Dec 09, 2009 04:24 AM
3302 Views
(Updated Dec 11, 2009 02:44 PM)
What’s up with Viacom? Why the current obsession of providing humour and entertainment through mental illness, an illness which causes so much of suffering and suicide? In their television channel, Colors, in the episodes of the widely watched Big Boss 3 one of the tasks given to the inmates of the Big Boss House was to enact as patients of a mental health facility.
With their preconceived notions and prejudices the celebrity inmates of Big Boss went on to enact as patients. They rolled their eyes, contorted their faces and ran around with much giggling. Even mega celebrity Amitabh Bachan, addressed as ‘Sir ’by trembling ecstatic admirers, chose to banter lightly about this task with a smile.
Wonder if he and these celebrity inmates of Big Boss found the nature of the death of their colleague the beautiful Bollywood actress Parveen Babi amusing. She reportedly died alone in her apartment, neglected by her compatriots in Bollywood suffering with a serious mental illness. Her body was found days later.
In sharp contrast was the treatment of HIV/AIDS by Colors and the producers of Big Boss. The inmates of Big Boss stood solemnly with candles muttering inanities on World Aids Day surely not of their own volition!
The owners of Viacom, producers of Big Boss, Amitabh Bachan and these celebrity inmates must visit the thirty seven mental health facilities in India where they can see for themselves patients with mental illness who also have HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, there are 6.5 crore Indians with severe mental illness. Since most of them are untreated and not given the specialised care they need they are at a very high risk for HIV/AIDS.
Due to such stigmatization most young Indians do not seek the vital help they need even when they are experiencing the painful symptoms of severe Depression. Many prefer to kill themselves.Is that funny and/or entertaining?
