Should children be part of reality shows? 'Pink' director Shoojit Sircar starts debate

In the industry of spewed controversies, high TRPs or upping the 'masala factor', who is the worst hit? Shoojit Sircar explains!

Isha Mishra
Jul 05, 2017

Reality shows are a rave of today’s television world. Sure, they can be really exciting for viewers, but if you think reality shows are real, I am sorry to break your imaginary bubble and cut to the chase – they are scripted, pre-defined and pre-planned. The formula of a successful reality show is manipulative marketing, glamour, scripted dramas and heated controversies. The skills or ‘talent’ of contestants are aligned in a way to gain maximum viewership from the audience, which is exploiting and complete BS. But in this industry of spewed controversies, high TRPs or upping the ‘masala factor’, who is the worst hit? The answer is children.

Just yesterday, when ‘Pink’ director Shoojit Sircar raised an important point about banning reality shows involving children, we couldn’t agree more. Shoojit took to Twitter and requested the authorities to take a strict action on reality shows with children.

Humble request to authorities to urgently ban all reality shows involving children.it’s actually destroying them emotionally & their purity.

— Shoojit Sircar (@ShoojitSircar) July 4, 2017

Twitter broke with divided opinion on this issue. Many applauded the acclaimed director to speak up against the ‘crude exploitation’:

True and thanks to @ShoojitSircar for bringing this to national consciousness. Grateful.

— Navdeep Singh (@SinghNavdeep) July 5, 2017

It is a modern and fashionable form of Child labour and interestingly no politician and no NGOs talk about it.

— anu shukla, (@ashukla30) July 4, 2017

Bang on : and those fake judges even worse

— pallavi ghosh (@_pallavighosh) July 4, 2017

We are killing their innocence and careers. Parents unknowingly become part of this crude exploitation of ‘मासूमियत’

— Umesh Upadhyay (@upadhyayumesh) July 4, 2017

But there were many who disagreed with him and even advised him to first ban children from the industry he comes from (aka Bollywood) and then talk about television:

Then children should also not be casted in movies ?? Fair ??

— Ayush Sharma (@ayush1931994) July 4, 2017

सर, अपनी बिरादरी से एक बार पूछ लो, बाद में सरकार के ऊपर तानाशाही का आरोप लग जाएगा।

— अफ़वाहों का बाज़ार (@puraneebastee) July 4, 2017

Why? Who are you to decide for someone’s child? Think abt those who serve chai at film studios!

— Mukul Sharma (@mukkulsharma) July 4, 2017

dada then Ad films should be BANNED too. The way corporates uses Children in ad films to sell there harmful products.

— Akshat R Saluja (@AkshatRsaluja) July 4, 2017

Hence, we decided to bring you certain reasons why it is possibly best to keep children out of reality shows:

Heartbreak:

Do you remember shedding a tear when a little child is eliminated from a show and your TVscreen is flashing with him/her weeping along with a sad background music? If yes, then that’s exactly what marketing tactics, my friend!

But those painful eliminations are known to have huge psychological effects on children. Since they are exposed to such caustic remarks by judges from such an early age, children are more prone to get depressed.

Pressure:

“Main apne papa ka adhoora sapna pura karna chahta hoon” or “Main apne mummy ka nam roshan karna chahti hoon”, these are very common dialogues you may have heard children say on reality shows like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, Indian Idol Junior, The Voice of India Kids, Sabse Bada Kalakar and so on (basically, every reality show ever).

Now, this can work in two ways. Either these are scripted to evoke pathos of viewers aka high TRPs or children are actually suffering immense pressure by their parents at a very young age.

Are parents really so fame hungry that they are okay with forcing a young kid long to become an adult long before his age.

Where is the innocence?

No, seriously. Where is the innocence when children are proposing judges or saying comments which are strictly inappropriate? Just, last week I watched a little boy saying, ‘Doodh manga toh ghee denge and (names female judge) ke bare me kuch bhi bola toh cheer denge’, and the audience burst into laughter.

Wut?