Reality Television In India

The concept of Reality Television in India is slightly different from the global one. As India got exposure to different types of channels and programs quite later than the people of America or UK.

But, recently India has been exposed to a lot of globally famous Reality Television programs like Big Boss, Fear Factor, MasterChef, Indian Idol..etc. and with the increasing number of shows and channels, the producers have started showing everything and anything, which they think has a ‘value’ in the media market which attracts more viewers. As this person explains: “There is crap I would never watch, crap I might watch, and then crap I would definitely watch” (22 year old female student). 4 Reality Television is based on, It’s gathering of few

It’s a moving target and there are different definitions of it as a fact and entertainment by the television industry and critics, scholars and audiences. It is a container for a rage of diverse program, series, formats and events in which different elements of documentary, talent shows, gameshows, talkshows, soap operas, melodramas and sports mix together to produce a sub-genres. According to John Corner (2014), Reality Television is a new kind of inter-generic space rather than a genre itself and we can broadly define Reality television into two different spaces that draw on various sub variants of other genres across fact, drama and entertainment.

1) There is the world space of television programs set in actual places, like Hospitals, Hotels or airports. Examples of the ‘world’ space of Reality television can be found in forms of factual entertainment, such a Docusoaps or Crime and Emergency programming. Today series such as ‘Ultimate Airport Dubai’ or ‘Banged up Abroad’ are often described as Docusoaps or Reality Soap to signal mix of observational style of documentary and soap opera elements within this style of Reality television.

In this form the space in which the series is shot is real, real world locations along with participants who are performing as themselves in recognisable social roles are taken,

I don’t think Reality Television was even a phrase people could explain before Big Brother” (Donovan 2013)

While perusing through television channels, it is particularly difficult to ignore the prominence of Reality television shows, exploding as an unavoidable medium of inexpensive entertainment.

In one instance, Reality television characters perform the simplest, most germane tasks such as shopping or eating dinner. At the same time, they embellish toddlers with pageant paraphernalia, party into the wee hours of the morning, and engage in life or death situations that prompt them to act without reason. The pervasive nature of Reality television has not only replaced previous traditional and comedy sitcoms, dramas, sporting events, and documentaries. It has also influenced personal communication and behaviour. (Emily L. Ramdhany, 2014)

According to one viewer “These programs are created by us. We create their success and we create therefore their continuity. There’s no blaming them”. (19 year old female