Have our domestic media have lost its originality, its familiarity, and its glorification that the Indian viewers ever enjoyed? The alien programmes capture most of our broadcasting space, and the channels have been hacked by the alien formats. It does speak the native language, but not to glorify the native culture. It does have the Indian setups but not the Indian stuffs. It does have, somewhere, the native content but no social issues. It does have the known faces but not the familiarity.

Brushing aside all our cultural traits, and the age-old civilization, media in India is committed to offend its viewers with, either bold or offensive stuffs or to glorify the repressed social evils. Reality shows like ‘Big Boss’, ‘Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao’, and the much-discussed ‘Sach Ka Samna’ is destroying altogether TV viewing habit of the Indian families. Then soaps are not behind in the race, they are, of course, presenting the native content which are either banned or not in the human interest.

The storyline of ‘Balika Vadhu’ on Colors is based on the Child Marriage, and ‘Mitwa…phool kamal ke’ on Star Plus is demonstrating the killing of girl child in the mother’s womb. Since the format of reality shows is borrowed from the West, it can’t whet the appetite of the Indian viewers. Its language, setup, and the bold stuffs are not compatible with our cultural setups. The shows, so far, caused damage to our language, as the use of slang words is commonplace in our day-to-day life.

But recently started ‘Sach Ka Samna’ takes a step ahead and unfolds the personal life of the celebrities before the camera in a language that spellbinds and embarrasses the viewers. The show is the imitation of the American reality show ‘Moment of Truth’, which has destroyed 98% of the families, says the surveys. Despite considering the consequence there it has been launched in India that is ultimately subjected to backlash. Court has issued notice to the channel to wrap up the show by 27th of July.

The small screen in India has not been amateur enough that it can’t uphold its own guidelines. Large chunk of the Indian population seek to design their social and cultural life through small screen. Therefore the soaps serve its content in a traditional setup of Marwadi, Rajasthani, or chaudri, families. But the elaborated decoration is laced with the narrowed beliefs.

Balika Vadhu remains on the top in TRP race despite the existence of the Sharda Act against child marriages. And ‘Mitwa….phool kamal ke’ is promoting the sex identification of the child in the mother’s womb, which has been declared a crime. Lest the repressed social evils raise the head again in already damaged socio-cultural arena, the government needs to come up with a strict guideline for the untamed channels in India.