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

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 Irsquom not too analytical about it I am not here to just diss a show because I am sitting on a high horseBut 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 leftThere 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 mdash and I feel the makers have done her a huge disservice She massages her husbandrsquos feet every morning and itrsquos passed off as ldquonormalrdquo in a really secure relationship At one point she says something to the effect of her husband ldquoloving hanging with girlsrdquo but she trusts him Okay good for you Tabinda Sanpal himself has an air of the nouveau riche who says things like ldquomoney talksrdquo 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 mdash who should ask for a retraction of their name from the show If Sanpal wears a Mille who else would want oneThen there is businessman Dyuti Parruck mdash 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 mdash Lailli and Alizey Mirza mdash come across as designerclad spectators floating through a world of gossip and drama There is also another socialite attentionseeking Pamala Serena mdash who seems to only be trying to prove how important she is instead of letting her life speak for herThen there are reality TV veterans and actors Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash I found them to be the most bearable mdash even though Karanrsquos 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 speedwatched the show for the cause of this column I couldnrsquot help but warm up to Tejasswi mdash she is just a regular filmy dramatic Marathi girl from Mumbai And therein lies her charmMy question is less for the characters of this unwatchable show and more for the makers and streamer Whatrsquos 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 ultrarich and ultradisconnected Whatrsquos the fine line between documenting a culture and profiting from its worst instincts Is this the future of contentDesi Bling is not harmless It packages misogyny gossip and performative wealth as aspiration mdash and sells it to audiences as entertainmentItrsquos 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 circumstancesDesi Bling feels different because there are no underlying redeeming attributes the characters have except wealth There are no real stakes beyond visibility itselfAnd that makes it the show you need to skip and not waste your breath over Please be discerning or get ready for more such lessthanmediocre contentSee you next weekRanting and raving about all thatrsquos trending on social media Aastha Atray Banan is an author creator podcaster and the Editor of your favourite weekend read Sunday midday She posts at aasthaatray on InstagramSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper