TRPs Vs. Dignity Crossing all boundaries?

Channels seem to leave no stone unturned, when it comes to making it to the top, in the TRP Game. With Zee ruling the prime time slots, and Star Plus and Sony working hard too, there seems to be a healthy competition among the leading channels. This has been a season for revamps, and all the channels have new shows to offer to the audience with every passing week, and to add to it, each one of them promising to deliver the knockout punch with something that is ‘different’ form the rest.

Reality shows have now become a necessity for every channel. Channels without a reality show don’t seem to stand a chance in the TRP chart. Channels pick the cream of the crop artists of the industry as constants, and spend endless time and money in publicity, in order to make their show bigger and better than the rest. Promoting upcoming Bollywood releases in reality shows is something that the audience needs to get used to, by now. It is not only Reality shows, but the production houses have also learnt the art of bringing back the dead from the grave, just to grab the attention of viewers. A Production house juggles with the creative teams and ultimately ends up with repeated story lines and endless melodrama with various camera angles and editing special effects.

But what helps the shows of all genres, are the Media Gigs. Media gigs have become the biggest savior for any show, whether it is a show that wants to better its fading TRPs, or a show that wants to remain on top and wants to play safe. A media gig is said to be when a rumor or a fake incident is created in reel or real life, and is spread around just to get all eyes on the show. It’s said that negative publicity is actually good publicity; as long as people talk about you, you know you’re going the right way. But can this be done on account of somebody’s dignity? Is it acceptable to cross the boundaries of an individual’s self respect, which has nothing to do with the TRP chart or the channel? The Telly Buzz team picks on few such issues that have happened in the recent past that might have just gone a little over board than needed.

Kiss and Tell:

First on our list is Aditya Narayan’s famous kiss episode in SaReGaMaPa. The gig goes as such, that Aditya is walking among the audience and a girl from the audience, comes up to him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Aditya is left spell bound by the incident, and is later teased by Ismail Darbar. A little known fact is that the girl and the kiss were all preplanned. Promo of this Famous Kiss was aired before the episode, to draw the audiences’ interest towards it. Though the scene wasn’t appreciated by all, SaReGaMaPa achieved what they went out for.

Dead for a Day:

Soaps are famous for stale story lines, but in today’s era, it doesn’t take long for actors to make a special place in the hearts of people all over the globe. Recently, the most loved jodi of small screen: Karan-Nandini (Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradan) were presumed to be out of Balaji’s Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Wonder how this news came out, but it indeed spread like wild fire, and fans protested to make sure that their actors don’t leave the show. But the twist in the tale was that nothing even close to it happened, and the over-hyped episode topped the TRP charts, conveying to all viewers that ‘Jakho Rakhe saayiya maar sakhe na koi’. The same happened in Zee’s Banoo Main Teri Dulhann where news spread that the male protagonist of the show – Sharad Malhotra was to leave the show and his character would be killed off. But Sharad was back in two episodes, and even though he now lies in the hospital bed, fighting for his life, we are forced to think that this was another publicity stunt, to create interest.

Love Stories:

News channels defiantly use celebrity break ups to get their ratings high, but production houses create fake love stories too, to highlight their poorly faring shows. According to our sources, the production house, Shreya Creations, spread the news of Chahat and Kinshuk hooking up off screen, in the same way as they were in love in the serial. Now, can we spare a thought to the girl Chaahat, the 21 year old, who moved on in real life, just recently, after a breakup in marriage? Was it justified on the part of the production house to cross over Chahaat’s dignity like this, and stoop so low? Was it right on part of Shreya Creations to use the kids as mere TRP gaining mediums? After this entire gimmick, the award for the worst media gig of the year definitely goes to Shreya Creations.

Coming back again to Realities, SaReGaMaPa this season created a sensation not only with good music, but also with another love triangle on the sets, with Aneek, Sumedha and Amaanat. The gig went over board and was difficult to digest for the viewers. Infact, all the three involved in this love story went on to say that such a love story never existed and this was not true at all. Probably, this again points out to the same old TRP game…

These were just a few incidents that we have focused on, but the over dramatization regarding certain issues, be it off screen or on screen, and the various games played to keep the viewers hooked to their idiot box is never ending. We have heard of the saying, ‘All’s fair in Love and war’, but now, it looks as though the saying can be modified to, ‘Everything is fair in the Television World, where onus is always the TRP’.

Author: Hiral Anju Bhatt

P.S.: These are the personal comments of the author and please direct all questions to the author only.