As much as I'd hate to admit, I didn't like this show and no, I do not agree with those jokers in Parliament standing up to make a mockery of it. Of whatever I saw, I am cynical of this peculiar concept of Truth and Money being played on the Indian screen. I distinctly remember some games we played as children (some of us still do) called Truth and Dare where we asked each other to perform something they wouldn't do otherwise, and also ask 'uncomfortable' questions. Anyway, to simply say this show is radical and much-needed, as my friends keep saying, I would say we need to look at it with a pinch of salt. Sex secrets have never paid off like this, at least not on Indian celluloid. The average Indian's tryst with his own self has perhaps never paid off this way too.
This show, in a way, is an easy way to catapult a dying star back to your drawing room screen on prime time, by asking him/her if they've cheated on their spouse, been involved with incest and so on. I find that disturbing simply because there's no intention of asking it beyond a few thousand rupees. Second, Moment of Truth needs to follow with a Moment of Reckoning. Now, that perhaps is asking for too much, you'd argue.
However, this show is not only about winning money, but it does redeem itself by at least openly questioning India's long-standing hypocritical relationship with sex and the like. I am not saying this is an answer to our idiot box growing away from idiocy, I am simply calling it better than a Swayamvar where a starlet goes on a husband search and you're subjected to washed-down, small-town version of some of the Chopra-Johar movies.
Coming back to Sach ka Saamna, to imagine that we will one day have our leaders of the country being pulled through a polygraph test in front of a million-odd viewers, is an appetising thought indeed. To think Lalu might actually confess to the multi-crore scams, Manmohan admitting 10 Janpath's interference in almost everything! To cut a long story short, truth is not welcome here. Maybe if the government does get away by banning it, it might only be for the 'unwelcome' questions on sex lives of others, which is something fiction is made of ironically and sells too.
2 comments:
It's funny how a D-grade (look at the shabby anchor, the so-so sets) version of a TV show that was a super hit in the US is being dragged to the country's Parliament!
Agreed to the need for regulation, but there are concepts called 'adulthood' and 'making mature choices for one's self' that this nation needs to learn.
As for the show, it being there or not being there would hardly make a difference. But yes, the Parliament tamasha will ensure TRPs now!
bravo dodo bravo!! i agree totally and wholeheartedly. a very mature intelligent analysis. after seeing debates on tv on the subject yesterday, even i was tempted to blog it. like you, i find the program incredibly distasteful yet tantalizing, but at the same time i strongly disagree with the parliamentarians. the rule pure and simple is, it is raw naked masala, and everybody likes masala, which is why it is such a rage. but frivolous and voyeuristic as it may be, we dont want to live in a system which imposes bans and checks, where the state takes it upon itself to impose rules of sensibility.
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