The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

Even as you thought that the race for the best comedy show was between Star and Sony, the real battle was brewing between Hindi and English news channels. The Aaj Taks and India TVs raced ahead and have become synonymous with wholesome humor. The English news channels were groping for direction though, which was definitively provided by one Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, and ably carried forward by the likes of Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt. I have been followingthe latter two recently, and their shows are a blast. Their brand of humor is as different as chalk and cheese, but the effect is undeniable. Thanks to a fortunate coincidence of ad slots and the fact that the two channels are next to one another, I was treated to a non-stop hour of their performance last night, and my stomach still hurts.

Arnab is clearly after a world record. He wants to host a debate where no panelist gets a word in. In fact, he already has the record for not allowing any panelist to complete a single sentence. His acts have me rolling on the floor laughing. Be it his frustration at not getting a straight response or his repeated assertion that India tunes into his show for answers, he is a blast. And I thought he was the definite numero uno until I stumbled upon Barkha Dutt.

Barkha’s humor is more subtle and situational. She patiently lets her guests finish their sentences, and sincerely follows up with a question, which is inevitably the same as her first one, or in the case that it is not, then totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. The poor panelist falls into the trap of repeating his stance, which only encourages Barkha repeat her question one more time. After two or three such rounds, she is bored and moves on to repeat this game with the next panelist. When she is done playing with all the panelists, she returns to the first one and, of course, poses the exact question she had begun the show with. You could see some panelists visibly struggle to kill their sense of déjà vu.

News channels were last on the list of my TV-viewing preference list and God knows I have missed on some fun. It’s time to undo the damage.

The reality of reality shows

Have you noticed that entertainment channels are big on reality, whereas the reality channels (news) are big on entertainment? I wonder if this is an inevitable side-effect of globalization, internet revolution, the fusing of different media, and Thomas Friedman's flat world. When I grew up, TV was an escape from reality. In a typical middle-class household, the man back from a day's toil, the woman exhausted after household chores, the kids finished with their homework and studies get together in front of the TV to let go of their everyday woes and immerse themselves into the world of the protagonist of a soap opera. Of course, shows of this genre are still popular. In fact, it is plentifully available, albeit stretched beyond the wildest imagination of a sensible human being. Yet, they can be pardoned for they continue to provide viewers a respite from their daily routines.

But how does one explain reality shows? It is the cheapest form of entertainment and caters to one emotion and one emotion only – schadenfreude. (I admit I looked the word up when writing this post.) It means enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others, which is exactly what we get out of reality shows. One might mistakenly conclude that shows such as Zee Saregama or even Indian Idol are different, for they unearth hidden talent. Have you seen episodes where they play the auditions? If the motive was to find the best, why waste airtime on showing the worst? And even in the main competition, you cheer for someone you like, and pray the other guys lose. You go thru the same feelings when watching a soap opera, you root for the bahu and hate the saas or vice-versa. That's good for an artificial show with artificial characters – you switch off the TV and they disappear. But reality shows have real people in them whom you hardly know but are loving or hating them. And your decisions – such as voting - change their life forever. Do we realize this responsibility? What we get from watching shows such as Sach ka Saamna, Big Boss etc should now be obvious.

Are quiz shows, KBCs and Dus ka Dam different? Only slightly. Lesser of the evils, if you want to call them that. I have watched innumerable BQC episodes where I was filled with glee as teams from Chennai got a drubbing. Why? Just because I didn't care much for that city. I am sure we have similar reasons for rooting for or hating a contestant on KBC or any such show.