mid-day Opinion: It’s so bad, that it’s not good

(From left) Satish and Tabinda Sanpal in a still from the trailer of the reality show ‘Desi Bling’. Pic/YouTube/@NetflixIndiaOfficial

I loved Bigg Boss last year. I enjoyed The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. I even watched The 50. I am telling you that because I want you to know that I consume reality TV content and I'm not too analytical about it. I am not here to just diss a show because I am sitting on a high horse.

But when I tried to watch Desi Bling, I found myself questioning my taste. Who are these people? Why are they not in therapy? If you take away their money, what will they have left?

There are some deeply problematic issues with this show, which is trying to disguise itself as harmless cringe. The couple leading the circus is hotelier Satish Sanpal and his wife, Tabinda. Tabinda has been portrayed as a woman who no woman should aspire to be - and I feel the makers have done her a huge disservice. She massages her husband's feet every morning, and it's passed off as "normal" in a really secure relationship. At one point, she says something to the effect of her husband "loving hanging with girls," but she trusts him. Okay, good for you, Tabinda. Sanpal himself has an air of the nouveau riche, who says things like "money talks". His male entitlement is normalised, with Tabinda being shown as a willing slave. After all, he gives her 3 kg of gold a year. They are also obsessed with the brand Richard Mille - who should ask for a retraction of their name from the show. If Sanpal wears a Mille, who else would want one?

Then there is businessman Dyuti Parruck - who is being seen as the absolute villain on social media. He dismisses his wife, expects her to parent as he parties, gaslights her, and is evasive about his extracurricular activities. And the socialite sisters - Lailli and Alizey Mirza - come across as designer-clad spectators floating through a world of gossip and drama. There is also another socialite, attention-seeking Pamala Serena - who seems to only be trying to prove how important she is, instead of letting her life speak for her.

Then there are reality TV veterans and actors Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash. I found them to be the most bearable - even though Karan's garish wardrobe and cakey makeup makes looking at him hard on the eyes. They may be performing for the cameras, and may be milking their relationship for the show, but they still come across as less unhinged than the others. As I speed-watched the show for the cause of this column, I couldn't help but warm up to Tejasswi - she is just a regular, filmy, dramatic Marathi girl from Mumbai. And therein lies her charm.

My question is less for the characters of this unwatchable show, and more for the makers and streamer. What's the point of this show? To malign the people featured? To give us examples of people we should never want to be? To shed light on the utterly inane and vulgar lives of the ultra-rich and ultra-disconnected? What's the fine line between documenting a culture, and profiting from its worst instincts? Is this the future of content?

Desi Bling is not harmless. It packages misogyny, gossip, and performative wealth as aspiration - and sells it to audiences as entertainment.

It's not as if reality TV has ever been high art. Shows like Roadies, though aggressive and toxic to some extent, still required contestants to demonstrate mental or physical effort. Even shows like The Traitors, The 50 or Bigg Boss work because the drama is tied to tasks, psychology, and human behaviour under unusual circumstances.

Desi Bling feels different because there are no underlying redeeming attributes the characters have, except wealth. There are no real stakes beyond visibility itself.

And that makes it the show you need to skip, and not waste your breath over. Please be discerning or get ready for more such less-than-mediocre content.
See you next week.

Ranting and raving about all that's trending on social media, Aastha Atray Banan is an author, creator, podcaster, and the Editor of your favourite weekend read, Sunday mid-day. She posts at @aasthaatray on Instagram.

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper