Reality Shows: Do They Keep It Real?

For a long time, Indian television was ruled by fiction shows and sitcoms, but over the years, reality television has dramatically increased therefore making it close to impossible to avoid this genre. Reality TV is a genre which is supposed to be unscripted, capturing real-life actions and reactions by definition.

In simpler words, in such kind of shows, people are continuously filmed to entertain the audience. Viewers watch reality shows for entertainment, but it’s much more than just that. The pressure, competitiveness is the reality of the reality shows. 

Lately reality shows have become over dramatic and are often scripted carefully to grab more attention. Some of the major issues with today’s reality shows are discussed below.

Comparison of past and current reality shows

Early reality shows like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Fame Gurukul, Boogie Woogie, Indian Idol etc. had the rawness. They only showed the competition. Gradually with the success of such reality shows, the makers started adding drama like sob stories of contents, fights between judges and involvement of the audience. The kind of reality shows that are now made in India is very different. In fact, the reality shows have taken over the daily soaps and the TRP charts are the proof. 

The drama between judges and contestants

It’s high time that someone calls it out. In every other show we see contestants sharing their hardships and sob stories and judges crying to increase the emotional quotient of the show. Parents are involved for more drama. In a chat show actress Sanya Malhotra revealed that she did not get selected in the final list of Dance India Dance because she didn’t have a sob story. This clearly proves how strategically contestants are selected to target maximum TRPs. Even the involvement of celebrity judges amps up things.

Children in reality shows

Reality shows starring children used to be exciting but now have just become a rat race. More and more people want their kids to participate in these shows to gain fame and money but hardly think about their childhood and academics. These little children of hardly 5-6 years are made to say and do things that kids their age don’t even understand. Participating and competing against other kids is okay but the unnecessary drama is ruining childhood of many kids.

Glamour and controversies in reality shows

Both glamour and controversies are a part of every reality show out there. Reality TV shows like Splitsvilla, Roadies, Bigg Boss create unnecessary controversies between contestants all for the sake of grabbing more eyeballs. None of the shows have happy and healthy competitions and it makes for a toxic watch.

Do you watch any reality show? How real is it, according to you? Let us know in the comments below...