India 360: Reality TV, a big fake?

REALITY CHECK: Reality shows are now becoming a shortcut to fame and fortune for stars.

      

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New Delhi: Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty was called a 'Paki', a 'dog' and accused of being a 'dirty Indian' and India was called 'a place where people are ill and thin' on Channel 4 reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

A massive controversy erupted after the remarks came on air and millions have protested on the Internet. The British Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Exchequer, the Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Minister of State for External Affairs have all reacted to the racist abuse of Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother, but the channel managed to get a million new viewers hooked on to the show. Is reality TV getting the attention and eyeballs it always wanted?

Although politicians have reacted strongly to the Shilpa Shetty abuse episode, the question that arises here is, does reality TV violate fundamental rights?

Indian reality show Bigg Boss is creating a buzz, but is the reality shown in these shows a manufactured one?

Reality TV is supposed to be television that is real as opposed to television that is acted in, but are reality shows becoming a shortcut to fame and fortune for stars. Are they a new way beat the law in the name of entertainment?

The question that was being asked on India 360 was: Shilpa Shetty racially abused by Celebrity Big Brother housemates: How real are these reality shows?

On the show to discuss the question were Shilpa Shetty's mother, Sunanda Shetty; TV actor and participant on India's version of Big Brother, Big Boss Rupali Ganguly; and Executive Director, Centre For Advocacy and Research, Akhila Sivadas.

After seeing Shilpa in this situation, seeing her crying and breaking down in front of millions of television viewers, is there an opinion that she should not have done this particular reality TV show?

To this Shilpa Shetty's mother, Sunanda Shetty said, "I think it was very brave on her part to even want to do the show in the first place. It was her choice to do the show. However, the turn of events have certainly disturbed us and we are absolutely saddened when we see her crying on television. The only saving grace is that she has been receiving immense support from the Indian Government, the Asian community, our country, the British government and people in England. We are hoping that everyone's good wishes will help her sail through this crisis and something good will come out of this."

Will this help Shilpa in her career?

Sunanda Shetty jumped to her daughter's defense on this saying that this had nothing to do with her career. She said that Shilpa's career was going just fine, that two of her films are ready for release back home and that this was simply a TV show.

When asked whether Shilpa's profile had been bolstered after the show and whether her popularity back home too had grown far more than it would have through just another film, Sunanda Shetty said that she had no clue about how this would affect Shilpa's popularity status.

She said that Shilpa decided to participate in this particular reality show because she had viewed this as a 26-day event where she would play herself. "Shilpa has grown up in a very sheltered and secure home and environment and she has not seen this side of life before and probably this has come as a bit of a shock to her."

She added that Shilpa was not crying from morning till night as all the news channels had been showing since Tuesday, but it was just one of those moments when she felt bad and cried and it was caught on camera.