Everyone’s reporting on the TV ratings war, how channels are putting out shows to grab eyeballs and make them stick. Funnily, every report goes on to raise moral issues, as if to suggest there’s something very wrong about chasing TRPs. The insinuation is: When channels chase TRPs, they’re chasing more ads, more money. Ergo, they are compromising culture and values for profit.
Now, look at it the other way. When channels chase TRPs what they’re actually pursuing is public approbation. They’re making a serious, concerted effort to find out what viewers want to watch, what they enjoy, what makes them sit in front of a TV and not go away. These channels are doing exactly what social scientists do in a more pedantic manner, they’re trying to gain insight into what people enjoy, believe in, want to experience. TRPs provide empirical research data free to us to figure out what modern India is all about. They are tracking attitudes, trends, beliefs, tastes. They are also exposing the lies, the hypocrisies, the nonsense that’s promoted by those who have a vested interest in twisting truth to suit their own political or commercial interests.
Let’s take some examples.
We are often led to believe that religion is what makes India, India. Parties from the BJP to the SP to even the Congress field candidates based on this premise. Is it correct? No. Audience for mythologies and spiritual shows are almost down to zero. Parents have to drag kids to temples, mosques, churches but no one wants to admit this. So they keep the lie alive. Political parties are floundering on it and yet will not change. As a result, some of them have bought themselves a one way ticket to oblivion. For young India, modern India doesn’t give a damn for religion as it is being propounded by the traditionalists. They are seeking their own faith within themselves. Even the karva chauth shows of Ekta have died. So it’s time political parties looked for new ideologies. What about economic progress for a change?
Another lie we’ve long espoused is that Indians are extremely conservative in matters of sex, relationships, marriage. Does it look like that? Entire families today sit down and watch shows that explode this myth. Indians love sex, they are constantly curious about it. They want to know more, experience more. Old Vatsyayan knew this centuries ago. So did Kalidasa, Bhartrhari, Amaru, all our great classical poets and thinkers. Our mythologies are dripping with illicit sex, as indeed are all mythologies everywhere. But 300 years of Muslim and British rule drove it all underground. Today we are seeing a new sexual Renaissance. Sex is coming out of the closet and re-entering our popular culture. We must encourage this. It will reduce rapes and sex crimes, make us a less hypocritical society, rid us of the Pramod Muthaliks.
Another thing we have learnt from these TV shows is that behind our stupid, grim exterior lurks a cheerful mind with a fine sense of humour, that can easily distinguish between good and bad, fake and genuine, right and wrong. I’ve seen the humblest, poorest people react with mirth and wisdom to what contestants on reality TV shows say and do. It reveals to me how little our rulers understand this country, its people and their level of intelligence, their taste, their wisdom, their sense of humour. The very shows they want to ban are being watched by entire families, analysed, and lessons being learnt from what people say and do on them. It’s funny how everything, good or bad, they watch on TV changes their attitude towards life, love, values usually for the better.
For those who insist that caste, community, regional issues are critical for winning votes, it must be deflating to watch the warmth and camaraderie people across faiths, castes, regions share on these shows. What comes through is how amazingly integrated we Indians actually are, how wise and clever. Far more people are interested in Rakshi Sawant’s cleavage than in her caste. Her suitors on her show come from all over India and belong to different faiths, different communities. Rakshi herself talks of Krishna and Jesus in the same breath. What better proof do you need of national integration than the fact that people from all over, irrespective of caste, religion, region, want to woo an item girl and marry her? Doesn’t this make you proud? How can such a show be corrupting? How can any show be corrupting which teaches people to speak the truth even at the risk of losing all?
My argument’s simple. Leave our popular culture alone to find its own future, its own moral standards, its own identity. It will do what all popular cultures do: Give us a voice, allow us the freedom to discover our own dreams and live them. It will absolve us of our stupid hypocrisies and make better people out of us. That’s the job of a free media—to free us of the lies we are shackled to.
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