Ouch..it really bites.... Review on Reality Bites - TV Serial

Confined to the security and comfort of living room, I often think about life as extremely easy. I think about me, educated, employed with a decent salary, loved ones - friends and family, most modern facilities that were once considered a luxury but now a necessity, entertainment, fun, well I could not have asked for more. But then I am shaken to hard reality by a News based show, aired every Saturday at 9:30 pm IST, on Star News. It tells how privileged I am to have all those comforts in my Life which I have probably always taken for granted. It tells me how different and difficult, life could have been to me if were born in a different family or at a different place but in my very own country.

Though I am digressing from the immediate topic, I will take the liberty to talk about a movie which had caught my fancy (unfortunately not that of many other fellow Indians) and is also in some ways indicative of yet another divide that exists, in this diverse country of ours. The movie is Dil Se. In my opinion the movie tried a little too hard to drive home the point that Independent India has two faces one of the progressive and comfortable main stream India and the other a harsher and struggling remote parts of India. Even an emotion as strong as LOVE could not actually (in the movie) help bridge the differences in the perceptions about India (built over years) in the minds of the lead characters. This is where Reality Bites steps in, at least in my case. Every week it brings into my living room a face of India which I would have never imagined existed. A fact about India which I don’t willingly accept as true and which I would love to have, hidden in a closet. But I also know that I have to accept, because the only way a problem can be solved is by accepting that there is a problem in the first place.

Coming back to the show, I guess I won’t do justice to a review on Reality Bites, if I don’t mention its gutsy anchor Barkha Dutt. Whether it was the episode where-in she reported from Bunkers in Kargil during the war or the latest episodes where-in she reports from the heart of a riot ridden Ahmedabad, this woman shows a nerve of steel. Barkha Dutt, the award wining journalist of the Star News crew, is a sheer joy to watch (she also anchors a talk show ''We The People''). She is hard hitting, thought provoking, intelligent, witty and most importantly humane. In many ways, she to me represents one of the admirable faces of Indian womanhood...savy, strong, subtle,sensitive...SUBLIME.

Now to the programme itself...''Reality Bites'' is a half an hour long news based show, which usually delves deep into a recent news piece, in an effort to bring forward more facts. What I really love about this show is that though it is news that is researched, it is done by bringing into focus the Human element. People, their issues, reactions, problems, aspirations, emotions are all captured in the most admirable manner that I have seen in any News based programme.

The anchor though such a strong presence, never ever comes in the way of the narrative of the episode, she actually flows with it. You never feel that the show was hijacked by its presenter. That’s one of the greatest strengths of this show. Another interesting facet of this show is though it is essentially about challenged human rights, trauma and suffering of the (so called ''independent'') human beings there is always a positive touch to it. Though it asks a series of questions, that could put make any patriotic Indian hang his head in shame, it also highlights the strength of Human hope, it also shows how even in the midst of violence and bloodshed, people from different faiths, sects, origins can stand up for each other risking their own lives, it suggests that possibly there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel....

I would have loved to see this programme, given an extended time slot say at least one hour a week, but then I also realize that, the show is such that, there must a such a lot of inputs, that go into its making and asking for more might be a bit unreasonable.

Like I said before, this show should set any one who is an Indian or for that matter anyone who is human , thinking about how privileged we are to have what we have. It brings to us a reality that everything is not very well in this country. It sometimes challenges me, asks me, makes me wonder as to, what have I done to make this great country of mine, greater than what it is....... but then the comfort of my couch in the living room, the security that I derive from my family and friends, the laziness that’s inherent in me, usually lets me only to wonder and seldom to act..!!!