REALITY CHECK-ARTICLE

T HIS IS perhaps the only genre to give saas-bahu serials serious competition. But how do the makers of reality shows perceive these shows? Three producers share their experiences with us ANI TA & SIDDHARTH BASU R eality TV is being used too vaguely as an omnibus term," says Siddharth Basu. "It really should be restricted to those shows which use documen- tary techniques in a general enter- tainment context and deal mainly with real people in real life situations, rather than actors or professional per- formers. I wouldn't describe KBC as a reality show at all, just as I wouldn't call all news and documentaries reali- ty TV KBC is a quiz show" But Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa had consid- erable amounts of reality segments interspersed with the dance show, which was the core segment. Says Anita, "It's amazing how people are more open to having a camera dog them wherever they go. More and more celebs and contestants are will- ing to let the cameras inside their houses, as well as track their emo- tions without batting an eyelid." She further adds, "I don't think we, personally will ever manipulate emo- tional responses for the sake of TRPs. Beyond a point, people cannot be fooled. Continuous tear shedding doesn't make for the best television and can trigger an emotional overload in the viewer Fake emotions can make people laugh rather than cry!! It can be counterproductive." Says Siddharth, "There's a real risk of reality TV actually being very unre- al when those who are just meant to document and project what's happen- ing, twist it to manipulate viewer emo- tions and attitudes. It needs integrity on the part of programme makers to show things in all their complexity without any distortion. In his opinion, Big Brother was a highly constructed reality "It's a sort of jail, and in some countries there's a fair bit of below the belt stuff, which drives the shows. For viewers, it's a vi- carious exercise, and has a particular draw in countries where people live lives mostly cut off from each other"