Are we really Bindaas?

I know a discussion on the Indian television industry will have most of you lamenting on the many cheesy soaps with tacky names being aired today. Having managed to avoid the hysteria that swept the nation when ‘Mihir’ from ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ died—I know it because it’s general knowledge in India; you do not have to be a television enthusiast for it—I have detached myself from daily television shows to the point of ignorance. A discussion regarding the plot of the most popular soap today would have me yawning within minutes of joining the conversation. However, there is a new genre of television shows which makes me want to join the saas-bahu bandwagon gladly.

A channel called Bindass TV has brought out this hateful genre to colour-coded life today. I happened to come across this on one of those rare occasions I was flipping through channels on a weekend at home. The show I came across seemed to be a reality-based one called Emotional Atyachar, with couples taking the so-called ‘loyalty test’ to check whether their partner is faithful or not. The participant is typically someone having trust issues or sometimes simply an incompatible partner. A premonition of something wrong in a very personal relationship makes the participant decide to ‘test’ his or her partner at the risk of total humiliation and heartbreak being witnessed by thousands, if not millions of Indians. There is an elaborate set-up, in which, a 6-year-old relationship may be in tatters at the end of an hour-long show. Wait, so, you are trying to tell the viewers that in 6 years the ‘participant’ didn’t have a clue about her partner’s roving eye and was completely ignorant about the fact that he had absolutely no feelings for her? And all this, the partner discusses with a complete stranger, who, for no apparent reason, comes on to him 10 minutes into a conversation? Yes? Errr… OK! Although I have seen just one episode, I am sure that there has never been a faithful partner who has declared his undying love for his girlfriend or has not been caught cheating in Emotional Atyachar. After all, if there is no ‘atyachar’, how will the TRPs get a boost?

A quick peek at the channel’s website disgusts me even more… “Sell your friends for cash” or “Want a new set of parents?” is the headline that greets visitors on the Bindass television website. It proclaims the channel as ‘India's most loved youth brand’ and boasts that their ‘fundas of Fun, Free, Fearless, Frank and Unexpected have helped capture the imagination of the youth’. I wonder if they have considered capturing our youth’s attention with educational, interactive programs which encourage them to explore, travel and learn something at the end. But again, how will such non-scandalous, simple programs help them earn precious eyeballs which lead to excessive advertising revenue?

The tactlessness of some shows named—pretty offensively, might I add—“Would You Tap That”, “Campus Attack”, “Love Lockup” and “Date Trap” hits you right between your eyes. And in case you didn’t notice, words like ‘tap that’, ‘lockup’, ‘attack’ and ‘trap’ are all negative words alluding to physical aspects which would put even a hardcore optimist off relationships. These are also not words to be ideally associated with human relationships, but who cares about that, right? The popularity of crass shows like Emotional Atyachar among teens today should be worrying us. If I catch my 15-year-old cousin watching this show, he would be grounded for months! That is, if I was allowed to ground him…

My sister and my television time was limited to MTV Bakra, in which Cyrus played harmless pranks on his unsuspecting victims. And while I realise that saying “our television time” makes me sound over 50 years of age, I am talking about a period just 10 years ago, when we were in our mid-teens. MTV was the latest ‘in-thing’, with programs consisting of pranks, funny videos and advice for love problems, all of which were different from the usual soaps dominating the television industry then.

Bindass TV’s popularity may be due to the sheer entertainment it provides. After all, have trouble brewing and most people would be interested in pointing and laughing at the poor sucker suffering on TV. However, for my peace of mind, I would like to believe that emotions like love, respect and affection still exist and have not been turned into physical relations like depicted on those shows. Call me old fashioned, but I like it when someone expresses genuine feelings with a rose or a romantic evening; when one does not have to worry about a hidden camera just waiting to point out the flaws in the relationship; where the so-called better half is not bitching about how the relationship is stifling him; and in case of a break up, it does not become a spectacle with the two people assaulting each other in the middle of the road.

If you haven’t come across these programs, please do not go home and check it out. I do not, in any way, want to be responsible for more people viewing them. I hope this is only a phrase of sleazy entertainment options we are checking out. And I hope it passes sooner rather than later. I do not know how it reflects on us and where we are heading in our personal relationships if such programs form a permanent basis in our lives.

Here’s to emotions as we know it. Here’s wishing we are NOT that BINDAAS.