It has become a thematic progression in India in the past few years. In the hollowed echelons of the society, partnered with the burgeoning power of sensationalised media coverage of anything, however gross, but carrying the interest element to boost flailing TRPs, is being invented. Welcome to the world of voyeurs who get sadistic pleasure in watching ruthless media scandals being splashed unabashedly in a brazen media rooms. The news channels have come, no doubt, a score to the dozen. Thick-wadded cash-rich entrepreneurs have fast swooped down on this lunacy in a brazen attempt at glorifying this thawed trend. What we had for several years discreetly carried on, getting evil pleasure at the neighbour's husband cheating or the daughter eloping with someone of a different religion culture or sub-strata of society, is out in the open. We are washing all our dirty linen, live on National Television and leaving it to dry out in the news columns and blogosphere.
The race for Page 3 is fast dissolved into oblivion. The new fad is frontpage and primetime. Everyone around is at a shoddy attempt to commit more and more bizarre actions and the vultures, the paparazzi are more than willing to smile at the opportunity. A few clicks and soundbites later, the situation is twisted, moulded and served on a platter with distinguished celebrities forming panel for a talk show on something which hitherto wouldn't have even merited headline in a paper.
So meanwhile Bollywood with all its kitcsh and kin is on a bare-all rampage, we have Kareena Kapoor atrociously dumping next-door guy Shahid and resurfacing the next day with just-divorced (and having dumped an italian beauty on course), cricket progeny, sworn casanova, Saif Ali Khan, holding the very arm, where her name is tatooed for special effects. A masterly attempt at being scandalous and appearing on front page. On the other side, the Rakhi Sawantss, the Sambhavnas, Mallikas and Sherlyns of tinsel-town are busy shooting out sleazy qoutes a-la Navjot Sidhu and manage to stay in limelight. The newbies Ranbir, Deepika et al have found their front page glory even before their first releases for you-know-why. (The best part of this scandal was Yuvi got his mind back on cricket and the wonders he's been crafting! Breathtaking!). Beyond this we have the "Rani Mukherjee" trying a hand at media glory by her relationship with now forgotten very still much married, Aditya Chopra and of course Amisha Patel, who was once down the same track as Rani and who can forget the financial tiff with her dad, easily and clearly washed down with the public. Bollywood has managed to grab eye-balls, no matter if most flicks have turned damp squibs, losses are high, the nation is glued to the scandals of the stars.
And then there are the desperate wannabes. The shameful Lok Sabha scandal with the crores of cash et al. The Achyutanandan scandal, the Mumbai stampede (where all politicians trampled over each other) post the terror attacks, the Raj-Thackeray marathi manoos qoutes, the Noida double murders, the Mangalore pub sham have all left winners (or shall we say losers!) in their wake. And of course the hilarious Fiza-Chand Mohd. scandal is still not ready to budge from the prime time slots of News channels. And the icing on the cake? The new show by the legendary and honorary IPS, Mrs. Kiran Bedi. A national TV expose of what happens behind closed doors. Domestic violence is an evil, I admit and needs treatment, but showcasing it on National TV? What do you next expect? A rape victim rolling her sleeves to her predator in the courtroom of Mrs. Bedi? We need better, madam, with all due respects to all the wonderful things you have done for the society.
So what is it about them that we love scandals as salads with our prime time dinners? Do we ever sit down and think what is the reality? What must be beating down upon players who are invisible characters of the scandals? People who have involuntarily become media catchments? People who had hitherto been leading a fear-free life and can now not take a walk in the neighbourhood park because their homes were the camera feast on prime-time last night? What is the fault of the parents whose daughters are homosexuals and had been ridiculed live on TV the previous night by TRP-hungry news channels? Why should they have to cover up their faces while walking on the streets? The answer is that there is no answer to these questions unless we put ourselves in the victims' shoes. The truth is that we are so bigoted and prejudiced that we are blissful in the thought that such can not and will not happen to our nears and dears or worse to our own self. We'll have to get over it.