Moral Policing Vs Vulgarity

 

I've been thinking about writing a post titled 'Beware of the MTV culture'. MTV makes violence seem to be ordinary. Alright, you might argue that they condemned the physical violence on Roadies and on Splitsvilla, but why should they show fights and arguments as the "highlights" from the next episode. I like to watch these fights, I must confess. But that does not mean I condone such blatant display of violence. No, the MTV culture must not be allowed to propagate.
Which brings me to my next point. I am NOT engaging in moral policing. What happens with Raj Thackeray and the mockery on each Valentine's Day is absolutely condemnable.
But let me ask you this: When you see couples in Buddha garden showing a Public Display of Affection, do you support it? Do you support Akshay Kumar getting unbuttoned on the ramp? I mean, I still think that the person who filed a PIL against Kumar is wanting publicity. But I still feel that what Kumar did was not right. I don't want him to apologise. I just want him to know that it was not right. Alright, your brand is called 'unbuttoned', but if you show Kumar unbuttoning on stage, do you mean to say that people who wear that brand of jeans should be unbuttoned? Oh come on, there are better ways to sell your wares than to engage on obscenity.
I have always opposed aping of the west. But unfortunately, that is what mostly happens. Why should we compare Bollywood films to those from Hollywood? Why not judge them on their own merit (or the lack of it, if you ask me)? Does somehow have to speak English the way the Americans or the Britons do? Since we are the largest English-speaking community in the world (or at least second), why should we not have our own distinctive style of English. But you know what, we actually do. We insert expletives (the really dirty Hindi ones) in our English sentences to make it more 'effective'. What is wrong, people? Are we losing faith in our language that we need to put in expletives to make our point more effective?
Perhaps we're already on a path from which there is no return. We're denegerating and there is no escaping it. But every big movement begins with a small step. And so shall a reformation.

MTV is leading the brigade of channels which have launched horribly amoral shows like Splitsvilla, The Fast and the Gorgeous, G-Talk, and Roadies (although to be fair, not THAT they deserve any fairness, Roadies is the lesser of all these evils).
All that the producers of these shows see is that in the West, shows like Punked, The Real World, Big Brother, Yo Mamma, etc etc rake in the TRPs.. and so they make up all these Indian counterparts and thrust it on an unsuspecting audience.
AND OF COURSE WE'LL WATCH IT! Very few of us are able to keep our eyes turned away. I myself, while surfing, land on MTV, and get stuck. I watch the whole show in some sort of twisted trance, and the moment the show ends, I literally just get up and walk off with a bad taste in my mouth and glazed look in my eyes. And yet I'll be back the next time the show is on air.
Now I'm not a fan of ruthless censorship, but something needs to be done here. Because clearly the Indian audience is too weak to to take a stand in their living rooms.

Grow up guys…