[Title Here, up to 12 Words, on One to Two Lines]

Usmani Mubasshera M. Ahmed

MACJ- PART I

S.K. SOMAIYA COLLEGE- VIDYAVIHAR

 Abstract

Television continues to be the most prominent entertainment medium in the Indian M&E

industry. Viewers of reality television who are addicted to these daily programs often get

deeply involved into any situation. Often, certain reality television shows are based on

topics that have no thought process or concepts. However, some reality shows show

positive things, which viewers can learn and apply in their daily life. The study is focused

on how people are interested to watch the reality shows which contributes further for

reality shows becoming more popular in terms of Cost effective, Emotional Connect,

Relatedness, Family Appeal, Quick Results, etc.

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Today technology has great advancements. This has had impcat on every sphere of
human life. The introduction of television has given us a great source of entertainment
but excessive watching televison has bad effects too. From the very first Indian soap
‘Hum Log’ to present day soaps and reality shows, Indian television has grown
undoubtedly, but not always for the better.
Indian television witnesses some of the longest running daily soaps with over 2000
episodes of over–hyped rhetorical drama. Their scripts have so far not been successful
enough to conjure up a healthy dose of daily entertainment — without sending their
audiences the wrong message. As the story of one serial after the other unfolded on
screen, to be the “perfect” woman on Indian television, one needed to be a docile
housewife and sacrifice everything for the family’s happiness. Drama is when people
skip their meals, when someone is reincarnated with the same face, when even after
taking leaps of six to ten years, they use the same technology that they used earlier.
Mythological and historical series are somewhat information-bound, but paranormal
shows are as unconvincing as forced smiles. Stories often drift away from the main plot.
Adding to this are the visual effects used in shows like ‘Sasural Simar Ka’ aired on
ColorsTV, ‘Baalveer’ on SabTV, and the conventional ghastly figurines in paranormal
shows like ‘Aahat.’ After some decades, when the trend of reality shows became popular,
for once Indian audience was relieved to get out of the Saas Bahu traumas and the
larger-than life characters of daily soaps. They were happy to get a view into other
peoples lives. Into their household, their privacy. And when celebrities volunteered to
open up the masks, stand raw in front of the camera depicting their natural colors, what
more can the audience ask for? When these shows succeeded in getting TRPs their
concepts became weirder and wilder! Use of abusive language and vulgarity dominated
these shows. The impact of such scenes on the younger generation is a social concern.
Shows like Big Bos, Emotional Athyachaar Sach Ka Samna and the like have caused
relations to split, family ties to wither.

The concept of reality TV draws from realism in cinema. So, it’s a format that presents
ordinary people in live, supposedly unscripted (though often deliberately manufactured)
situations, and monitors or judges their emotions, behaviour or talent. Such formats
usually invoke competition and provide big money as rewards.
Still, the very dissonance between the fact that these programmes are real and relevant
(for the audience) and that contestants usually compete in them for fame and
money—thereby being willing to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do—raises issues
related to the honesty of reality shows.
The situation is exacerbated when producers use the concept of reality to shock and awe
audiences—one way to break through the clutter.
The result: reality shows are becoming more and more provocative and outrageous. As
eminent film-maker Mahesh Bhatt says, “Today, washing one’s dirty linen on prime time
is big business. We live in shameless times. People do not mind becoming guinea pigs in
the name of reality to amuse the nation and make a quick buck. And the audience gets
high on its daily dose of ‘reality’ about the private lives of people like themselves.’’
It shouldn’t surprise anyone, then that at least one such programme has run afoul of some
politicians.
Last fortnight, some of these politicians raised this in Parliament, bringing to the fore
issues such as content regulation and morality. Unfortunately, most politicians seem to
get tangled in moral issues when it comes to content and the Delhi high court perceived
the issue as “moral policing" before dismissing the two petitions against the show.
Meanwhile, producers and liberals say there is nothing wrong with such reality
programmes and that realism on TV screens is merely holding up a mirror to happenings
in society. Extremes coexist in India and it’s difficult to answer if television does indeed
mirror reality. Still, it is clear that the mirror is selective in its distortions because of
economic pressures. Whether its reality or any other genre of programming, the tendency
to sensationalize and even misuse is a commercial exigency in television.

Reality television broke the monotony to create interesting scripts and out-of the
box ideas that made them stand out from the run-of-the-mill shows. Although
drama-lovers are still glued to their idiot boxes at prime time, reality shows are hogging
the limelight big time.

Some of these reality shows are talent hunts, game shows, celebrity shows,
documentary-style shows, makeover shows, or some of them are just plain voyeurism
personified. However different their concepts might be, all the reality shows, intrinsically
run on the same path. They put ordinary people or celebrities in real-life situations and
allow peeping toms to enjoy the thrill of watching them!

Besides giving the audience the thrill and excitement of live un-edited action,
reality television allows the audience to be a part of the show. Take for example The
Indian Idol, or Jhalak favorite reality show- On the Lot, these shows allow the audience
to choose the winner through a voting system. Although the credibility of these voting
systems is debated about forever, the interactivity factor definitely fetches the show a lot
of following.
Reasons for popularity of Reality Shows:

 Cost effective: It is possible to tap a very large dedicated heterogeneous audience base
at very less cost. This makes reality shows a very cost-effective marketing tool and
consequently has gained popularity.
 Emotional Connect: This not only attracts new customer base but keeps the existing
customer base loyal because of the emotional- connect.
 Relatedness: Reality shows have a strong reflection of the dreams, struggle, and
emotions of common-man. Hence people tend to relate very strongly to the characters
of such shows.
 Family Appeal: Reality shows are mostly family catches. Grandparents, parents and
children all watch such shows mostly together. The formats of most shows are such
that they attract audience across age groups and genders.
 Quick Results: The formats of the reality shows have a built in quick response seeking
factor from the audience.
 High Involvement Level: Most of the reality shows demand conscious as well as
subconscious involvement of the audience.

In India people mostly watch Adventure reality shows, Celebrity reality shows,
comedy reality shows, Game reality shows, Prank shows and also watch Talent hunt
shows.

Study of Big Boss- Indian television reality show:

Bigg Boss Season 11 was the latest season of big boss, and the internet is abuzz with all
kinds of analyticalreports and rumours. The controversial reality show based on the
format of the UK reality show Big Brother is wildly popular with the viewers. Here's why
I think the show is such a hit:
Controversies

Controversies work. Scandals work. People like seeing other people upset. Human beings

are sadists, and there are no two ways about it. Also, it is cathartic to have strangers yell

profanities at each other, because, more drama, people.

Celebrities

Okay, you don't see great artists from various fields on the show, because they have work.

But there are others; the small fish in the sea, they want money too. And the celebrities

featured on the show are not exactly unheard of, some of them are quite well-known And

people will watch anything with a celebrity in it. Yes, they will.

Salman Khan

A controversial Bollywood star hosting a controversial reality show, now if that doesn't

rake in the views, what will? The actor is quite open about his opinions regarding the

contestants of the show, and of course, Bhai has a huge fan base.

The concept

A big house with a bunch of (mostly) out-of-work celebrities with cameras everywhere.

Romance, fights, scandals; As an Indian audience, you have your perfect TV series.
Conclusion:

It's funny how we keep criticising Bigg Boss but fail to notice how the whole show
revolves around a concept that is deeply rooted in Indian psyche.

We are a society that is still deeply concerned about what Sharmaji ka ladka is up to or
why this padosi ki ladki came home late. Our voyeuristic approach to life is brought on
our TV screens in the form of Bigg Boss. Why would we want to look down upon
something that is so in-sync with the current social scenario of our country.

Now you can obviously talk about how watching this show lowering your IQ points but
the fact is that this show manages to resonate with the audiences. It's a side of society that
most of us want to brush under the carpet. We are not advocating the rampant misogyny
or the general creepiness that is so prevalent in the show, but what we are trying to say is
that Bigg Boss is only a reflection of our society. You might find it tasteless but it
provides a brilliant insight into how our society functions and the creators deserve a lot of
credit for this.
 Refrences:

https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Essay/reality.html

Indian reality tv shows: an empirical study on perceptions- Research paper by Satinder

Kumar and Dr. Sonika Chaudhry- Jan 2013

Tracing growth of reality shows in India-ISHA SHARMA-Feb 2011

A critical analysis of the media practices in India for Television reality shows- an

audience driven approach- Manisha Dixit

https://acasestudy.com/case-study-on-reality-tv-shows/

Motivation and Impact of viewing reality tv programme: An audience study- V. Vijay

Kumar and S. Arulchelvan

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Bigg-Boss-Is-A-Reflection-Of-Our-Society/#.pixk5l7m4