‘Reality TV lets the viewer play psychologist’

When George Orwell wrote 1984 1949 he couldrsquove hardly imagined that he was setting up the domino effect thatrsquoll get us Lock Upp and Alliance today The novel is set in a dystopian world where Big Brother is constantly surveilling all the inhabitants in his dictatorshipIn 1999 Dutch producers inspired by 1984 would first develop the Big Brother IP which involved a group of people living together in a house outfitted with over a 100 HD cameras recording their every move 24x7 In India among 60 other countries it would take the form of Bigg Boss which became an instant hit since the day it aired in 2006Fazila Allana and Dr Sheela DangTwo decades have passed and Bigg Boss is still arguably one of the most successful Indian reality IPs of all time In fact it paved the way for the new renaissance of reality television wersquore currently experiencing mdash the OTT eraldquoThough OTTs had been dabbling with nonfiction content the big gamechanger was when Netflix got Kapil sharma onto their platform with The Great Indian Kapil Showrdquo says Fazila Allana the cofounder of Sol Productions LLP Over the years the house has produced shows such as Follow Kar Lo Yaar 2024 Social Currency 2023 Koffee With Karan 2004ndash and Rakhi Ka Swayamvar 2009 ldquoOTT platforms still command a relatively premium audience but reality TV is a good way for them expand their audience base to penetrate within tier2 and tier3 audiences and increase subscribersrdquo Allana saysPooja MishraReality TV is globally known to have high return on investments Theyrsquore relatively cheaper to produce that fiction with a single location minimal wardrobe costs fewer writers and such All that for an almostguaranteed audience that is highly engaging ldquoIn India however nonfiction can be more expensive sometimes because of how dependent it is on celebrity participationrdquo Allana says ldquoBut at the same time those same celebrity appearances bring in bigger sponsors and more viewersrdquoReality shows are an especially good fit for the social media age ldquoTheyrsquore abundant in lsquobytesrsquo They spark water cooler conversations make for the perfect clips that can be cut and run on social media which brings in even more viewers Itrsquos relatively harder to cut clips on fictionrdquo Allana saysPooja Mishra felt that a lot of her clips were manipulated in Bigg Boss Picyoutubethe queenThis writer would categorise reality shows into two broad categories talentbased IPS like Indian Idol Masterchef India and Khatron Ke Khiladi and then confinementbased IPs like Splitsvilla Bigg Boss Roadies The largest reason behind an OTT renaissance is the death of television All the abovementioned IPs have been created by Sony Entertainment Colours and MTV who have all found their footing in the OTT world now with SonyLiv and JioHotstarThis opened up a market for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video which up until recently had very little presence in the nonfiction world Netflix entered the market with Dharmatic Productions with the highly successful The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Lives 2020ndash which made up for the third category of reality the docureality IPs Prime Video made its offering with Follow Kar Lo YaarAakash Mehta was the winner of Social Currency in 2023 PicAtul KambleBut what opened the floodgates open was Traitors 2025ndash Up until then confinementbased shows although immensely successful were looked down upon as ldquocrassrdquo Traitorsrsquo cast which included the likes of Apoorva Mukhija Uorfi Javed and Maheep Kapoor were already familiar names to an Internetfirst audience It was also an update to the confinement IPs with an incredibly fresh concept which helped it move a step above just kaleshThe basic formula of every reality show is the same confine strangers in a house cast ldquobigrdquo personalities that are likely to clash pit them against each other in ldquotasksrdquo In the early aughts when reality TV was first taking shape in the country it already drew criticism around the ldquotacticsrdquo used by producers to create drama Isolation from loved ones and the outside world manufactured scarcity for food and resources producers nudging contestants with twists all make contestants more volatile on the set On top of that narratives are built on the editing table often labelling contestants ldquoheroesrdquo or ldquovillainsrdquoDr Sheela Dang who has been a consulting psychologist for some Bigg Boss contestants says ldquoEverybody comes with some baggage There are various reasons why one would join the show some for the sake of entertainment for fun for experimenting for a financial crisis and so on Some people behave in a volatile way when provoked and some handle it with a lot of grace and patience And when we are in shows like that you tend to be isolated into groups There will be groupism labellings verbal and emotional abuse and outbursts These are not normal circumstances and needs to be checked on no matter what the show concept or framework isrdquoContestants would regularly check in with Dr Dang ldquoA lot of contestants would come with anxiety and a lot of concerns including how they would survive without normal food any communication with the outside world or even a screen Some of them were already on medication So in terms of emergencies if needed I was thererdquoHosts of Lock Upp left Farah Khan and right Riteish DeshmukhVeteran of the reality world Pooja Mishra was on Bigg Boss Season 5 2011 She gave the world the iconic ldquoPooja what is this behaviorrdquo byte ldquoThe reality television format is tough and therersquos a lot of drama that the other contestants create around you to give you a certain image mdash an image that yoursquore far away fromrdquo Mishra says ldquoIrsquom actually a very calm jovial happygolucky girl who found herself in a zoo with all these animals bouncing at me which were my cocontestantsrdquoldquoThey call it lsquocut shortrsquo when you are being shown in a certain way which might not be who you actually are I was shown darker than I am I felt that it was manipulated and played around with and manhandled a bitrdquo Mishra saysThe cast of Lock UppOn the infamous clip she says ldquoThere was a fight because they other contestants wouldnrsquot let me cook clean or even enter the kitchen Eventually it blew up into a fight Itrsquos like they put you in a pressure cooker And then they heat you up And then when the cooker whistle blows so does the mask But then eventually you get used to itrdquoThe meme is a doubleedged sword though ldquoOf course it reached international fame It was viral in the UK Dubai and so many places And Irsquom grateful for itrdquo she says ldquoBut the good came with a lot of bad A lot of parasites just open accounts with my profile picture and put up stuff about me because people overseas want to know lsquoWhat is she doingrsquo And they open so many troll accounts A lot of nonsense happened and Irsquom really upset about itrdquoWould she ever go through that again though ldquoThere are forks and instigations to get you to react in a certain way I know that now So yes I would do it I donrsquot think theyrsquoll be able to play with me anymore this time because Irsquom smart Back then I was a little babyrdquo Mishra saysIn 2023 Netflix aired Social Currency where eight social media influencers were put to the test in the real world without their smartphones handles and online followers When we call up the winner standup comic Aakash Mehta we get the feeling that the show was a fluke in his career ldquoI couldnrsquot for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to put themselves in this kind of situation So I went just to know what itrsquos likerdquo Mehta tells us candidlyMehta himself has never really seen reality shows ldquoI donrsquot understand the premise of any reality show to be honest Therersquos so much reality around me 24x7 that I am constantly absorbed by Why are we then manufacturing realityrdquo he asksThe hardest part for him was being under camera surveillance 24x7 ldquoYou have to really give it to regular reality contestants They can really perform from waking up to sleeping Which I cannot do At some point I just gave uprdquo he says ldquoI think thatrsquos also what they producers hope for that you just give up and become yourself But I donrsquot know if everyone did that Maybe they did Maybe that was the version of themselves that is deep inside which is even scarierrdquoWe ask him how scripted the show actually was ldquoNot a lot There is obviously manipulation in the sense that they will pit you against somebody you like or that yoursquore in a team with somebody you donrsquot likerdquo he says ldquoBut at no point were we sort of coached to say a certain thingrdquoIf he as winner of one doesnrsquot watch reality shows we ask Mehta what draws in viewers to follow the lives of relative strangers ldquoItrsquos voyeurism This is my personal theory Peoplersquos lives have not gotten better in the last 10 or 15 years And my generation especially people in their 30s and 40s feel a little lost in life When is it going to get better And so reality shows become junk food but for your brainrdquo he says ldquoItrsquos like when I have a rough day Irsquom tired mdash and for absolutely no reason mdash Irsquom still ordering a burger at 12 in the night It is to satiate a deeper hungerrdquoDr Dang also adds ldquoA lot of time when we watch reality television wersquore trying to validate how we would be if we were in the same situation You will often hear from viewers lsquoI wouldnrsquot do something like thisrsquo As a viewer this is a free ground to project all your judgments without any consequencesrdquoExcontestant of Traitors and Lock Upp Sufi Motiwala adds ldquoBecause wersquove all become detectives Everyone thinks they can spot whorsquos fake whorsquos acting whorsquos lying whorsquos manipulating Reality TV lets people play psychologist from their couch and apparently thatrsquos our favourite hobby nowrdquolsquoEverything is under contractrsquoA lawyer explains the intricacies of show contractsXerxes RaninaWhen there are wars on food resources or fights within the contestants ldquotherersquoll be a contract that contains clauses that govern these issues Itrsquos not like yoursquore picking up someone from the street and imposing these conditions on them Itrsquos happening willingly for a price with full openness understanding and transparencyrdquo says Xerxes Ranina renowned IP and entertainment lawyerThe shows are not without restrictions though ldquoThere could be some restriction on religious or political statements Itrsquos a very controlled environment even though it looks like itrsquos a freeforallrdquoReality shows are no strangers to physical confrontations too ldquoNo contract can allow you to do something that is illegal Letrsquos say somebody punches someone The person who got punched is within their rights to file a caserdquo Ranina says ldquoHaving said that I know in some contracts that I had read around reality shows it was built in that said if someone is provoked unreasonably then there could be physical violence in selfdefence But then thatrsquos also subjective Was it selfdefence or an act of aggressionrdquoNewer age shows have also been discussing sensitive subjects like LGBTQIA sensitisation and sexual abuse ldquoWhenever you talk about or mention suicide then yoursquove got to give helplines for suicide prevention In other subjects trigger warnings and helplines are good hygiene but theyrsquore not mandatedrdquoCan reality shows handle the gay conversationViewers and contestants talk about the complications of queer representation on reality showsNoel Vaz and Sufi MotiwalaNoel Vaz has been watching OTTrsquos latest reality offerings avidly ldquoWe always see this in a lot of reality TV including Bigg Boss where theyrsquoll always bring someone who is very evidently from the LGBTQIA community But theyrsquore also very limited in representation Whereas therersquos a huge chunk of the community that doesnrsquot resonate with that representation isnrsquot very out there with their dressing and is very much like the general public So we do get put into a boxrdquo he saysWhat was fresh though was Lock Upp contestant Akanksha Chamola ldquoI was very impressed with the fact that they brought a woman who was bisexual We do not get to see that on Indian televisionrdquo he says ldquoBut then the very next second that took a Uturn when she kept changing her sexualityrdquoReality shows have had a long history of casting queer contestants for their ldquoentertainmentrdquo factor At the same time theyrsquore not provided with safe spaces on the same show In Lock Upp queer contestants were constantly faced with homophobia with contestant Harshad Chopda even saying that hersquos ldquoscared of gay menrdquo and Ram Kapoor kissing another male contestant without his consent ldquoIrsquom proud of them to an extent but then I also think that they could have filtered out a lot of things to maintain the sanity of the communityrdquo he says ldquoComing from a marketing background I know why they did that and how they wanted to raise their TRPsrdquoWe ask Sufi Motiwala whorsquos been a contestant on both Lock Upp and Traitors about his thoughts on queer representation ldquoI think wersquore getting there but I donrsquot think we should clap just because queer people are finally being cast Representation isnrsquot a participation trophy I donrsquot want to be lsquothe queer contestantrsquo I want to be a contestant who also happens to be queer Therersquos a huge differencerdquo he says ldquoThe day sexuality isnrsquot the most interesting thing about someone on a reality show Irsquoll say wersquove actually made progressrdquoThe good thing is Fazila Allana says ldquoThese shows are being watched by parents and children alike If a platform can sensitise and generate conversations which are generally so tough to have then I would say itrsquos a good thingrdquo