|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE show is fake. We all know it. Bigg Boss now appearing on Colors in its third season is the show we all love to hate. B-grade celebrities, once movie stars and wannabe personalities have been bunched together in one house for 84 days. What’s so great about that? But despite this elitist contempt for reality shows like Bigg Boss, millions tune on to it. As viewers munch their snacks before their TVs, they get a vicarious thrill watching these brave hearts who leave their lives to entertain ours. This time round there is an added B dimension in Bigg Boss — the Big B Amitabh Bachchan himself. It was Kaun Banega Crorepati that lifted the mega-star’s flagging film career 10 years ago, and now Bachchan is returning as a pop psychologist-cum-counsellor-cum-anchor of this reality show. The inmates of the house are a motley crowd. Comedian Raju Srivastava, yesteryear actress Poonam Dhillon, Shamita Shetty, model-actress Aditi Govitrikar, Dara Singh’s son Vindu Dara Singh, an allegedly Hindi-speaking German model, and the most surprising of all, Rakhi Sawant’s mother, Jaya Sawant.
Everybody is then generally bowing and scraping. There is no doubt about it he is revered as God. Maybe only a TV God, but still a God. For the generation weaned on MTV and sundry countdown shows, reality shows like this are better than any sitcom or drama. Seeing the Bigg Boss bunch for nearly three months sounds like a futile pastime. We, and I mean those born before 1980, may doubt the legitimacy of such shows but even we can accept that some reality shows are good for the soul. For example, India’s Got Talent, sadly didn’t find place in the overheated reality TV market. But although comparatively unsung, it brought to the fore such excellent talent and ability, it was hard not to get emotionally connected. The winners of the show — the Prince Dance Group from Orissa, skilled labourers from jhuggi-jhonpri areas who, in their spare time, pursued their passion to put up dance performances — gave us an inspiring story. Another inspiring story, Lata Mangeshkar turning 80. Though she was interviewed across the board, Javed Akhtar’s two-part Tete-a-Tete on CNN-IBN was easily the best. What a good idea to get Akhtar, whose very first song was sung by her, to do the job. I only wish that the television audiences are not used as props. Most of them look so stony faced. Maybe it is better not to have audiences with their incessant clapping when all you want to do is really get submerged in the interaction. What was not so inspiring was, however, Air India’s latest fracas. I think it would be practical for all TV news channels to dedicate a correspondent, 24x7, only to cover Air India. The airline is always in the news. If its financial solvency is not being questioned, then one of its aircraft is on fire. If its pilots are not striking, then it has a murky in-house conflict which is hitting the headlines. Air India’s latest contribution to the headlines was a scuffle between its crew and pilots. This was delicious stuff, and the channels went to town. Times Now managed to access the complaints written by the physically-abused airhostess, and also the explanation by the pilots. Though they tried to hide the face of the airhostess, you could almost make out her features. In the meantime, if you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, the medi-drama that was being shown on Star World, you will be happy to know that you can see the same show on Zee Caf`E9. I fear it is the same season. The whole thing is weird, almost as weird as seeing Friends on both these channels almost simultaneously. As it is, there is a shortage of good engrossing dramas, both in Hindi and English, on TV but when you start getting this unending duplication, the viewer gets the feeling he is being taken for granted. |
|
|
So while the mother
appears on Bigg Boss, the daughter is appearing on a rival
channel, bringing up a child with a very bored-looking fianc`E9 Elesh.
Me thinks there is trouble in paradise. But anyone who said that Rakhi
Sawant has had her share of nips and tucks to look what she is looking
now, need only to look at the mother ship, and see where Rakhi got her
looks from. The participants may come in all shapes and sizes but they
are all in awe of the Big B. Mama Sawant calls him bhagwan. Shamita
says her sister believes that the years Amitabh Bachchan wishes her on
her birthday becomes a "lucky year."