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Science Groups Forum Index » Military - Naval » Indian reality TV's tryst with truth draws protests
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| PakistanPal |
 Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 5:19 am |
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by Elizabeth Roche
NEW DELHI - The Indian version of a US reality TV show that extracts
secrets from minor celebrities has caused protests and a furore in
parliament with its focus on infidelity, incest and other taboo
subjects.
MPs from various parties queued up this week to denounce "Sach Ka
Saamna" or "Facing the Truth" as indecent and an assault on Indian
culture.
On Wednesday, the government issued the Star TV company that
broadcasts the programme with a show cause notice, asking it to
explain why the show should not be banned.
Petitions demanding a stay on broadcasts of the show have been filed
with the New Delhi High Court and there have been organised protests
outside Star's main offices.
The channel insists the programme - a version of the US show "Moment
of Truth" - helps expose social hypocrisy, while cultural commentators
have voiced concerns that the government is overstepping on a free
speech issue.
Star India Pvt Ltd. is a member of the regional Star TV stable owned
by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
"Facing the Truth" features Indian celebrities who are asked a series
of personal questions which they answer in front of a live audience,
as well as family and friends.
If they answer truthfully - determined with the help of a polygraph
test - they win 10 million rupees (S$299,790).
As in the US format, contestants are free to quit at any point during
the show if they feel uncomfortable. The questions range from the
mildly transgressive: "Have you ever stolen bed linen from hotels you
have stayed in?" to the deeply personal: "Have you ever asked a woman
to abort your child?"
Such questions are "obscene," according to regional Samajwadi Party MP
Kamal Akhtar, who was particularly shocked by one woman being asked,
in her husband's presence, whether she was ever tempted to cheat on
him.
"The show is against Indian culture," Akhtar said in parliament. Hindu
nationalist lawmaker S.S. Ahluwalia said the show's backers were
"trying to destroy civilised society."
Star has until July 27 to respond to the show cause notice, which
notes charges that "Sach Ka Saamna" includes content "offending good
taste and decency".
The television company insists the accusations are unfounded.
"The show is about having strength of character to face the truth and
turn over a new leaf. It is a show that promotes truth and honesty," a
Star spokeswoman told AFP.
Rejecting the charge of indecency, she argued that viewers "have the
remote at their finger tips," and can change channels if they feel
offended.
Siddarth Basu, head of the production company Big Synergy which puts
the show together said it was about "lifting the veil off hypocrisy".
"The contestants know all the questions because the final 21 are
chosen from the 50 they face during the polygraph test. What they
don't know is the result of the polygraph test which is revealed
during the show," he told CNN-IBN news channel in an interview.
"Many of them want to tell the truth." Media critics have focused less
on the show's content and more on the government's intervention, which
some see as nanny-state censorship.
Mannika Chopra, columnist with the Tribune and Hindustan Times papers,
said it was "not up to parliamentarians" to decide what people should
watch on TV, no matter how offended they might be.
Indian Express columnist Shubhra Gupta was similarly insistent that
viewers should be the final arbiters of what constitutes good taste -
and good television.
"Unless it appeals to the audiences the show will not run," Gupta
said.
"The line of questioning may be questionable but I don't have the
right to force my opinion down anyone's throat," she said, adding that
"Sach Ka Saamna" had "raised the bar" on what is permissible.
"In that sense it is a landmark for Indian TV."
Article Source : http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20090726-157152.html |
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