Anyone for more 145;reality146; TV?

That8217;s what it is8212;a game in which the contestants fake reality. They are selected to play themselves on a show that has a format, rules and regulations, time limits, etc. This is artificial, and if you don8217;t know it, you can8217;t be for real.

Gudiya Kiski was manufactured reality produced by Zee News. The game? Gudiya Kiski. The contestants? Arif, Gudiya, Taufiq and a host of Muslim religious leaders. The setting? A village panchayat at the air-conditioned Zee studio. The prize? Gudiya. If The Apprentice sequestered its contestants, Zee held Arif and Gudiya captive until their 8216;problem8217; was solved. Naturally, this infuriated the other news channels, which made feeble attempts to generate their own excitement.

Zee8217;s anchor Alka Saxena played Donald Trump or was she trying for Oprah Winfrey?8212;permed hairdo included8212;firing everyone left, right and centre. 8216;8216;Arif, you8217;re a hero, do you think you8217;re doing the right thing?8230;You Taufiq, Gudiya is carrying your baby, what do you say?8230;Gudiya, you tell us your man ki baat8230;Now, we8217;ll go for a break8230;Uske baad, najayaz rishta8230;8217;8217;

Two evenings of this and Zee was Breaking News: Gudiya to stay with Arif, who will accept child. Saxena permitted herself a smile of self-satisfaction and pressed an elderly Maulana for a comment: he began to cry. Then, recollecting his surroundings, he praised Zee, for its 8216;8216;positive8217;8217; role in solving society8217;s problems. Clap, clap, clap. No, no, said a modest Saxena, Zee had only helped them arrive at their own decision8230;

You wanted to rush to your feet and shout, 8216;8216;Jai Hind, Jai Zee.8217;8217;

Except that you could not forget Arif picking at his fingers, Taufiq clenching his fists, Gudiya8217;s half-hidden misery8212;each one8217;s stunned, immobile expressions, their hollow, unblinking eyes of victims. At one stage, Gudiya asked why this was being filmed. Good question.

On Monday evening, the Shariat laws were explained on all news channels. Gudiya said she would return to Taufiq only if Arif divorced her; Arif refused point blank, and Taufiq said it was up to Gudiya. All three swore by the Shariat. Their meaning was plain: did Zee believe Gudiya and Taufiq could have flouted the Shariat on live TV and ridden off into the sunset with the religious leaders8217; blessings? Perhaps Zee did precipitate the decision on the child, but couldn8217;t that have been resolved without TV?

We don8217;t know why Arif, Gudiya, Taufiq and the Muslim community agreed to this spectacle, but we can guess why Zee staged it: TV is governed by the number of eyeballs it attracts, and this packaged 8216;reality TV8217;, replete with real human suffering, is just the kind of tragedy that transfixes everyone8217;s gaze. Unfortunately.

The other channels tried to be sanctimonious8212;and then joined in the fun. NDTV got Taufiq on the air first, but when he defected to Zee, it rushed off to his village and spoke to anyone who remotely knew the young man. Aaj Tak came up with its Ek Gudiya Ki Kahani: Taufiq and Gudiya were old paramours but Gudiya was married off to Arif because his family was richer8230;

Now the studio lights have been turned on someone else, Arif, Gudiya, Taufiq have returned to the rest of their lives. As she said on air, she doesn8217;t know if she will live8230;