I was watching a show a few months back called “The moment of truth” aired on Fox network which was picked from a Columbian show called “Nothing More than the Truth”. As soon as I learned about the concept of the show, I was absolutely certain it will be an instant hit and sky rocket the TRP of the network like never before.
The contestants of the show will be asked a set of 21 personal questions, the answers to which if given truthfully, would gain them a lot of money. Good concept, amazing drama, perfect formula. The show was not only hit with the audience but also with the critics who thought that such a concept revolutionizes the definition of reality TV.
As I watched the questions being asked, I realized that this show can never be tried on Indian television. As open minded we claim to be, there will definitely be certain strata of the society that will absolutely resent such shows. Not as proofs to the narrow minds of our society, but infact an outburst of display of the Indian socialistic bounds that would otherwise remain dormant all along.
But to my surprise, the show had been made in India as well. There was and still is a lot of hoopla about the show and the kind of questions being asked on it. Not by the common man, not by a group of high valued pundits or learned individuals but ironically by the country’s highly educated, highly dignified politicians, who took the argument to the highest stage of them all, the Parliament. Possibly not having anything else to discuss. According to them, the questions asked not only shatter the boundaries of human decency but also threaten to meddle with the very strong Indian values.
All this got me wondering, why would a simple reality show that was just aimed at gaining some good money for the producers and at the same time entertain the audience cause such a ruckus? Do these shows really hurt Indian sentiments? Are these shows really demeaning? Will they spoil the “Indian culture”?
All these questions are being asked by a lot of news channels who are making big bucks themselves by taking the argument to the Indian audience. A lot of them said that the show was indeed not suitable for Indian viewing and the questions need to be checked and double checked to be limited in terms of intimacy. A lot of them chose conveniently not to comment.
The reason this show could be termed “unsuitable” would be that we seem to have a predicament about the level of intelligence our youth possess and believe that such shows could very easily misguide them. Fair point considering we are a nation of values, where our youth are much highly cultured than any other nation. But are they really that easily moldable? Like it or not, the current breed of youth seem to be much smarter than what they are perceived to be.
An important point is that the very sensitive topics being discussed on this show are already known to everyone. We already know that although a lot of the questions asked are extremely private, some of them apply to our lives and are true for us as well. This is why these shows are being stopped in the first place. It’s debatable, but like it or not, it’s the truth. And that is exactly what the show is all about – accepting the kind of truth that we all hate and are reluctant to accept. This makes this show all the more fantastic.
We tend to feel that these topics push the realm of decency, which they probably do. But they also bring out the blatant hypocrisy within a lot of the folks who condemn these shows that break the decency boundaries but on the other hands shatter those very same boundaries themselves.
The show comprises of 21 questions and not every question is as bad as they are said to be. Some of them are as simple as “Have you ever stole anything?” Now that’s not that big a deal is it? Most of us have stolen something or the other as kids… maybe a rupee, a pencil, or a small grape from the fruit shop. It might not be grave enough but its stealing none the less. Why do we overlook such simple questions and stress upon the 2 or 3 intimate questions!
The most important fact that we should not ignore is that these contestants have volunteered to come on stage and spill the beans. They have not been forced to do so. And moreover, the questions to be asked have been run through them before being aired. Everything that we see onscreen has been planned. Why do we forget that!! If someone is choosing to expose their personal life in front of millions of people and make a few bucks, why do we care?
The reason some people care is what I mentioned earlier. A lot of the truths accepted on camera by others are sometimes their own truth. A truth that they might have chosen to hide from others so that their perfect little life is not ruined and I think would be the right thing to do. They probably care because they fear to be overrun again by the same guilt that killed them from the inside when they did something wrong. And seeing someone else accept the truth in public is increasing the guilt even more.
I guess this is what makes us human beings what we are. We want hide our own secrets and truth from the world and when someone else does it, the hypocrisy prevails and we end up saying “This is against our culture!”
Having said all of the above, we should also not forget the ramifications of the confessions. An example would be what happened with Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar. Vinod was a contestant of the show and said that Sachin could probably have done a little bit more to save his career. This is probably true but this might have also ruined their friendship that they held on for decades!
Same applies to a housewife who ended up swallowing more than she could chew and finally choked her perfect life. She accepted a lot of her grave personal feelings in public and probably ruined her married life.
That is the bitter truth about truth itself. More often than not it ends up doing more damage than good.
So, to honor and value the Indian mentality, tradition and culture, we need to control the kind of truth that we accept in public. Not because it’s against our culture, but to see to it that we do not ruin our own life and break the bubble of the world of lies and hypocrisy that we possibly live in.
That is what would be the best for everyone in this country; that is what would satisfy the beaurocrats as well. That is what would silence our conscience.
This is not an outcry of an extremely open minded person with little regard to our culture and values but views of someone who feels that we need to look into ourselves to bring out the truth instead of condemning people who have mustered the courage to do so themselves.
