. Besides, the hypocrisy shown — one moment the participants were hugging each other, the next moment they were criticising one another in the confession room — hardly falls in the category of entertainment.

But socio-political thinker Ashis Nandy doesn’t quite agree. “Society can’t act as a psychotherapist,” he contends. “Voyeurism will always find expression somehow or the other. So it is best left to civil society and bloggers to address the issue rather than the common man getting so intensely involved and adding to the hype.” However, the rumpus over the racist attack on Shetty kindled Nandy’s curiosity to the extent that he too was eager to catch an episode of Bigg Boss.

Evidently, such responses augured well for Endemol. After all, most viewers who watched the show lived vicariously through the participants. Says Kamath, “It is a given that voyeurism works universally and most people enjoy being a fly on the wall.”

Psychoanalyst and writer Sudhir Kakar endorses the point. “It is a very human urge to look in through the open window of another’s house while passing it, to get a glimpse of the intimate lives of others. It is the same urge which makes us read gossip columns or biographies that promise to “bare all”. “It is a universal urge but is especially developed in those whose own lives are very dull.”

While that may apply to the common urban couch potato, even those whose lives aren’t all that mundane seem to be hooked on to the show. Mona ‘Jassi’ Singh, who emerged the winner in yet another reality show Jhalak Dikhla Ja telecast on Sony, was, by her own admission, addicted to the show. “Here are celebrities we have known only as professionals. Seeing them in the private domain and observing their behaviour is entertaining. You get to know them better as human beings,” she says earnestly.

Not all would agree. Vaid would have us believe that at times, such reality shows tend to distort truth. “In such an environment, reactions and emotions do get exaggerated despite the fact that some participants like me had taken it up as a professional assignment.”

That perhaps explains the killer instinct of the participants because at the end of the day it is a game, explains Nandy. He is however unsparing even about other game shows. “Talent hunt contests are counterproductive because it’s difficult to judge talent the way by roping in the viewers,” he reasons. As to Bigg Boss he predicts, “As a typical feature of mass society, the popularity of such shows is set to soar.”

And the meaner it is, the better it is. That is the mantra for the success of these shows. Take for instance Rakhi Sawant and Kashmera Shah. People lapped up the manner in which the two gossiped about the holier-than-thou attitude of the other participants on Bigg Boss. Zee TV’s Little Champ contest saw many a fight between judges Abhijeet and Bappi Lahiri, between parents and judges, each of which became a topic for heated discussions at the dining table. Such instances helped spice up the show as much as influence the TRP ratings.

How real is a reality show?

“The term ‘reality show’ is a misnomer as such a show is far removed from reality,” remarks consultant psychiatrist at Apollo Gleaneagles J.R. Ram, clinically. “The environment is unreal and unnatural and the ethos of such programmes is to create stress and conflict because that makes for good TV.” That stress, he explains, brings out the best or worst in individuals of varying temperaments living together under the same roof. At times, participants may also be planted to create tension as perhaps was the case with Rakhi Sawant and Kashmera Shah. There are also those who feel the participants themselves put on an act and hence there is nothing real about such shows. But Anupama Verma insists she was just being herself on the show. “Or else, the whole purpose of a reality show is lost.” Actress Roopa Ganguly, however, is more candid. “If I were on such a show and knew I was under surveillance, I'd be doubly cautious and would be acting all the more. I'd be professionally unprofessional and give a performance which would convince people that it was all for real.”

Evidently, it’s the ‘extreme’ factor that counts. Reason enough for viewers to gear up for yet another reality show, Extreme Makeover, hosted by Mona Singh on Sony in March. This one, however, has something in it for viewers who have physical flaws or have been involved in an accident, don’t have a chin or may need to get a nose job done. “I am a people’s person, so making personal contact matters to me,” says Singh. In the course of shooting for the show, there have been participants who developed cold feet at the last moment or those who have experienced an emotional breakdown after the operation. “That makes the show all the more real,” says Singh.

Another reality show, Extreme Fear Factor produced by Endemol , is meant to live up to its name as the adventure instinct in participants is tested in extreme conditions. To be telecast on Sony, it will be shot in a boot camp in South Africa. That apart, the hunt is still on for cinestars, dancers, idols and of course, bakras.

But despite the deluge of reality shows, channel heads agree that they will never ever eclipse soaps. As Kunal Dasgupta, the CEO of Sony Entertainment Television, reasons, “Reality shows are just one kind of a show within the entire genre of entertainment. It has certainly found a place. Sony itself had popular shows such as Jhalak Dikhla Ja and Fear Factor but viewers prefer a mixed bag.”

Ashish Kaul, senior vice-president of Zee Network, adds, “Today such shows are marketed better and a lot of hype is built around them.” Not that it necessarily works. Sony Entertainment Television, with the highest number of reality shows in its kitty, has moved a notch further down while Star Plus is leading, followed by Zee Network. Small wonder, then, that Shaileja Kejriwal, the senior creative director of Star India, says: “Fiction will always be the mainstay of any entertainment channel.”

However, while the reality of a reality show seems to be its USP, accusations that some conflicts are staged and participants sometimes abide by a script (see box) have been flying thick and fast. Kaul of Zee Network doesn’t deny that. “We aren’t missionaries. We are in the entertainment industry.” Referring to the Indian Idol episode on Sony way back in 2004 in which two junior artistes had been hired to create a ruckus as a mother-daughter duo, he says, “That worked wonders for the show’s TRP. So once in a while, there is no harm in introducing some drama or controversy.”

That’s all very well — as long as viewers are content to live vicariously, instead of splitting hairs over the unreality of reality shows.