Reality television shows are fast becoming fixtures in our otherwise busy lives. Be they the Rakhisawantinyourface variety or musical talent hunt shows, they're notching up the TRPs and how! What's surprising though is that the viewers of these shows are not your typical housewives bred on a steady diet of saas bahu sagas. Instead they cut across ages, professions and genders. A fact not lost lost on erstwhile hindi news channels. Prime time news on any day now resembles a bollywood set on the make, replete with interviews of the reality contestant or his family bedecked in the latest Manish Malhotra creation. Good for us newshounds. Or terrible perhaps- imagine a harrowing day spent digging out that good story only to have the smiling countenance of a reality contestant thrown in your face in the evening at the end of it all. Makes you think, reality bites. So much so that recently a leading news channel went so far as to call a meeting with its reporters instructing them not to bother hunting for daily news stories but to look out instead for a real life reality tv like situation that could then be played out as a half hour 'special' !!! New school of journalism huh?But the show itself is a win- win situation for all concerned. For the contestants its usually a rags to riches story, lapped up by an eager audience, phone companies making a quick buck via phoneline voting and last but not the least producers laughing all the way to their banks. So who's complaining really save disgruntled journos? Stalwarts in the industry maybe, who just can't digest this bastardisation of genuine talent searches. What was gotten at the end of years of private struggle is now handed over in a matter of weeks on a golden platter. Music videos, cars, not to mention instant stardom, the winner takes it all. But pop stardom doesn't come without its perils. Easy come easy go they say. So is the case with reality stardom that comes with an instant sell- by date. Glittering contracts with that all important win are often not honoured and the contestant at the end of one year by now faded from collective public memory is often left high and dry with nothing but a few promises and fond remembrances of the golden days gone by. Making way of course for the new, shining kid on the block- king for a day. Smile for the cameras darling.Reality bytes anyone?
Public - 2:24 AM - 3 eprops - 5 comments - edit it - email it
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The dark side of the moon
Here is a website all of us must visit just for the information. www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-ps01.html
As evident from the above piece, SCHIZOPHRENIA IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER. A MENTAL DISEASE. A disease in which delusions and hallucinations are common features. A mail of this fact needs to be urgently circulated among all media following the so called spat between Aamir Khan and his brother. Faisal Khan has been known to suffer from schizophrenia and has been undergoing treatment for the same. Any statements then that the media is lapping up so fervently are merely the delusions of a diseased mind. Faisal in the past has even been known to write anonymous threatening letters to his brother. Patients such as these deserve to be given prompt medication, understanding and mostly a wide berth. This sensationalisation of everything he says is merely encouraging the already damaging hallucinations. Let us in solidarity display a little concern for the man if not his family. Let us not punish him for being a celebrity.
Reminds me of the horrific Parveen Babi incidents. After Babi returned from the States, the media would highlight every quote she gave. Toward the end babi seriously believed she was working with the CIA in an undercover operation against Amitabh Bacchan, Sanjay Dutt and other leading stars of the era. Had Babi's ilness been identified as such and treated in time she would not have died the lonely death she did. Only to have films on her life being made in her wake. A grim reminder of the kind of tribute Bollywood can give to its fallen stars. A reflection mostly of how little Indian society understands mental illnesses- sadly even completely treatable ones.
Public - 3:02 AM - 4 eprops - 2 comments - edit it - email it
As evident from the above piece, SCHIZOPHRENIA IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER. A MENTAL DISEASE. A disease in which delusions and hallucinations are common features. A mail of this fact needs to be urgently circulated among all media following the so called spat between Aamir Khan and his brother. Faisal Khan has been known to suffer from schizophrenia and has been undergoing treatment for the same. Any statements then that the media is lapping up so fervently are merely the delusions of a diseased mind. Faisal in the past has even been known to write anonymous threatening letters to his brother. Patients such as these deserve to be given prompt medication, understanding and mostly a wide berth. This sensationalisation of everything he says is merely encouraging the already damaging hallucinations. Let us in solidarity display a little concern for the man if not his family. Let us not punish him for being a celebrity.
Reminds me of the horrific Parveen Babi incidents. After Babi returned from the States, the media would highlight every quote she gave. Toward the end babi seriously believed she was working with the CIA in an undercover operation against Amitabh Bacchan, Sanjay Dutt and other leading stars of the era. Had Babi's ilness been identified as such and treated in time she would not have died the lonely death she did. Only to have films on her life being made in her wake. A grim reminder of the kind of tribute Bollywood can give to its fallen stars. A reflection mostly of how little Indian society understands mental illnesses- sadly even completely treatable ones.
Public - 3:02 AM - 4 eprops - 2 comments - edit it - email it
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