Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The button on your remote

Today, we've reached a different realm in reality shows and entertainment. We started off with the 'Saas bhi kabhi bahu thee' types. We were hooked to it. We wanted to know everything despite the fact that it was so far far fetched from reality. Despite the fact that people never got old, never died, and even if they died they magically returned from the dead. Then came the 'Big brother' types - the reality shows... Oh! We wouldn't budge from the couch, even during commercial breaks. It was all real now. All the heartbreaks, all emotions, the fights, the tears, the fun... all real. We watched them, we patronized them, we glorified them, we laughed for them, we cried for them and of course we voted for them.

What next? Where does the search for new entertainment take us? What are creative minds in the industry brewing now? Reality like you've never seen it before. Reality at its realistic best! 'The Noida Murder Case'... It's been a month since the incident, there hasn't been a single day that either Times Now or Headlines Today or Aaj Tak hasn't covered this news story. They've covered it, alright! Now we have collages, the testimonies, the goof ups... all live and unfolding right in front of us. It makes me wonder about the motivation of these news channels. Tracking the case all the way to justice, one would like to presume. We all are God's children... In the eyes of the media - some more than the others, I guess. Check it out here - Rediff has a page dedicated just to track Arushi's murder. The page lists out all the news that has been reported in a chronological manner. And there is more - there's a wiki dedicated to her and Balaji Telefilms is contemplating making 'Arushi bhi kabhi zindha thi'.

Now, where does this take us as viewers? How far will the media and the industry go to keep feeding our curiosity and entertainment needs? Are we willing to go where the media wants to take us? Are we willing to gobble up all that the media feeds us? Or are we going to pull the plug? Remember... the remote is in your hands, you may very well change the channel now!

1 comment:

Malesh Ponnusamy said...

Sometime back an engineer from a reputed institution who was working on the highway project was hacked to death in Bihar for reporting bribery. The case was followed for sometime and then it was dropped by the media houses. I am sure samething would happen here once they find something more sensational. Media houses have no responsibility of ethics, they just look out for sensational piece of news. The indian media is not mature like their more refined counterparts in the west. For once i compare india with them.