A love boost for TRPs

It’s the ultimate drama – love on reality TV. Ashmit Patel is playing his cards right on “Bigg Boss”, blowing kisses to Sara Khan, choosing Shweta Tiwari for a romantic candlelight dinner and having the hots for model Anchal Kumar.
Although Sara tore up her boyfriend’s pictures and found solace in Ashmit’s company, he is only toeing a line that is ensuring his popularity among the ladies in the house and higher TRPs for the channel.More than scheming and conspiring, what seems to be working in favour of reality TV contestants is a li’l dash of romance that adds a lot of spice to the show. There are reality shows based completely on romantic relationships – “Splitsvilla”, “Emotional Atyachar”, “Axe Your Ex”, “Dare To Date” – and then there are music reality shows or adventure reality shows that are increasingly feeding off this emotion.
In the last season of “Bigg Boss”, former Mr India Pravesh Rana and German model Claudia Ciesla were shown hugging, in a playful mood, fairly often. “I’ve maintained that Claudia was just a friend and nothing more. As for these shows having an increasingly romantic angle, love and hatred are basic human emotions and a part of everyone’s life. Therefore, they strike a chord with the audience more than anything else. The channel will, of course, show or highlight what clicks with the audience,” says Pravesh. Adding to the starcast of this love story were Bakhtiyar and Kamaal R Khan, who also tried hard to woo the model. “Bigg Boss” has, in the past, played up the ‘budding romance’ and ‘there’s something more to it’ earlier with Rahul Mahajan-Monica Bedi and Aryan Vaid-Anupama Verma.
Nothing is left to the imagination as rushes of the contestants getting ‘close’ hit the TV screens a couple of days before the episode is to be telecast. Shweta Rawat and Ali’s intimate pics were widely circulated for the reality show “Sarkaar Ki Duniya”. Whether these romances are scripted is debatable, but many agree that the channels play these up more than required. Sakshi Pradhan, who was recently evicted from the “Bigg Boss” house, says, “These things add spice and the much-needed masala to the shows. Although I wouldn’t say that these romances are scripted, I agree that the channels play these up as the high point of a couple of episodes. It ensures that the upcoming episodes are talked about and have the audience hooked.”
“I was shocked when the hosts and judges of “Indian Idol” kept asking Sreeram if he had sung a particular romantic number for co-contestant Bhoomi. And while both the contestants denied it, the hosts and the judges kept prodding them. It didn’t make any sense to me. Who watches “Indian Idol” for love and romance?” asks Netal Rakha, an IT professional and TV viewer. Interestingly, the same people make “Indian Idol” and “Sarkaar Ki Duniya” – Alva Brothers.
But not all viewers are complaining. “I’d started watching “Roadies” for the adventure and the tasks the contestants did. But once the voting game starts, the romance angle also comes in. It’s the simplest way of keeping a co-contestant on your side. So watching Anwar and Mannat share some private time didn’t make for bad viewing. And of course these are scripted, if not by the channel, by the contestants themselves. These romances fall apart the minute the contestants are back in the real world,” says Abhishek Sinha, a Bangalore-based techie.
Intimacy on the idiot box
Sreeram-Bhoomi: Indian Idol
Anupama Verma-Aryan Vaid: Bigg Boss 1
Monica Bedi-Rahul Mahajan-Payal Rohatgi: Bigg Boss 2
Pravesh Rana-Claudia Ciesla: Bigg Boss 3
Sara Khan-Ashmit Patel: Bigg Boss 4
Shweta Rawat-Ali: Sarkaar Ki Duniya
Ashutosh-Sonel: Roadies 5.0
Anwar-Mannat: Roadies 7.0
Aneek-Sumedha-Amanat: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa
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