Love me, leave me

Love is betrayal. Love is callous. Love is fake. Love is war. Love, apparently, is everything but love. Till now, the entertainment industry did everything it could to helppeople escape this brutal truth. Movies celebrated love at first sight. Songsserenaded star-crossed pairs. Television serials put the man-woman relationshipon a pedestal and gave hope (no matter how false) to the millions who tuned inafter an exhausting day. Fast forward to the age of reality. Thesweet innocence of love no longer seems able to inspire moviemakers (the lastremarkable love story was Slumdog Millionaire, if that). Songs are becomingincreasingly individualist and materialistic. Television, the 21-inch luminoussmall screen transmitting faith and hope to living rooms everywhere, has becomethe window on an addictive exchange of voyeurism and exhibitionism. The most striking qualities about television's most popularshows:a) they are about relationships andb) they arein the reality TV formatThis is true, be it ‘Emotional Atyachar', where people set a honeytrap for partners as a fidelity test; ‘Splitsvilla', which identifies with the broad theme of dating, casual or otherwise or "Truth Love Cash", a modern take on the mushy acronym TLC (tender loving care). Is this what young people, the target audience, wants and understands today? How did our idea of love die and be reborn in so perverted a way? "Love is too poetic a term but relationships occupy huge mindspace for this generation - and the idea has drastically changed even from itsprevious generation," says Prem Kamath, general manager of Channel [V], India.He says this is the generation that never knew life before liberalization anddoes not associate morals and values with relationships. "There is no guilt andrelationships have become a mating and dating game," says Kamath, whose channelairs many shows that "put relationships to the test as they (relationships)provide a hot trigger".He says that at the end of the day,television is entertainment and showcases extremes but admits to being regularlyshocked at this generation's attitude to relationships. Could these extremesreflect contemporary reality? Yes, says Ashish Patil, vice-president, businessand creative head, youth films, Yash Raj Films. "Art is a mirror of society. Youtake an insight or a current reality and exaggerate it to make a point. But it'salways based on reality. And it's only when you see yourself or stuff around youin this light, on a bigger screen, that you're influenced and then‘changed' forever." I love Love StoriesThat's notto say love has melted away. It exists but the concept has changed. Today, youngcouples look for physical, mental, emotional and financial compatibility.Instant connectivity has altered the parameters of romance. Relationships arequestioned on slender grounds such as a 15-minute gap between ringing yourbeloved and their answering the phone, says Patil. Today's young people start toask "Doesn't he love me anymore? Is there someone else? Am I too fat?" he says.This is reflected on television and the big screen. Patil says young people nolonger want to watch idealized representations of what might be, instead theywant what is. "They want to see their realities reflected in someway."Nikhil Gandhi, Business Head, UTV Bindass, grades various generationsand their expectations: "There was the MTV generation, which was a rebel withouta cause. Then came one with a cause but this current generation is differentbecause there is no rebellion of any sort." He explains contemporary televisionoutput as comprising four reality format genres that connect with youth: actionreality relationship-based lifestyle and glamour music and dance. Gandhi says the young "are super confident and absolutely comfortablebeing themselves and they want to watch their lives ontelevision."The theme of TV reflecting reality rather than remakingit is a constant. Aditya Swamy, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, MTV,India, says, "There are so many things happening in a young individual's lifenow and this is reflected in their relationships. Even 10 years ago, the kind ofmusic you heard spoke volumes about you but there are so many more factorsnow... this is the generation that is not afraid to experiment, least of allwith love, and they are not afraid to voice their feelings." But istheir reality not shaped by what they see? "The influencer-reflector debate isas old as the chicken and egg one," says Swamy, "but the truth is that these areregular people who come on to our programmes and show us who they really are,"he says. It was a trait that Raghu Ram, the creative brain behindshows like ‘Splitsvilla' and ‘Roadies', banked on heavily when heset about "pulling the mask of civility" off relationships andlove.Ram says, "No love is selfless and insecurity and jealousy playa huge part in it. As does the fact that your feelings about a person can changewhen there are other incentives involved." He says people think he is morbid"making such shows and forcing people to think this way, but, firstly, no onecan force people to feel or behave in anyway unless they really want to, justlike you can't guarantee love. And secondly, I like being morbid."The Silver lining Perhaps it is a latent tendency to beingmorbid that drives people to the other end of the spectrum — suspension ofdisbelief. Kamath says, "Just when you think that these youngsters know exactlywhat they want, you find that these are also the people who have virtualrelationships, based on the very premise that you can lie as much as you wantbecause you are never going to meet."Channel [V] has an entire showon making these virtual couples meet in real life. More often than not,everything other than sparks, fly. Gandhi says young Indians todayappear to "have a dual personality. They are equally at ease with going to thetemple with their mother and then meeting friends for beer in the evening."Patil adds that they are also the sum of many parts, with the internet exposingthem to a different reality from their lived reality. "There are extreme ends tothe spectrum. For every Love, Sex aur Dhoka and 'Emotional Atyachar', there is a‘Twilight' and Jab We Met." This dichotomy is reflected in theoutput of general entertainment channels such as Sony Entertainment Television.It channels its programming to the large subset of its target audience, which isyoung, even as it ensures the shows can be watched with the whole family. "So wehave an ‘Indian Idol' that young people love but so do their families. Orwe have ‘Baat Hamari Pakki Hai', which explores the dichotomy of groominga girl for marriage in India all the while knowing that matches are made inheaven," says Danish Khan, marketing head of the channel.